Taking on the world in a sidecar
Robby travels the Nunaryuam Qaangani Tariuq, or the Ocean at the top of the world, in Canda’s Northwest Territory.
Robert Kenecht - aka Robby 3 Wheels – took a well-earned rest in Taupō last week, before continuing his odyssey around the world on a sidecar.
By Dan Hutchinson
The Swiss man insists he is a driver, not a tourist, and Aotearoa is the 60th country he has driven through.
His trusty Ural motorbike and sidecar is almost identical to the model the Germans and Russians used in World War II. The addition of fuel injection halves the fuel consumption to 5 litres per 100km, and makes the higher altitude trips more practical.
These motorbikes are still faithfully reproduced at Irbit, Siberia in Russia.
“It's a tank. It's a war machine. With nothing, with no gas, no oil, no luggage, 360 kilo.”
It has a flat twin, 750cc engine that produces 41 horsepower. Fully loaded it weighs closer to 600kg and by connecting an axel between the back wheel of the motorbike and the sidecar, and with a reverse gear, it can go just about anywhere.
And he does go everywhere, including those places most people fear to venture. So far, he has driven 125,000km.
He travelled 20,000km through Canada in winter, including the Ice Road in the Northwest Territories.
“Between minus 40 and minus 60 (degrees Celsius). A bit cold, yeah. Well, I come from Switzerland and it's a Siberian machine.
Robby on a Black Sea beach in Türkiye.
He would light a fire under the engine in the morning to defrost the oil before setting off, passing trucks along the way.
“And at the end, they came to me and said, Switzerland crazy.”
He started his travels in Geneva, in December 2021, riding to the northern tip of Norway where he intended to cross Russia.
“Two weeks before the war, they close the border. I changed my plan.”
Instead, he travelled eastern Europe, Türkiye, Georgia, Armenia.
Robby stops over in Taupō. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
“And when I want to go to Iran, they close the border.”
So he came back through Türkiye, Greece, Albania, Italy, France and then by plane to Montreal.
From Canada, he crossed North America and South America, to Ushuaia, Argentina at the southern tip of the continent.
He then travelled New Zealand, from Auckland to Bluff down the East Coast, and back up the West Coast of the South Island, and the middle of the North Island, to Taupō.
Warming up the bike before hitting the Ice Road.
He has stopped for a few days to let Cyclone Tam wear itself out.
The next country on the list is Australia, where he intends to drive through Tasmania before heading up the east coast of the mainland to Brisbane. From there he will drive 4000km across the interior and desert to Western Australia coast before heading up the cost to Northern Territory and then on to Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
The former police officer and private investigator shrugs off the dangers, saying that every dangerous country basically comes down to 1% bad people and 99% good people.
“When I was in USA and I said, I will go to Mexico. They say ‘you will die’. Why?
“And, when I was in Mexico, I said, I go to Honduras. ‘You will die’. No, in fact.
“No problem. Never problem. It's more dangerous to cross Paris and Marseille than Honduras or Salvador. It's only TV who said there is problem, but it's 1%.”
He sold his house and car to do the trip and has enough money left to ride for eight, or 10 more years.
He hopes his regular videos on You Tube (@robby3wheels) and website (robby3w.ch) will provide enough money to continue for 10 more years but it was not easy to make an income that way.