GEARING UP: Soft Luggage vs Hard Luggage - The Essential Pannier

Tom Gould and Lauren Board are each riding 125cc Honda motorcycles on a trip from the UK to Cape Town, South Africa without a definite deadline. Their trip is loosely planned, it is their first major expedition, and they have already faced numerous challenges. When our host, Jim Martin, spoke with them, they were nursing hundreds of insect bites and had just been burglarized for the second time. To make matters worse, the people they thought would help them only scolded them and sent them on their way without food, water, or money, which the thieves had taken as well. Despite these hardships, Tom insists he wouldn’t turn back. He says you’d have to drag him home kicking and screaming. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Specialized safety gear, like Leatt's ADV-specific equipment, is vital for adventure riders tackling diverse terrains and weather conditions. These riders face unique challenges, from rocky trails to long hours in varied climates. As adventure riding grows in popularity, it's crucial to understand the specific safety needs of this community. ADV riders require gear that not only protects them from impacts but also meets the demands of off-road riding. Leatt's deep understanding of these needs enables them to develop tailored safety solutions, ensuring adventurers can explore with confidence and peace of mind. To find out more we talk to Dr. Chris Leatt, founder of Leatt Corporation. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Clinton Smout from SMART Adventures returns to ARR’s exclusive Rider Skills to talk about one of the most feared riding conditions we encounter on the street, especially for street riders - gravel. He talks about why gravel is feared, if it should be and what you can do about it to make riding gravel easy and even fun. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

In this episode of DEEP TROUBLE, a group of riders set off to the Cross Pennsylvania Adventure Trail expecting a fun and relatively easy ride. As they start their journey, they are surprised by the beautiful scenery, interesting attractions, and the remoteness they experience while riding through miles of game trails. Everything seems perfect until one small mistake changes everything. One of the riders goes down, and they are faced with potentially life-threatening complications. And It’s about then that they realize they don’t know where they are. Luckily, they have a plan. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Ted Simon is a well-known figure in the adventure motorcycle travel community. He rode his motorcycle around the world in the early 1970s, documenting his journey for a newspaper and later writing the book Jupiter’s Travels. The book became hugely popular and is still selling briskly almost five decades later. Ted recently turned 93 years old, and for his birthday, our host, Jim Martin, sat down with him to discuss how a rider today could have a similar trip. Ted came up with some criteria that anyone can follow to have a real adventure. During the conversation, it was revealed that Ted may not have been alone for the entire trip as previously thought and he also shared how his clear idea of what he wanted from his trip led him to turn his back on someone close to him so that he could continue his journey alone. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

The topic of large and small adventure motorcycles is often approached with a "large vs small" angle, as if there is a definitive answer to the question of which is better. However, just as there is no one-size-fits-all solution for footwear, there is no perfect bike that suits everyone for all occasions. In this episode, we will discuss large and small adventure motorcycles from a different perspective. Chris Birch from Say No To Slow talks about how we ride large vs small adventure motorcycles and why what works for one may not work for the other. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Ready for another big adventure, Dustin Nere reunited with a good friend at the Delhi airport for a 2-month adventure in the Himalayas. Apart from booking flights, reserving a hotel for the first few nights, and reserving bikes in Dehradun, they had no real plan. They knew of only a couple of notable places that Dustin had read about, and they hoped they could connect the dots. To make things more interesting, they began the journey with two other Americans who were visiting India for just two weeks. In the first week, they experienced bike troubles, landslides and altitude sickness. They made poor decisions and they learned valuable lessons. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

When 62 year old Don Nelson from Colorado walked into a motorcycle dealership for a casual look around, little did he know what was about to happen. After the salesman offered for him to test ride a bike, Don found himself making an impulsive decision—he bought a Triumph Bonneville on the spot. Despite not having ridden a motorcycle in over 40 years, he rediscovered his passion for riding and felt immediately at ease on the bike. Now, over a decade later at the age of 75, Don prefers to travel solo, riding long distances from his home to Alaska, coast-to-coast across the United States, and to the Rocky Mountains in Canada. For Don, age is just a number as he continues to embrace the freedom and excitement that motorcycling brings. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

In this episode of DEEP TROUBLE, we talk with James McCormick who went on what he calls, a ‘leap of faith ride’ in Baja, somewhere he had ridden many times before. This time he and his friend chose to explore a more remote area and everything seemed to be going smoothly until they were well past halfway into the ride, when suddenly the road they had counted on following was gone and all that remained was sand, rocks, cactus, and brush. Facing a critical decision, they decided to push on and by nightfall they found themselves stranded in the desert without enough fuel to either continue or turn back, and even worse, they ran out of water. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Proactive off-road awareness is a crucial safety step which allows riders to anticipate and respond to hazards effectively. Being in tune with the environment enables riders to navigate unpredictable obstacles such as rocks, roots, or uneven terrain, reducing the risk of accidents or injuries. And to talk about that we have SMART instructor, Clinton Smout. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!