RALLYMOTO - Adventure - Rally - Roadbook (NOV-DEC)

MAY/JUNE Jan/Feb NOV/DEC 2022 

2022 

DIGITAL RIGS 

MEMBERS SHARE SET UPS 

TAT CHAT 

PETE TAKES ON THE STATES 

THE TRUSTY 

HUSKY 

THE STORY OF SIMON’S 

OLD FAITHFUL 

PLUS 

MORE! 

 

TROPHY RESULTS + ZERO HEROES

RallyMoto Magazine 


WRITTEN BY 

ROBERT HUGHES 

Hi Guys, 

Well, Ice Breaker kicked off with 

a “bang” in December with riders 

signing up, getting registered and 

riding the routes. Some riders got 

a “Mission Accomplished” before 

Christmas and one achieved an Ice 

Man Yeti Award well before 2023 had 

even started! 

It has been an incredibly busy time 

and we now have dates secured for 

the Kielder 500, Wales 500 and the 

Dark Skies events. The RallyMoto 

Cup will combine all the adventure 

rallies and by next October we will 

see the victorious rally rider for 2023. 

The Tour of Portugal is looking good 

for April and we have over 30 riders 

signed up for the adventure in the 

mountains, with long days in the 

saddle and some challenges for the 

riders in Rally and Adventure Class, 

we can’t wait. 

23, 

we are 

ready for 

you! 

The Team will also be putting 

together more training days and 

we will be sorting dates for the 

Adventure Rally Raid events to get 

you out riding and practising your 

roadbook navigation skills. 

From the feedback on the Tarmac 

only routes on the Ice Breaker we 

may have some special in about a 

month for those of you that like a 

challenge but want to keep it on the 

black stuff - it will be fun. 

Plus there may be some more digital 

roadbook challenges for 2023 - we’ll 

keep you posted. 

3 - 2 - 1 Gooooooo! 

Burt and the RallyMoto Team 

CONTENTS 

6 

8 

13 

14 

10 

DIGITAL DISCUSSION 

SHARING SET UPS 

DARK SKIES KIELDER 

FINAL RESULTS 

INTERNATIONAL RALLY DATES 

A LOOK FURTHER AFIELD 

RIDERS’ RIDES 

THE TRUSTY HUSKY 

A TAT TALE 

PETE CHATS TAT 

2 

Cover image: MITCH REYNOLDS 

3



NEW FOR 

2023! 

Light Is Right 

RALLY CLASS | ADVENTURE CLASS 

4 

TROPHY 

ZERO HERO 

5


DIGITAL DISCUSSION 

THE 2023 ICE BREAKER CHALLENGE is now well and truly underway 

for a second year as a digital only event. How riders choose to set themselves 

up for digital roadbooking is down to personal choice, but as usual 

there are an abundance of requests for advice on what is the best setup to 

use. Here are some sources of inspirition from perhaps some of the more 

‘tech savvy’ RallyMoto members within the facebook group. 

6 

STEVE BOTTOMLEY 

I use a Ram ball in place of one of the 

bar clamp bolts, a long Ram arm and 

a Ram tablet holder with Ram AMPs 

pattern ball bolted to the back of the 

mount. The tablets use quite a lot of 

power so you will probably need a USB 

power supply. Mine is a simple lead but 

more expensive mounts are available 

with charging connections built in. If 

your generator isn’t up to powering the 

tablet, take a separate Li power bank 

with you in case power runs low during 

the day (Li batteries provide less power 

when they are cold). 

PHIL HARRIS 

Best current options for Digital 

Roadbooking: 

Samsung Active 2 Tablet ~ £85 

on ebay 

RAM mount with powered pogo 

pins ~ £90 

O2Riders Bluetooth Switches 

~£120 (rally.o2riders.com) 

ICE BREAKER 

CHALLENGE 

MARTIN LIU 

Don’t forget a decent Bluetooth controller... 

Thork racing or O2 rally... don’t 

bother with the little fiddly ones off 

Amazon...just my 2c worth... have tried 

various set ups. 

POWERED BY 

MICHAEL LELIEVELD 

The pogo pins are much more 

reliable for power feed than the 

USB-C input. Several people had 

problems with the latter getting 

wet. Both RAM and Brodit sell 

rugged mounts for the Active 

2&3 series that provide power via 

the Pogo Pins. 

In addition to the Ram ball mounting 

option (which is good), Rally 

Raid sell a billet 12mm bar to 

AMPS mount, which allows you 

to mount the tablet mount to a 12 

to 12.7mm bar, as another option. 

The Brodit mount includes a 

swivel with AMPS hole positions 

so that you can rotate between 

portrait and landscape if you are 

using a 12mm bar mount. 

OLIVER CROWIE 

Brodit tablet mount or a ram 

tablet mount def as the power 

is hardwired and they’re either 

a handlebar mount with a 

mount plate. 

ANDY FAIRHURST 

Hope this helps fitting roadbook or 

tablets to a T7. 

Today I fitted the anti wobble bars , 

had to modify them a bit to fit right, 

they were the Chinese ones and 

welds were a bit poor but useable and 

strong. 

Basically had to grind a bit off and 

bend the top bar mounting parts to fit 

right, fits very good now and reduced 

wobble a lot. 

I proceeded to tidy the wires and 

bracket for the fuses and auxiliary 

power switch. After making everything 

fit I had to work out what I was going 

to do about mounting my tablet, in the 

end I came to the conclusion it’s best 

to remove the roadbook and fit the 

tablet back on the cross bar. 

To fit the bike in a t5 I have to remove 

the road book and front screen, now a 

10min job. 


PAUL APPLEBY 

Adventure spec mini 

fairing, samsung galaxy 

active 2 and ram mount. 

Works fine. 

7



CONGRATULATIONS: 

KEITH LONGNEY - 

DARK SKIES KIELDER RALLY CLASS WINNER 

MICHEAL LEVEIVELD - 

THE ONLY ZERO HERO IN THE ADVENTURE 

CLASS 

The Kielder Dark Skies event for 2022 

consisted of a 425km route through Kielder 

and Kershope Forests, which for the second 

half of the route consisted of a night stage. 

As you would expect the 124 riders were 

greeted by a variety of weather conditions 

including sunshine, rain and fog on the night 

stage. 

On the Sunday the weather was much 

improved and the riders completed the 

218km roadbook on Sunday. 

8 

9

10 

11 


RallyMoto Magazine


2023 


INTERNATIONAL RALLY DATES 

DEC 31, 2022 - JAN 15, 2023 

DAKAR RALLY 45TH EDITION - SAUDI ARABIA 

MARCH 11 - 26 

AFRICA ECO RACE 15TH EDITION - MOROCCO, MAURITANIA AND 

SENEGAL 

APRIL 21 - 23 

RALLYMOTO TOUR OF PORTUGAL 

APRIL 21 - 30 

MOROCCO DESERT CHALLENGE 

MAY 13 - 21 

ILLYRIA RAID (SPRING EDITION) - CROATIA/ BOSNIA/ MONTENEGRO/ 

ALBANIA/ NORTH MACEDONIA/ GREECE/ BULGARIA 

MAY 22 - 28 

HELLAS RALLY RAID - GREECE 

*** JOIN TEAM RALLYMOTO FOR THIS EVENT!*** 

JUNE 03 - 10 

RALLY ALBANIA 

AUGUST 20 26 

DINARIC RALLY - CROATIA, BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA, MONTENEGRO… 

ENTRIES CLOSING SOON! 

SEPT 09 - 17 

ILLYRIA RAID (REVERSE EDITION) - CROATIA/ BOSNIA/ MONTENE- 

GRO/ ALBANIA/ NORTH MACEDONIA/ GREECE/ BULGARIA 

12 

OCT 01 - 08 

GREECE RALLY 

0CT 12 - 18 

RALLY DU MAROC 

13


»Riders’ 

rides« 

Like many, before Rallymoto events I 

toured on adventure bikes. For 10 years 

I rode V-Stroms, GS’s and latterly a Super 

Tenere (which I still own and adore), 

clocking up about 300k miles around Europe 

& Scandinavia. Slowly the off-road 

itch became impossible to ignore, and 

while big bikes might be capable offroad 

I wasn’t having fun. 

Wanting something smaller & not having a 

car licence meant the bike would have to be 

comfortable enough for long distance use 

year round, able to take camping luggage, 

reliable enough to tolerate my imperfect 

maintenance schedule, powerful enough for 

fun on-road, robust enough for off-road without 

bending, and light enough to repeatedly 

pick-up, e.g. the impossible unicorn bike. 

I bought a DRZ400 and spent a couple of 

years reaching for 6th watching the T7 development, 

then bought a 701 intending to 

install a rally kit. 

Two 

years of intense 

SIMON’S 

HUSKY 701 

ENDURO 

green-laning later I gracefully introduced 

the 701 into an Armco barrier. While waiting 

for parts I found Rallymoto online. Two 

weeks, one fixed bike and one healed-ish 

rib later I was in the Peak District for my first 

roadbook event. I was instantly hooked & 

have ridden almost every event since. Then 

just before an Isle of Man event, the 701 was 

stolen. After a quick (6 months…) insurance 

claim & house move I collected another 701 

in early 2020. 

Having thrown piles of expensive aftermarket 

parts onto previous bikes, I didn’t modify 

either 701 much initially - standard bits 

for luggage, skid-plate, rear spring, better 

grips & handguards. The only unusual part 

was a homemade auxiliary fuse-box. After a 

few events I added an F2R roadbook & handlebar 

mounting arms, then a homemade 

pseu- do windscreen and phone / 

fuse- 

box mount. It worked, but 

looked exactly like the pile 

of 

bits it was. 

I spent months deliberating 

between kits from 

Omega, Kit690, Aurora, 

Rade, RebelX, Nomad & 

MST. My heart wanted a full kit from Aurora, 

Omega or Kit690, my head (and wallet) 

firmly preferred Rade/Aurora Lite kits. The 

disparity between what I wanted and what I 

was prepared to pay was so large I never hit 

the button. 

In late 2020 I was super lucky finding a used 

Omega kit for sale. It wasn’t perfect, some 

parts missing or needing TLC, but it was 

cheap. Installing was straightforward and 

lockdowns provided ample time for undoing 

& redoing steps (rewiring cables and 

rerouting hoses to prevent pulling or rubbing). 

Designing the graphics took a couple 

of months then I had my first go at installing 

vinyls … safe to say the last installed 

bits are much better applied than the first. 

With increased weight up front I finally had 

K-Tech install properly rated springs. 

The first ride was incredible, still the same 

LC4, still sit ‘on’ it rather than ‘in’ it, and no 

off-road abilities compromised. But sitting 

down and scooting back now makes it feel 

like an adventure bike. Removing wind 

blast changes the riding sensation hugely, 

70mph isn’t a chore. Moving the tripmeter, 

roadbook and dash up high massively improves 

rally & road riding situational awareness. 

2021’s Icebreakers were an extended shake 

down - chasing vibrations & getting suspension 

dialled in. 

The 3 fuel tanks carry about 28 litres, depending 

on throttle discipline this 

means a 400 to 600 km range. At 

the end of long days I empty the 

rear tank & only fill the front, putting 

weight up front makes the bike 

feel a bit like a supermoto, great 

for lively rides back to camp! 

The kit is woven kevlar & carbon 

fibre, incredibly strong but not 

indestructible. The day before 

the Feb 2022 Enduro cannonball 

Strata Florida poked a hole in my 

bash plate (and seriously tested its 


wading depth), a rubber tank mount failure 

caused a stress fracture, Haggs Bank 

cracked the skid-plate and broke the side 

stand sensor. With composites though - if 

something breaks it’s probably repairable. 

The kit adds about 9kg, I don’t really feel it 

but it’s there. The skid-plate is wide enough 

to high centre in deep narrow ruts. The seat 

is a plank. 

15k miles after installation the bike far exceeds 

my ‘Unicorn’ goals. It’ll never be finished 

though, next is anti vibration handlebar 

mounts, rerouting brake lines, custom 

seat and a rally airbox for long-range TET 

riding. After that a steering damper, rewiring 

the tower, removing emissions systems, 

a lighter exhaust, and maybe another go at 

those graphics… 

I’m grateful to many for helping me get the 

bike sorted, so a big thanks to: 

• The entire family at CPS Motorcycles 

for all the care over the years 

• Thomas (omegafibre.net) so 

helpful with advice and replacements. 

• Ross (carbonrepairuk.com) 

great repairs & massively reduced anxiety 

over damaging things 

• Clinton (banditgraffix.com) 

amazing price & service 

14 

WANT TO CHAT BIKE? 

Tell us about your ride - robert@rallymoto.co.uk 

15

16 

17 


A TALE OF THE 

TAT 

8000 miles, 49 days, 19 punctures, 

14 states, 5 Honda CRF Rally’s and 

4 of my mates. 

All images by 

Actiongraphers 

THE TRANS 

AMERICA 

TRAIL IN 

2022. By Pete Livsey 

The TAT in 2022 was full of crazy days, 

unforgettable experiences and a pretty 

epic adventure all round! 

We started out in Baltimore filling out 

forms to clear customs and getting the 

bikes off the ferry, packing our luggage, 

shopping for supplies before we headed 

out on the TAT. 

We had aimed to follow the famous Sam’s 

Route, we even met him along the way. 

Sam’s a cool dude with lots of tales to 

share and a real passion for accumulating 

new routes all over America and he never 

stops working on updating the TAT. It was 

great to meet Sam, he is the legend that 

started it all. 

The East coast section wasn’t the journey 

we really wanted. It was surprising just 

how much road was on the route so we 

soon started looking for detours on alternative 

tracks and trails like The Back 

Country Discovery routes (BDR’s) which 

proved a nice change from the tarmac 

and felt a bit more adventurous whilst 


traversing through the eastern and southern 

states. We knew as we got farther 

west the tarmac riding would end and 

the trails become long and more challenging. 

At this stage we decided that for 

the rest of the trip we would not strictly 

follow any particular route but combine 

the most popular bits from Sam’s, Kevin’s, 

the BDR’s and trails we already had 

knowledge of, choosing whichever we 

thought would be the most fun at the time 

and which kept us on the dirt. 

The easy riding in the east did indeed 

soon give way to the nice flowing single 

track and fast forest breaks through the 

beautiful South. Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, 

Mississippi and Arkansas were a 

real eye opener. The people everywhere 

are so friendly and the accent in the south 

might just be my all time favourite. We 

visited a few cool places here including 

Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg and 

an afternoon at the Dollywood Theme 

Park keeping the Dolly fan amongst us 

very happy. After saving a few tortoises, 

jumping trees and eating 

enough deep fried southern 

food for a lifetime we 

planned to cross the flatlands.

RallyMoto Magazine DINARIC RALLY TAT TALES 


Oklahoma has a reputation for being 

incredibly boring in the dry and lethal in 

the wet. Unfortunately for us it was dry 

the entire way. The roads here are the 

longest, straightest, dustiest imaginable 

with flat farmland either side and a view 

that never changes. I’ve never fallen 

asleep on a bike before but managed it 

here only waking up to the developing 

70mph speed wobble and thankful for a 

little adrenalin as that was the only interesting 

thing that happened in Oklahoma. 

Many people do go round these tracks 

and I now see why. As we had parts waiting 

for us on the other side of the Pan 

Handle it made sense for us to continue 

along the gravel trying not to fall asleep 

again. 

The Rockies soon loomed in the distance 

and we became very happy with the prospect 

of a corner or two and some proper 

riding. On seeing the mountains we knew 

it was game on. This is where the adventure 

really begins and friends in the states 

had forewarned us about our intended 

route through Colorado so we took a 

day to check the route again, service the 

bikes and change our tyres. 

Some of the riding was indeed worthy of 

respect. On bikes loaded with camping 

gear, food and all the expected trimmings 

notorious passes like “Black Bear” were 

sketchy to say the least. Wet, slippery 

rock steps are more akin to an enduro 

bike than a loaded CRF. 

After a couple of days riding the sketchy 

mountain passes we decided to spend 

some extra days around Colorado exploring 

on the bikes without any luggage, 

taking in a white water rafting trip, hot 

air ballooning, shooting guns and eating 

BBQ’s with the locals. American hospitality 

is fantastic, Everyones so friendly, 

warm and quick to welcome strangers. 

We went to family meals and sat around 

campfires with so many interesting people 

sharing beers, stories and laughter in 

almost every state along the way. 

The RnR in Colorado was most welcome 

as the next leg threatened to be super hot 

and the most challenging riding so far. 

We thought very long and hard about this 

leg due to the world wide heatwave and 

temperatures in the desert approaching 

50 degrees daily. Carrying so much water 

is difficult but essential, I had around 15 

litres on me at all times and never passed 

up an opportunity to refill. After much deliberation 

we decided to give it a go and 

I’m so glad that we did. 

Riding through the deep slot canyons 

in soft, deep sand, admiring the Native 

American Petroglyphs whilst resting in the 

shade of the giant desert towers was spectacular. 

The terrain is really hot and difficult to 

navigate but I’ve never seen a landscape like 

it before. Everything is huge, hot, intimidating 

and seems endless. This was the bit we 

worried about the most and proved to be the 

best. Moab had the best trails and challenges 

for men and machines but we all came 

through without too much fuss and the little 

honda was always 100% reliable. 

After Utah it was on to visit the iconic Bonneville 

salt flats. Hallowed ground indeed! 

This is a must visit for any petrol head. Although 

not much to see other than salt, it was 

spine tingling awesome to ride where so 

many have gone so fast. The CRF topped out 

at around 80mph so maybe the slowest and 

funniest race ever to be held on the salt. The 

makes every biker smile. Camping here 

tucked in amongst these humongous trees 

was the best. The temperature was perfect 

for us Brits to sleep well with only the 

bears and snakes to worry about. 

We eventually dropped into Port Orford 

leaving the forests behind and headed 

south on the Pacific Coast highway taking 

in the beaches and panoramic view from 

the most scenic highway in America on 

our way down to San Francisco where the 

bikes and guys would return home. 

I always feel sad at the end of an adventure. 

Waving goodbye to my mates as they 

flew home to real life, work and family, I 

stayed on for a few more weeks already 

missing my mate, their stories, our laughter 

round the campfire and began to miss 

home for the first time. 

race ended in a contentious result but as it’s 

my story, we’ll just say I won! 

After the salt flats we headed into Salt Lake 

city for Rodeo night and a few cold drinks 

whilst watching the cowboys and girls do 

their thing. The rodeo is a huge deal here, 

people came out in force to support the riders 

with almost everyone donning stetsons, 

Levis and Spurs cheering, jeering and hollering 

throughout the evening. Americans really 

know how to put on a show! 

Trees, lots of trees and really big trees. The 

giant Sequoia and the Redwoods of Idaho and 

Oregon are some of the largest in the world 

and they have lots of ‘em. We spent days riding 

through these huge forests in much more 

forgiving temperatures than the desert trails 

of Moab on the kind of flowey, fast trail that 

18 

It was here that I planned my next adventure…… 

South America anyone? 

19


@rallymotouk 

RallyMoto: Adventure 

Rally & Roadbook 

Challenges 

RallyMoto: Rally & 

Adventure Riding 

by Roadbook Group 

THANK YOU! 

AND HAPPY 

NEW YEAR! 

To all RallyMoto members 

for providing their continued 

support and for taking part in 

promoting Adventure Rallying 

in the UK and beyond, 

and to our awesome partners 

and sponsors... 

If you have any rally stories or news you’d 

like to contribute to the magazine please 

email Burt on robert@rallymoto.co.uk 

20

RALLYMOTO - Adventure - Rally - Roadbook (NOV-DEC)

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