Adventure Bikes

  • The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Eight

    The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Eight

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    Tibetan flavour The night in the tent had been surprisingly comfortable. And waking up to the sound of the river was lovely. That noise was soon drowned by the Bollywood soundtracks blasting out of the kitchen, which was next to my tent. Still, authentic sounds I guess. The riding today was not much different to…

  • The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Seven

    The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Seven

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    Going local It may have taken a while, but by day five I felt like I had mastered the Indian approach to using the horn. It is basically your answer to any traffic situation. Want to overtake someone? Why mess around with indicators when you can just beep your horn. How about going round a…

  • The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Six

    The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Six

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    Finding the tourist trail So far, every day of riding has been different. The first day was a transition from the sprawling masses of Chandigarh to quiet back roads. It was also an introduction to lazy cows in the middle of the road, homicidal lorry drivers attacking from every angle, and the ever-present dust. The…

  • The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Five

    The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Five

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    Clear water and mucky kit Day three of riding in Himachel Pradesh was the best so far. We covered a similar distance to previous days, around 125km, but by the end of the ride I felt far less knackered than on previous days. This was thanks to today’s roads being (mostly) recently resurfaced, which made…

  • The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Four

    The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Four

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    Alpine apples Waking up in a palace puts you in a good mood right from the start, I find. So does watching wild monkeys play just outside your window. The second day of riding started with good omens and lots of chai. From Chail we headed towards Narkanda, which sits slightly higher in the mountain…

  • The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Three

    The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Three

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    Hey, ho, let’s go! The morning in Chandigarh was what we had all been waiting for – this was the start of the seven days of riding in Himachal Pradesh. The weather looked nice and sunny, but it was intensely hot and humid. The good news was that the monsoon rains hadn’t caught up with…

  • The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Two

    The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day Two

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    Delhirium If I’m honest, the first few hours in Delhi were a bit of a shock. I felt overwhelmed by the enormity of the city (the estimates vary, but the population without including the urban surroundings is close to 20 million), the intense heat, the chaotic traffic, the hoards of beggars and the fact that…

  • The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day One

    The Best Exotic Marigold Expedition – Day One

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    What’s it like exploring the foothills of the Himalayas on a Royal Enfield Himalayan? We found out! Touring in India is like sipping a fine cocktail – it fills your mind with an intoxicating mix of colours, smells, sounds and flavours. Except that you can’t just delicately get your lips wet for a little taste…

  • Cake’s ELECTRIC utility motorcycle: the Ösa.

    Cake’s ELECTRIC utility motorcycle: the Ösa.

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    Make sure you’re sitting down when you read the price of this thing. Following the release of its Kalk dirt-bike style electric machine, Swedish bike builders Cake has just released the details of its newest project: the Ösa. Alright, so this one’s a little bit leftfield. It’s certainly not a looker, but with a claimed…

  • VIDEO: Riding big bikes off-road. Ducati’s Beppe Gualini explains how.

    VIDEO: Riding big bikes off-road. Ducati’s Beppe Gualini explains how.

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    Ten-time Dakar competitor and Ducati off-road expert Beppe Gualini has released a video breaking down how to handle a big bike off-road. There’s a lot of scepticism about just how well big adventure bikes handle off-road. Ok, so there’s little doubt what they can do in the hands of experts, but for us mere mortal…

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