What do you get when you send an Olympic athlete, an ultra marathon runner, a pro skateboarder, a flat track racer and a couple of mums on an motorcycle trip through the Dorset countryside? …. A mud filled, bike drowning, offs, tea, cake, and lols…. ALOT of lols…. Welcome to VC does Superior motorcycle experiences.
SUPERIOR MOTORCYCLE EXPERIENCES
Based in the beautiful setting of the Dorset countryside Superior Motorcycle Experiences is a motorcycle trip like no other we’ve ever been on.
Run from its Sherbourne HQ by a family of moto petrol heads the company run off road and road riding tours in the surrounding countryside that team up days playing in the dirt on off road bikes with all the luxury comforts you could wish for on your dream ride - From luxury accommodation (did we mention swimming pool??) to support vehicles on your journey and amazing food along the way this is a motorcycle tour company like no other and we went to spend a few days with them causing havoc on the trials and bringing some of our best riding buddies along for the adventure.
P// Howard Brown
The crew: Natasha Farrar, Steph Bowlam, Gemma Harrison, Victoria Pendleton, Emily Page, Lucia Aucott, Rachel Gomes, Josie Millard
DAY 1
We all arrived at our Superior motorcycle experience HQ digs one by one as our bunch travelled from different parts of the UK and we’re met with the most incredible 19th Century cottage complete with swimming pool (perfect after a long days dirt riding) .
But then there’s the garage….Oh the garage! A row of squeaky clean Royal Enfield Himalayans await our next day riding in the dirt around the green lanes of Dorest. And then, standing in a perfect line in the back of the garage are the legendary Brough Superiors. A true engineering feat these bikes are some of the most beautiful bikes to be built today but more on these awesome machines later.
So we settled into to our luxury accommodation for the night (aka drank wine, ate a ton of food and of course the mandatory first dip in that pool) for a full day of dirt riding starting early the next day.
P// Howard Brown
P// Howard Brown
P// Howard Brown
DAY 2
After a few weeks of promising glorious sunshine, the typically English weather had taken a last-minute u-turn and a very wet affair was forecast for the few days ahead. But this was an off road adventure we were on so of course that didn’t change a thing.
We all got up early, got into our different waterproof riding gear (key for enjoying any soggy off road trip) and expected the worst weather wise and went to choose our steeds for the day. However blue skies and sunshine prevailed the whole day until we made it back to HQ later that evening. Yassss! But that wasn’t to say that there weren’t a ton of enormous puddles to be enjoyed along the ride.
We were a pretty mixed group of riders with varied experience tackling this type of terrain but with some coaching from amazing guide Emily, who was constantly on hand to throw some tips and confidence whenever we were faced with a steep rocky hill climb or deep mud slide, within a couple of hours we were all soon tackling mud-laden tracks, narrow byways, slippy forest trails, and some pretty deep fords.
P// Howard Brown
By the end of day 1 we had covered a huge area to the south of Sherborne mixing single track by ways with everything from forestry to rocky scree type climbs where we could let the bikes power us out of the tough stuff and then let rip through the amazing scenery in the area with and everyone agreeing that the tea and cake stops (!) along the way out of the back of the support vehicle driven by the awesome James (SME boss man and all round meg dude) were something we wish we wouldn’t have to go dirt biking without ever again (cue tiny violins….) .
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DAY 3
Back on the Enfields for another fun filled day of off roading . But this time….RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. The mud was deeper, slipper and the terrain harder to ride than the previous day and aside for a few muddy wobbles we all smashed it finishing up at Compton abbas airfiled overlooking Shaftesbury and the hills of Dorset watching the vintage planes take off.
Then it was out for an amazing dinner with the SME team in the local Sherbourne village fulled by wine amazing food, friendship with talk of life, love, bikes, careers, adventures, kids and just a little bit of standard misbehaviour on our part :)
DAY 4
Next up, tearing up some tarmac on the Brough Superiors!
Now to anyone who hasn’t heard of Brough Superior the brand is steeped in British motorcycling history. From their roots in 1919 to then going out of business in 1940, Brough Superior has been revived in recent years and has taken a trip overseas to now having bikes built in Toulouse, France where the company build some of the most covetable motorcycles in the world today.
We were riding the Brough Superior SS100’s which are a few of only 300 ever to be made) and woahhhhh what a ride it was. With a £50,000 price tag these are bikes that are on most petrol heads bucket list to ride and we were lucky enough to be amongst very few riders to letting one of these babies loose on the roads.
The clear blue skies and sunshine were back for our ride out around the twisty roads of Dorset where we stretched these incredible machines legs and rode for a few hours with massive smiles and shouts as we experienced something truly special together. Stoke levels 100000%, CHECK. Bucket list bike ridden with our best riding buddies , CHECK!
With only a tiny bit of rain dampening our way back we headed back to HQ and to say goodbye to the awesome SME team having had an incredible time with some memories made that we won’t be forgetting in a longggggg time.
OK, SO WHAT DOES A £50k MOTORCYCLE FEEL LIKE TO RIDE?…..
Well, once you get over the fact that the bike is worth probably more than any bike you’ll ever own and stop shitting yourself that you’ll inevitably drop it it rides like a dream actually. It has all the mechanical grunt of a real piece of hand built machinery with its 997cc water-cooled V-twin (not like some of the modern bikes now a days that feel like you’re basically riding a computer) but it also has crazy force, speed and braking (the brakes are crazy keen and really require a gentle approach to avoid any wobbles) that you would expect from a bike like this.
In terms of an absolute engineering feat this bike (which goes a little way to justifying that price tag) is meticulously hand build with CNC everything from the controls to the indicators with a hand built tank to finish it off. Every bit of this motorcycle has been laboured over and the result is that it’s has the best of both new school performance with a nostalgic old school feel.
Fave bit? The unusual suspension system means the headlight mount rises when you accelerate making you see and feel every hand built detail this bike has at its heart. A bit of a shock at first but it’s very specific to these bikes which only adds to the experience.
For a bit more info on the bike check out the lil’ vid about the SS100 from the guys over at The Bike Shed for a walk through of just how jaw dropping this bike is.
A massive thank you to the team at Superior motorcycle experiences for allowing us rowdy lot come along and have an amazing time on your motorcycles together and to our awesome off road guide Emily Page. what a super hero!
If you’re in the midst of planning your moto trips for 2020 get on over to SUPERIOR MOTORCYCLE EXPERIENCES and believe us you won’t be disappointed <3
(Images by Howard Brown)
