Rider Experiences Explained

Everything you need to know about our rider experiences.

Our 'Rider Experiences' are for people who want to have a go at riding a motorcycle and sidecar with us. You'll be controlling the bike. If you want to be a passenger and just enjoy the ride you need to check out our passenger experiences.

What are our Rider Experiences?

Rider Experiences give you the chance to get behind the handlebars of a Ural Gear-Up. We are the only place in UK where you can try riding motorcycles and sidecars in this way. All of the days are led by experienced sidecar riders who are also qualified motorcycle guides so you'll be in safe hands.

All of our standard rider experiences are small group days. You will have your own motorcycle and sidecar that you will share with whoever you come with. You can therefore only book in groups of 2, 4, 6 or 8. However if you want to come on your own or you have an odd number of people in your group you can pay a single supplement fee. In this case you will have some weight in the sidecar rather than another person.

Who can take part in a Rider Experience?

To take part in a rider experience you must:

• Have a full motorcycle license

• Have less than 6 penalty points on your license

• Be 25 or over

You can share the riding between you if both of you meet the above criteria. If only one of you meet that criteria then only that person can ride and the other person must stay in the passenger seat. You will also be asked to sign a disclaimer saying that you fully accept the risk or riding motorcycles and you are willing to pay a £1000 excess for any damage you cause to our bikes. This damage does not extend to general wear and tear.

What do you do on a normal experience?

A standard rider experience starts at our experience centre, located at Drift Cafe, Cresswell, Morpeth, NE615LA. The experience starts at 9:30am where you will be greeted with tea and coffee before we do a briefing on the bikes. After a very short verbal introduction and demonstration from our guides you will jump in the passenger seats (in the sidecar and pillion behind the rider) and then enjoy a scenic and informative passenger ride through beautiful countryside to a test track area. This ride is about 30 minutes long. At the test track we will swap seats and start the riding element of the experience.

We will then set up a series of games and exercises to help you understand how to safely ride a motorbike and sidecar. Sidecars are very different to solo motorcycles and the experience will give you a fun introduction into:

• How to safely stop sidecar outfit

• How to safely steer a sidecar outfit

• How accelerating and decelerating affects the handling of the bike

• How to ride with the additional width (including road positioning

• What happens if you corner too fast

• How weight imbalances impact handling

• How gear changes impact handling

• How cambers impact handling

• And anything else you might like to know (yes including the best set up for your dog!)

A half day and full day experience follow the exact same format for the first 2.5 hours until the half day bookings head back to base. A full day experience only differs in that you have more time to experience riding the bike and more time to different activities. Lunch is included for full day bookings. If you've decided you've had enough riding you can always turn your experience into a passenger experience and go out to explore the countryside. Some full day experiences like to make the afternoon an exhilarating passenger experience. As the experiences are private guided there is the opportunity to focus on parts you find more interesting or more difficult. Once you have a basic understanding of how to ride the bike we can develop your skills with additional exercises or areas including an off road section (Ural only).

How to book?

If that sounds good to you then you can read more about our experiences and book yours here. All experiences are bookable online and rider experiences run every other Tuesday and Saturday throughout April- October.

A £100 per person deposit is taken when booking online and the remaining balance is due in advance or on the day. All deposits are non-refundable but they can be transferred to any other date up to 4 weeks before your experience.