You left out the main bike and tour that really got her Rally Raid company going commercially:
The Honda CB500X Rally Raid
Rally Raid CB500X Adventure First Ride - ADV Pulse

Jenny is well tied into social media and bike forums to get free advertising for her Rally Raid business. Selling kits is what she's up to ... and from reports things are going well.

I wonder if we will see her ads posted up here on HUBB? Where she's gotten so much FREE coverage and FREE publicity for years?

Or will she put that money into now commercial ADV Rider? or ABR or ...?

Yep, Jenny definitely knows how to sound the trumpet for RR. She’s massively active on the forums and her responses are always long and through. While sometimes I feel it comes across as a sales pitch, she’s also got a lot of substance behind her product and from everything I’ve read, the RR kitted 500X is quite an impressive all-rounder. I’ve been getting all available info on it since last year as the build I hope to do for a bigger 2019 trip.

Yea, most here and elsewhere support her ... but I'd like to see her plowing back a bit of the profits into advertising on HUBB. The kits are good and truly tested in tough conditions.

The BMW G310 GS kit could really be a hit, best ever for the Rally Raid company. The basic starting platform on the BMW is decent ... so it's ripe for up grades to make it a better all round ADV bike.

Big thing is the BMW looks pretty cool ... and even better with the kit fitted.

Actually, thanks to this discussion I found her RR on ADVr and she's on the TAT right now with that little 310.

Not clear on what you mean about plowing profits into advertising. That Rally Raid should be advertising here or that they advertise too much?

I've never seen an adds from Rally Raid in USA, don't know about UK, but kind of doubt it. They get so much coverage from forums and fans ... why bother?

My point was that if Rally Raid are doing well, it's due in part to forums like HUBB ... who need support.

ADV Rider has just begun to go commercial but with minimal ads. They have the luxury of having about 20 times the traffic of HUBB and a very generous American fan base of around 100,000 members who contribute 10's of $thousands$ each year, have done about 18 years now.

Yet even today most traffic on ADV Rider is in the infamous "Jo Momma" forum.

ADVr does not have any paid memberships as far as I know. Where does that figure come from?

Yes, Rally Raid has very effectively leveraged social media and forums to market its products. I definitely see your point there. And, it has built its reputation by word of mouth, which is, in my opinion, the best way to build any business. My initial reaction to your comment about kicking some money back to HUBB is in disagreement. Forums offer a free platform to congregate and chat, so giving something for free and then expecting something in return doesn't sit right with me. But, on the other hand, I can understand your perspective about showing some gratitude. I will have to say that comparatively, HUBB is a very very small community of regulars, which is why I come and go (for long periods). I categorize this site more as a place for travelers that are really reaching out there into the corners of the globe. So, I come by, scan a few subforums and then usually head over to ADV for a bigger contributing audience.

While it's great to see some of the really exotic travelers post here, from an economic standpoint, I feel that Rally Raid would not get much ROI here. The marketplace (potential client base) over at ADV has a much bigger audience and RR has invested in the CB500X forum to really target their market. Jenny's posts over on that Honda forum are all short novels. She really caters to those guys (and gals).

Right, nothing is paid, money comes from donations. When I say "commercial", I mean they now accept ads, which despite super lucrative offers over the years, Baldy, ADV site owner, rejected all until recently. I'm talking multi million dollar offers and all sorts of partnership offers as well.

HUBB and Grant and Susan nearly always took ad revenue. ADV Rider is most ALL USA members, HUBB is UK and Canada based but very diverse, with travelers world wide posting here. Very different.

Figures on ADV Rider membership are based on what is listed somewhere on the ADV Rider forum.
But even if they show a high membership number, you have to figure only a portion are current, active members. Same on all forums. So I guess-ti-mate between 50 and 100K active members on ADV Rider.

Molly - I know you like to pontificate on pretty much any subject here on the HUBB, but if you are going to 'criticise' me, at least get your facts right.


1. Rally-Raid Products is not my company, it belongs entirely to John Mitchinson and his family.


2. I worked with John in developing the CB500X project in 2014, as it was exactly the bike I wanted to build to continue travelling, and he had the engineering expertise and facilities to make those ideas a reality. Subsequently I consider it is still the best compromise as an all-terrain travel bike for the kind of riding I like to do, and consider myself an ongoing ambassador for the machine and the project.


3. Rally-Raid Products financially support/sponsor a number of online forums, including CB500X.com and G310R.com

They are also a regular exhibitor at both the UK and Irish Horizons Unlimited meetings, where they have to pay to attend. They were also one of the first vendors/exhibitors to offer free test-rides to the event attendees.


4. Along with the paid-for websites, they also have dedicated threads in the Vendor section on ADVrider, providing a huge amount of content and a valuable technical resource with regard to their products and more general machine set-up advice (including compatibility with various 3rd party products where that knowledge has been gleaned) - in what has essentially become a community page for owners and potential owners of their modified machines.

I am a regular contributor on their behalf in that regard, together with offering advice in the more general model-specific threads based on my own extensive experience with both my existing CB500X and now the G310GS too; along with other bikes on which I have raced and travelled over the years including the XT660Z, the XR400R and the XT225.


5. Since 2010 I have regularly hosted a series of AV presentations at a dozen or more Horizons Unlimited meetings in both the UK and all over the United States and Canada - most recently at both Virginia and Canada West earlier this year, each with three individual presentations - one on each day.

As I trust you are aware - no one is paid to be a presenter at Horizons Unlimited meetings, and quite apart from the actual travel-to and attendance of these events, producing a series of hour-long AV presentations takes a huge amount of time and effort to create something of presentable and professional quality. I do this since I consider myself to be in a privileged position to travel as extensively as I do, and like to share those experiences in an effort to inspire other travellers who are part of the HUBB community.


6. All of my multi-day trips in recent years have also been catalogued extensively here on the HUBB in the Ride Reports section - I consider them to be both informative and entertaining, and something the users of this forum can enjoy.


As Stuxtttr introduced on a previous page of this thread, I have recently completed an extensive trip all over North America on my G310GS (17,500 miles in total) - having ridden initially from Virginia to California in May, then all the way back east to Toronto Canada in July, before turning round and heading back to California via Horizons Unlimited in Nakusp BC in August.

This latest trip will also be serialised here on the HUBB in the coming weeks, just as soon as I get some time to assemble/edit it - since I am currently in the middle of moving house...

EDIT: condensed ride report from the summer is HERE in Ride-Reports...


So I trust you can now appreciate the amount of support both Rally-Raid Products and I personally offer both Horizons Unlimited, and the wider adventure riding community as a whole.

Jenny x

PS. to keep this post 'on topic' - without wanting to put out any spoilers in regard to my opinion of the all-round 'adventure' capabilities of the G310GS (it's all going to be detailed in my ride report ;o) - suffice to say, it does everything I asked of it (including repeated back-to-back high-mileage days) surprisingly well for what is essentially a small capacity single... However, I would concede that the larger capacity twin-cylinder Honda is a more relaxed machine - particularly at higher speeds when you have a lot of miles to cover. The GS will do it (and not complain), it's just the Honda does it better...

Don't think I added this before but my 250 TTR has given me more smiles per mile than any other bike.

From scratching past Ninjas in Snowdonia on route back from a tour to Ireland or screetching the tyres on Andalucian mountain roads it never ceases to amaze me what a well built and competent bike it is. I've done things on it that I just wouldnt have attempted on a bigger/heavier machine and yes 24bhp! isnt going to rip your guts out but it can still be the fastest vehicle going down a motorway you just have to ring it!

I was in Ireland riding the Dingle penisula road and spotted a fishing boat lying about half a mile away across a bay, the tide was out so I gunned it to the seaward side of the fishing boat and gained a handy shortcut in the process. I just would not have risked that on a bigger/more exspensive machine.

Its only in deep sand that I've really wished for some extra power to pull the bigger gears and the electric start was agodsend at the weston beach race

Hi there!

I'm new in the forum and also quite novice in off-road riding. I'm struggling with the same question (small or big) as I'm about to buy new (used, budget level) motorcyle for longer tours. I prefer small roads, dirt roads, log roads and not very interested in highways. That's the reason to buy small bike (eg. DR350). But on the other hand I live in Northern Europe and like to travel in Mediterranean countries, which means a lot of highways too, where a bigger bike (eg. XL600V) would be much better.

But because I have never ridden a small enduro bike, I'd like to know what is the real difference in dirt roads or trails between say 350cc and 650cc bike? And I mean the difference when the bike is equipped with good street capable enduro tyres (eg. Michelin Anakee) and 30-40kg of luggage.

Could it happen that with these tyres (not knobbies) and luggage the small bike is not so agile any more and difference between them is much smaller?

Hi Snufkin - as you've speculated, if you're going to start riding with 30-40Kg of luggage onboard, then you're unlikely to be fully exploiting the benefits of a smaller/lighter 'trail' bike anyway, so yes, the difference is not going to be quite so marked - although the same would be said for a larger bike carrying the same sort of luggage load too of course, so the smaller bike is still that much lighter to pick up of you drop it for example...

I think as you've ascertained, the requirements for a longer-distance travel bike are not the same as they would be for a single day-out trail-riding in tougher terrain... much more of a priority is going to be comfort and reliability, luggage carrying capacity and longer maintenance intervals etc. - all of which changes your priorities from the outright 'performance' of your bike to the 'overall' performance if you see what I mean?

If you like to take the smaller roads - ie. 100kmh and below type riding, then a smaller capacity bike still has a lot to recommend it (as long as it has a comfortable seat and decent luggage carrying capability), but if you want to hammer down a few hundred kms of Autoroute before (or after) the main part of your trip, then yes, a larger capacity bike is going to make easier work of that kind of riding - which is why a lot of people still chose a 650cc class single-cylinder bike (KLR/XR/DR/GS/KTM690) as it does have the edge over the smaller capacity trail bikes on the open road, but is typically still not quite as large or bulky as a 750+cc twin 'Adventure' bike once you get it on the dirt.

Personally, if you do plan to ride a lot of highway miles, and don't really intend to ride 'hard-core' off road on this particular bike, then for multi-surface adventure riding with luggage, I'd recommend you look at a Honda CB500X with a Rally-Raid wheel and suspension kit fitted - it neatly bridges the gap between a 650cc single off-road, while offering the on-road refinement of a larger twin.

Hope that helps...

Jenny x

Thanks for your reply.

If you look at the problem this way: what parts do you have to skip, if you travel with large bike (650cc) with the luggage and the suitable tyres instead of small bike? The answer is maybe more clear. With large bike you have to skip most of the off-road and nothing else. Some dirt roads and trails maybe more demanding but still possible.

And this takes you to an other question: could you do those part with just smaller bike of should you also have less luggage and more knobby tyres? I cannot answer to that, but I have my doubts that with street capable tyres the answer isn't that clear. Riding real off-road you need real off-road tyres.

CB500X seems to be quite new bike and out of my budjet. Instead of that I'm thinking of either 650cc single (XT660, Aprilia/BMW 650) or 600cc Transalp. TA is heavy but would have a twin engine which I do like.

Does anybody have an opinion is there difference between 650cc single and 600cc twin (TA) when riding technical parts like crossing rivers or rocky trails? Is the single more easy to stall in very slow speed (low revs)?

Hi Snufkin - generally speaking, a twin-cylinder adventure bike is going to be a little larger and more heavy than the equivalent capacity single-cylinder 'trail' bike, as the twins are designed to cover larger on-road distances in greater comfort and with more luggage/a passenger in comparison.

That is not to say that on the right size twin-cylinder machine, you couldn't take it pretty much anywhere you could take the single cylinder trail bike - but like all these questions, it very much depends on the rider, not the machine in itself.

With regard to the proposed riding you suggest - travelling from northern Europe to Mediterranean countries and exploring 'of-road' a little more - if you are talking about exploring defined dirt-roads and trails, then most 'adventure' bikes on the right tyres are going to be just fine (personally I have done a lot of riding in both Spain and Portugal, and also Morocco for example)... It's only if you want to start riding more technical single-track trails (ie. more suited to lightweight enduro bikes) that you'll start to find the limitations of a larger bike - and as I mentioned above, you're unlikely to be doing that kind of riding with a full luggage load anyway... unless you're really proficient as an off-road, which means the question shouldn't really be an issue anyway?

As I say, I recommend the best thing to do is pick a bike that handles the majority of your riding/proposed trip most comfortably and efficiently, and simply ride around any practical/physical limitations if and when you are in terrain you experience is outside of it's ideal.

Hope that helps...

Jenny x