Booking a motorbike tour? 10 questions you must ask!︱Cross Training Adventure

Описание: Booking a motorbike tour? Here are 10 questions you must ask! I've been on some amazing motorbike tours the past few years. So good that on the most recent one I didn't bother checking to see if the tour operator had a good reputation or not. It turned out to be the tour from hell. This is based on positive and negative experiences with Klaus Mueller and his Australian Trail Tours in the high country. But before I start, here are the 10 most important questions to ask before you hand over your hard earned cash.

Can you transport an injured rider?
Can you recover a motorbike?
Do you have emergency beacons and coms?
Do you carry tubes, oil, comprehensive toolkit etc?
Do you have a paramedic?
Is there a proper first aid kit?
Are you a registered business with insurance?
What happens if you damage my bike?
What is the riding like?
What's included in the price?

Check out these Klaus Mueller threads:
https://www.dirtriderz.com/topic/1572...
http://www.dirtbikeworld.net/forum/sh...
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads...
https://thumpertalk.com/reviews/produ...
   • Booking a motorbike tour? 10 questions you...  

Let's go through these and I'll use our recent high country tour with Klaus Mueller Australian Trail Tours as a test case. This was in the remote high country of Victoria where you are often a long long way from any assistance.
Can you transport an injured rider? There was no offroad support vehicle, we were only told at the rider briefing that injured riders would have to jump on the back of someone else's bike and be doubled out. What if they were too injured? Who knows? An explanation wasn't given.
Can you recover a motorbike? Without a support vehicle, it became clear that any broken down bike would have to be rescued by the owner later. Ditto for anyone too injured to ride their bike out.
Do you have emergency beacons and coms? In remote areas, rapid assistance is needed for major injuries. With Klaus Mueller and his Australian Trail Tours in the high country, a rider would potentially need to ride a long way before getting phone reception to call emergency services. And even the basics were missing, like radio comms between the leader and sweep rider.
Do you carry tubes, oil, comprehensive toolkit etc? Without a support vehicle, we were advised we'd need to carry everything needed to keep ourselves going which obviously adds weight.
Do you have a paramedic? Not many tours do, but at least they usually have one person trained in first aid. No mention was made of this on Australian Trail Tours in the high country with Klaus Mueller.
Is there a proper first aid kit? Thankfully we had no injuries, but we've heard reports from previous trips where Klaus Mueller's first aid kit is almost non-existent and they had to rely on kits brought by the customers.
Are you a registered business with insurance? Being registered does not guarantee a tour operator will be ethical, but it's a step in the right direction. We found that Klaus Mueller had no website, Facebook page, business registration or social media. And in worst case scenarios you want some form of public liability insurance over the tour, there was none in our case.
What happens if you damage my bike? Every night we locked our bikes to Klaus Mueller's trailer with his knowledge. On the fourth day he forgot and dragged our bikes down the road when he went for a drive, causing almost $3000 worth of damage. He said it wasn't his fault, he wouldn't pay, and he had no insurance so we would have to sue him. We didn't want to do this, but after several months he was pressured by one rider to cough up $700.
What is the riding like? Make sure you have the needed skills for the tour, and determine what sort of riding it will be. Because they are called trail bike tours, most of us expected dirt riding but never saw any single track, and just stayed on wide easy dirt tracks. And even did 140km of highway one day. It turned out to be an adventure ride, not a dirt ride at all.
What's included in the price? Remember a tour is often cheap because of what's not included. Klaus' tours in the high country are the cheapest, but other tours may include more such as fuel, lunches, inner tubes for punctures, extra support staff, emergency communication devices, a paramedic on staff, and insurance.

In my experience the other tour operators I've ridden with have been amazing, and checked the boxes on all these items. But above all they were dedicated to giving everyone the ride of their lives too. But it certainly helps to do your research first and make sure. I will be from now on.