Motorcycle Tour Tips – Getting the Best from your adventure
Motorcycle Tour Tips – Getting the Best from your adventure
So you’ve finally decided to do it. You’ve always wanted to go on a motorcycle tour and this year is the year it’s going to happen. But before you head out on the trip of a lifetime – hopefully with Ride Expeditions – here’s a few pointers on how to get the best from your tour, both before you set off and while on tour. This is going to be an epic trip, so let’s help you get it right.
#1 Preparation, preparation, preparation
So hopefully you’ve picked a tour that’s appropriate to both your riding experience and skill set – you don’t want to arrive for an epic off-road adventure in Cambodia if you’ve never ridden anything rougher than the North Circular!
But with that taken as read, make sure you’ve done your research on your chosen tour and you are fully prepared. Read all the information on what type of riding kit is going to be best, check through the frequently asked questions – FAQs – so you are fully clued up on what to expect on tour. Try out any new kit on a ride at home to make sure it fits and is going to be comfortable. Make sure you’ve got hydration packs if it’s going to be hot, and warm, waterproof clothing if it’s going to be cold. The more you prepare, the better the ride is going to be!
And of course – If you’ve got any queries, chat to the guys at Ride Expeditions HQ and you can also talk to the tour leader before the riding even starts. We want you to have a great time, so we’re happy to help.
#2 Travel Time
For all of our tours, travel to the appropriate country is not included or arranged by Ride Expeditions. So, as soon as you have committed to a particular tour, get your flights booked up as swiftly as you can to ensure you arrive at the start point of the tour in good time, ensuring you have appropriate travel insurance in case of unforeseen circumstances.
With a tour scheduled to set out on a certain day, delays in the arrival of members of the party can cause serious logistic issues for the Ride Expeditions team and particularly the Tour Leader!. So when booking flights, always give yourself a good time margin on flight transfers in foreign airports and ensure you know if you need to recheck hold luggage at any stage of the trip. It’s no good being in Chile, if your bags are still in Colombia!
#3 Luggage lite
While you are at liberty to bring as much luggage as you want on tour, be realistic about what you are actually going to need – you’ll be on the bike an awful lot of the time, so you might not need a massive selection of casual clothes.
Although all the luggage is transferred in a support vehicle, it’s handy if every rider has just one large kit bag that can be loaded into the truck in the morning and taken into the overnight accommodation at night. Some of our tours also may have boat transfers to exclusive resorts as part of the tour, so it’s better if you can grab just one bag, rather than a motley selection of mismatched luggage. Soft kit bags are often better than massive suitcases, as they can often be reduced down once your riding kit has been taken out.
#4 Punctual Please.
This one is a plea from the heart of all our tour guides. In order for the tour to cover the distances we need to each day, we have to set off punctually every morning. Your guide will let you know each night when they plan to leave the following day and when your luggage needs to be ready for packing into the support truck.
If everyone can keep to the schedule, they will be happier than you can actually believe!
#5 Follow the leader
So key to group riding is the simple premise that there’s only one leader and as they know the way, it’s best to stay behind them!
Now you might think this blindingly obvious, but having run many tours and informal trail rides, we’re only to aware that some riders just cannot wait to get up to and even go out in front at any available opportunity. We’ve had riders overtake the leader going up to a roundabout and have to go round multiple times as they don’t know the route, and we’ve had riders overtake the run leader on a difficult off-road climb, only to fall off in front of them seconds later.
So even if you like to ride towards the front of a group, always stay a good distance behind the run leader and allow them space to ride comfortably and safely rather than having to constantly worry where you are. We’re all going to the same destination and he’s paid to be at the front!
Any if you really want to lead a group, maybe talk to Ride Expeditions founder Toby. We are always looking out for enthusiastic and talented Tour Guides!
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#6 Team Player
Although many riders join guided adventure tours as solo travellers, it’s amazing how quickly a group of riders with a shared interest – having a fantastic time on a motorcycle – come together as a team once the riding starts. There’s something very special about riding as a group – whether that’s overcoming difficult terrain together or experiencing new cultures and customs in far away places – its great to do it with new friends. If you’ve ever had to help carry a dozen Yamaha WR250Fs through a Cambodia river or maybe floated them across on tractor inner tubes, you are very quickly going to see the value of teamwork on an adventure tour!
And don’t worry if you are not used to riding with others, let alone complete strangers – our team are there to help and we are always blown away by how welcoming and encouraging fellow bikers can be. Join the gang and have the best time ever.
#7 Embrace the unknown
Now although our motorcycle adventures are planned with meticulous detail both on our recce trips and by our team in Ride Expeditions HQ, when we are travelling hundreds of miles in exciting and often challenging landscapes those plans may have to change. From punctures to landslides, snowstorms to ferry cancellations – there are a myriad of unforeseen circumstances that can have our Tour Guides reaching for Plan B, Plan C and sometimes Plan D. But luckily, thanks to both the experience and ingenuity of our guys ‘on the ground’ and the 24 hour back up from the team in the office back home, we’ve yet to have a problem we couldn’t solve!
And to be honest – it’s often those changes of plan and last minute re-routes that can turn a riding trip into a proper journey. Adventure motorcycling is not like the morning commute, it’s not always predictable – we’ve been snowed in up in the Himalayas, passed bikes between fallen trees in Laos – Hell we’ve even had a front wheel puncture in the middle of a tiger reserve in Nepal! So, if things do change, don’t fret – work with the team and we’ll always get through – and what an experience to share over a few beers after!
#8 Corner Cover
For all of our rides, we run a system known as either ‘The Cornerman System’ of sometimes ‘Second man Drop off’. (Sorry, neither of these terms has a gender neutral name). We’ve got a whole blog on how exactly the system works, but basically it’s a way for the group to keep going in the right direction at each junction where we need to turn. Used properly, the system runs like a finely built engine keeping up the required pace of the ride and ensuring everybody keeps together.
But the system only works if everyone does their bit, staying on the junction until all the group are through and setting off again once the tail rider is in sight. Set off too early and things can rapidly get messy – and when you are riding in the middle of nowhere, nobody wants to ride 20 miles in the wrong direction!
Have a look at the blog here and we’ll all end up in the right place at the right time – perfect.
#9 Love your bike
For almost all of our tours, you’ll be hiring a bike from Ride Expeditions. From the mighty BMW R1250 GS to the lovable Honda CR250L, the hugely capable Husqvarna Norden to the lively KTM EXC250F one of our fleet of wonderful motorcycles will accompany you throughout your trip. But it’s only going to get you there if you look after it!
Sadly this means that although skids, wheelies and burnouts are always cool, we’d really prefer that you kept those for your own bikes rather than ours! Adventure travel is hard on bikes and although our team will keep an eye on your scoot throughout the tour, what they can fix on the side of the trail has it’s limitations – even for riding god Henk!
#10 Sharing is caring
Now although we might just be a tad biased, we’re pretty sure that going on epic motorcycle adventure is the best holiday ever – and when you come on one of our trips then we’re pretty sure you will agree.
So when you are packing for the trip, don’t forget those Go Pros, phone cameras, compact cameras, Insta 360s – the whole nine yards so you can share your trip with family, mates – the world! There will be ample opportunities to photograph and film throughout the tour, and with so many epic lanscapes, amazing scenery and incredible riding to capture, you better stock up on SD cards!
We’ll also set up a WhatsApp group of all the riders on your chosen tour well before the event. That way you can catch up with the people you will be sharing your experience with, share gear tips and recommendations before the adventure and find out a bit about each other. We’ll also use the group to keep you all updated before the start of the tour, just as you can use it to share pictures, video clips and all those funny, daft and epic moments that happen on tour. And don’t be surprised if that group is still going a year after your adventure!
