Bike riding has many aspects. From MX, enduro, then rally and moving to the more mainstream adventure riding.
Adventure riding is great because it brings bike riding closer to us all. It gives us some adventure in our lives that bring passion, fear, adrenalin, comrade and a break from life. We have seen Charlie and Euan trip around the globe on their pimped out GS’ses. We have watched Toby, Sam and Ross Branch gunning it over desserts in Dakar.
Where MX and enduro is great fun, rally tends to be somewhat out of reach, and adventure biking is more mainstream.
But as an adventure rider, at some stage, you probably have done most of the annual social events, weekend local rides and venues and multi-day trips seeing the country. And that’s great. That’s what adventure riding is all about.
But some of us look at Dakar riders and wonder, what is it like, would I be able to do that if I had the chance? Should I have tried when I was younger, wealthier, prone to take more risks? Are there similar events to Dakar that a smaller, more local and more affordable?
But then reality kicks in. Dakar, no way. The cost, the risk, maybe if I was younger, richer etc.
The reality is yes, Dakar events, and rallies, in general, are far removed from us mere mortals on adventure bikes. It’s generally expensive events, expensive equipment and tons of commitment, time and energy.
But adventure riding is changing, it’s evolving, it’s changing the same way that everything else around us is changing. And I am not just talking about your motorbike itself or riding gear.
For some, embracing new technology, we now have the ability to bring rally type riding to the adventure bike industry in an affordable way that makes sense.
You might not even realise it but you have access to a whole new experience of adventure motorbike riding.
With new equipment, events and training that’s exciting, different, affordable and that will leave you with amazing stories and experiences.
So what am I going on about? It’s not one thing, it’s a couple. A combination of navigation options, mobile devices, electronic routes and roadbook, small capacity adventure bikes and private and public rider events.
Sounds a bit much? It’s really not complex. A quick example. You take a ‘smallish’ capacity adventure bike to ride comfortably at your own speed, you take a normal entry-level mobile phone to navigate. You maybe ad on a little Bluetooth handlebar controller to help navigate the route on your phone while riding. You load your routes on your mobile nav device as either electronic roadbook or typical line routes. There you have a navigable rally experience and the making of an electronic rally event.
You then ride the routes as fast as you want or as fast as you can navigate.
Sounds like fun. Let me tell you, it’s awesome fun.
This combination creates a completely new experience in biking. An experience that use to be reserved for rally riders and professional competitors.
One of the nicest things about doing this new adventure bike digital mobile navigation experience is that apart from upcoming organised events, you can create your own experience for your weekend rides or cross-country trips.
It boils down to navigation, rider skill and some equipment.
Rally Rampage is a collaborative exercise to bring the rally raid bike experience to the broader adventure bike rider using affordable technology that’s already available to us all.
Rally Rampage continually develops events, training and equipment that will allow the normal adventure bike rider to participate in rally and navigation events that will leave you with more than what you bargained for.