Total newbie looking for inspiration...
 

Total newbie! I’ve joined here hoping to get some advice and inspiration.

I’m in my fifties and am looking for some new adventures and challenges.

I’ve done a lot of adventurous travelling and mountaineering but I’m wondering if adventure motorbiking might be a way to keep active and challenged as I get older.

I’m looking at creating a long term plan to ride the Trans Moroccan Trail.

I’d be looking at shorter tours and maybe a guided tour or two in Morocco first.

I’m not in hurry which is good thing as I’ve got to learn to ride a motorbike first!

I’m based in Sheffield, UK.

It would great to get some advice. But also feel free to discourage me!

Cheers
Alex

I’m not going to go on and on, because it sounds like you’re in the very early stages of even deciding what you want, much less how to do it. But I did start riding in my fifties, and although I’m slowing drastically heading into my seventies I did manage quite a few adventures before previous errant lifestyle choices started catching up with me. I first started riding as a means of continuing adventurous travel in relative comfort as I aged and became more fragile, and that seemed a valid approach for a decade and a half.

But it’s all highly theoretical until you start riding. Maybe you won’t like it; maybe people you’re close to won’t like it, and will insist you stop. And maybe you won’t be able to make it work financially—this can be a lot more trouble than it first seems. So start by doing whatever it takes to get licensed—this is apparently much more complicated in England than a lot of places—following which you can beg, borrow, steal and/or purchase a bike to see how it feels. You’ll need to get some miles under your belt before joining any sort of guided tour, group or solo, and if you’re not enjoying those miles the whole thing becomes academic.

Hope that’s helpful.

Mark

Hi Mark
Thank you for your intuitive reply. And yes very helpful.

You've picked up on some of my own fears. And getting the approval of my wife is definitely an issue. Having said that she is very much aware that I have 'enthusiasms' and will most likely hope that this one goes away.

I'm encouraged by your own late start and it's great that you got a good few years of adventures.

So yes first step is get that license.


Thanks again
Alex

As per above, learn to ride first, see if you enjoy it, then start planning if you do. Being on a motorcycle is a very different prospect to other modes of transport, it's not just a car without windows (in a good way)

Go for it! See that you find riding pals in your vicinity with whom you can practice your riding skills.
I only got my m/c license at the age of 52, but was very lucky to have close friends who were all ardent bikers. So I could learn a lot in a short time. Six years later I was fortunate enough to be able to quit my job and fly my bike to Cape Town. And yes, fortunately I've got a wife who keeps me on a very long leash :thumbup1: It took me a whole year to get back to Munich....
That said - it is never too late to start with ADV riding.

Good luck!

Thanks Vaifi

Thanks Turbofurball

Obviously you need to learn to ride a motorbike, and then you need some experience of offroad riding, but you could start that right now by exploring trails in the UK on a mountain bike. The most important aspect (looking far ahead and 'reading' the trail) is common to both. Loads of interesting trails in your locality.

You *could* join up with your local TRF (Trail Riders Federation) if you can find riders who aren't nutters blatting around walking trails, https://www.trf.org.uk/about/group-map/

What I would most definitely recommend before going to far is advanced road training, either IAM or ROSPA. I credit IAM with the fact that I am still alive.

I've been riding in Morocco since 1972 and I use the bike as a means of getting to interesting (and normally remote) places to visit, rather than just following someone else's trail. Over the years the engine power and bike weight first of all rose (TriBSA 750 to BMW 1200GSA), but now I'm on a 2013 KTM 690 Enduro which despite the enduro name is a brilliant lightweight travel bike. If I was buying right now I would be looking at 300-450cc bikes.

Scooter!
 

I’m a similar age and I reckon buy a scooter and do some riding in UK and an into Europe first.

I say a scooter, like an ADV150 or similar, as they are fun to ride, give some protection from the weather, heaps of luggage space under the seat, just need a top case and maybe a waterproof duffle and away you go.

If you like it, do an off road riding course and get a bike more suited to the trails.

If you ever come to Australia I can help you sort out a bike.

Thanks Tim. There's some wise advice there. I have lots of years of mountain bike experience so that's a good start! And yes definitely some advanced training is a good idea. And also good advice re less powerful bikes.
Thanks again

Thanks Homers GSA. Some good advice there! and thanks for the offer re Oz!

Years of experience doesn’t equal a good rider, I know guys who’ve been riding for 30 years and they’re very average. I myself have been riding for nearly 40 years and would not class myself as an advanced rider even with 100,000s of miles on a bike. I’ve seen many new riders who grew up on BMX bikes, skateboards and surf boards run rings around me so, with your off road bicycle and mountaineering experience, I’m sure you’ll be fine - as I always say ‘if you can ride a bicycle and drive a car you can learn to ride a motorcycle’.

I got into off road motorcycling (known as green laning in the Uk) in my 50s and I happened to live in Sheffield at the time. You have access to a lot of green lanes in the Peak District.

My advice, for what it’s worth:
Don’t buy a bike before you take your test, learn and pass on a school bike.
After you’ve passed ????
If you think that you might get into off road motorcycle adventures join the local TRF and buy a Honda CRF250L. This bike will be a great little ride around on and off road for a year. It will most likely be worth the same money or not a lot less after a year so little outlay.
You will soon know if off roading is for you - you can have some great trips just sticking to the tarmac.
You can then buy the most suitable bike for your needs.

Best of luck☘️

Thanks FlipFlop. There's some great advice there. And yes I like the idea of a CRF250L.
I'm getting excited about it all.
Thanks again

I learned the hard way that a BMW 1200 GS Adventure wasn't the greatest offroad adventure bike after being overtaken numerous times by locals riding two-up on 50cc scooters. Everything is a trade-off though, and whilst a 250cc is great for trails it's not so great travelling distances.

Having said that, I have ridden several times through Spain at a painful 90-100 kph, so as to save the knobblies on my tyres for the African desert. And a 250cc can certainly travel at that speed.

Great advice from Flipflop, and whilst he echoes my suggestion about TRF, green laning in the UK is really boring compared to Spain or Morocco, so don't spend too much time on English green lanes before broadening your horizons.

Morocco is my life-long love, but this is Rosie, my adorable cockapoo, running the trails on the Spanish campo.

Horses for courses - I hate going over 100kph these days!

Tim - that is an excellent video - thank you. I am glad that Rosie kept looking back to make sure you didn't get lost and that you were keeping up.

Alex - one of the things that has been alluded to is that smaller and lightweight can be better - as has been said before " no-one wishes that they had a heavier bike".

As far as training in concerned I had a very enjoyable day at "Trials Day" near Leek in Staffordshire - I have to say that I ached afterwards for a few days using muscles that I had forgotten about. I have been riding for many years but all on road - they taught me so much about riding off road and I know there is lots more for me to learn still - much of which can be transferred to road riding as well - low speed skills in particular.

I went with my godson to Trails Day and he had never ridden a motorbike before - he had an absolute blast. We will both be going again.

Oh, and welcome to Horizons Unlimited.

Hi Jay
Thanks for the encouragement! I've just had a look at 'Trails Day' and it looks great so I'll definitely get a day there later in the year.
Thanks again
Alex

Thanks Tim!
Loved that video!
Alex