Chris Birch wheelies over a stream. Image: Danny Wilkinson
Adventure motorcycles tend to be large, heavy machines that are geared toward street, but designed to look like they should be off-road. And as adventure motorcycles have evolved, instead of making the bikes smaller and lighter to mimic off-road bikes, they have instead made them larger and heavier, moving away from the features that would make them better for riding in the dirt, yet they appear as though they should. Adventure motorcycles look like they can handle anything, go anywhere, just throw in some camping gear and away you go. But, maybe the real reason they have taken off is that when they first started to show up on the scene, many top off-road riders were drawn to them, and although they found that they underperformed compared to the bikes they were used to, they worked to invent new skills and techniques to be able to efficiently ride these oversized bikes, so that they could be ride them like it appeared they should be ridden… off-road. Riding instructor, Chris Birch, or you may know him as the KTM 1190 guy, is one of those off-road riders.
Images: Danny Wilkinson
About Chris Birch
Chris Birch is a life-long motorcyclist and has been an off-road riding instructor in New Zealand since 2007. He first started out as a trials rider and moved on to enduro riding in his teens. He’s an eight times national enduro champion in New Zealand, and is New Zealand’s most successful Dakar Rally competitor finishing 27th and 2nd in the rookies class in 2012. He’s now one of KTM’s highest profile Adventure Ambassadors. Chris has a background as a mechanical engineer which gives him a unique perspective on the physics of motorcycle riding and the techniques. He now runs his coaching business full time and spends most of the year travelling around the world running coaching clinics and going to adventure bike events.
Website: https://chrisbirch.co.nz
MUSIC CREDITS:
Title: Funky Folk
Title: Greasy Wheels
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Title: stinger_funky
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Title: another week
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Title: DELUSION 32
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