Over 10,000 demo rides and 14,700 adventure enthusiasts later, the 2024 Adventure Bike Rider Festival becomes the biggest and best yet.
This weekend, 28-30 June, saw the 2024 Adventure Bike Rider Festival take over the stunning Ragley Hall estate for the fifth year running and welcomed just under 15,000 motorcyclists for three full days of riding, inspirational talks, live music and much more. This year’s event marked the largest ever ABR Festival to date.
One of the most popular elements of the festival was the wealth of opportunities for ticket holders to ride the latest motorcycles from the world’s major manufacturers, as well as boutique bike brands. This year, an enormous 10,000+ demo riders were delivered throughout the weekend by more than 20 manufacturers, including household brands like Honda, Harley-Davidson, Kawasaki, Triumph, Royal Enfield, Yamaha and many more, to new manufacturers like Kove UK using the ABR Festival to launch the brand in market.
Festival goers enjoyed the 40 kilometres of continuous purpose-built trails on demo rides or their own machines, on site at Ragley Hall. Proudly welcoming riders of all abilities to give off-road riding a try, three specially crafted trails – The Bridgestone Trail, TRF Trail and Beginner’s Trail – were designed to offer something for everyone, from the tranquil, open grassland and technical tight wooded sections, to the challenging ‘Bog of Doom’, ‘Swamp Man’ and ‘Wooded Wonderland’.
In addition to the two-wheel test rides, ATV demos, guided green lane ride-outs, advanced riding assessments, off-road skills schools, motorcycle masterclasses and live rider displays featured throughout the three-day event.
Over 140 leading motorcycle brands and trade vendors opened for business in the Exhibitor Village at this year’s festival, giving guests the chance to receive specialist advice from industry experts, while also getting to bag a bargain on the latest kit and accessories, and keeping refreshed thanks to a range of exceptional coffee, food and drink stands across the festival site.
As well as the abundance of riding opportunities and activities, one of the unmissable features for ticket holders was the packed speaker schedule featuring more than 60 talks across four stages, which left visitors feeling inspired.
Special guest and Dakar legend Sam Sunderland surprised The Himalayan Masterclass Stage, with The Bridgestone Stage, The Main Speaker Stage, and the new for 2024, The ABR Magazine Traveller’s Tent, playing host to an abundance of fascinating around-the-world riders, off-road racing champions, motivating world record holders and the most popular social media stars.
In the GoPro Arena, top-tier riders like Chris Birch, Adam Riemann, Dylan and Rowan Jones, Jack Challoner, Geoff Walker, and Jake Edey wowed spectators with a series of spectacular display rides, showcasing just what big adventure bikes are capable of in extremely talented hands.
Entertainment and the festival atmosphere were topped off by the incredible schedule of live music throughout the entire event, from rock tribute bands performing on the bikerheadz Stage, to Ibiza DJ sets keeping the party going late into the night on the Bridgestone Stage. Also, here, ticket holders experienced an electrifying fusion of music that included world-class choirs, enchanting string quartets, and a mesmerising Brazilian dance troupe. The relaxing Magic Teapot area provided a relaxing escape, with piano sets and endless cups of tea, and visitors relished the acoustic evening sessions in the Chillout Tent.
Lee Westbrook, UK Country Manager, Kove UK, said: “The Adventure Bike Rider Festival has been key to the launch of Kove in the UK, and it’s been an absolute resounding success. Our hope was to get some enquiries, but with the sheer amount of footfall, it’s quadrupled our expectations. We weren’t expecting to sell a bike, but we’ve taken a number of orders, deposits and had lots of interest which has been amazing. We now know this is where we need to be, and next year, we’ll be back and we’ll be a whole lot bigger.”
Fabrizio Cazzoli, Managing Director, Ducati UK, said: “It’s always a pleasure to be here at the ABR Festival with the Ducati team. The festival is continuously growing bigger and better, and Ducati is proud to have contributed to the success of this fantastic event. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to connect with Ducati fans and offer opportunities for them to not only see the latest models in person, but also experience our bikes on trails and roads.”
Luke Gregory, Managing Director, Lukas Distribution and BSA UK, said: “The 2024 Adventure Bike Rider Festival has been excellent for BSA. Our Gold Star test rides were fully booked across all three days, resulting in us being able to deliver over 300 demo rides which is fantastic. Overall, it’s been a great show for us, super well organised with an excellent crowd of people. It’s one of the best motorcycle events I’ve ever been to, and it’s safe to say we can’t wait to return in 2025.”
Gary Hartshorne, Senior Motorcycle Product Manager, Bridgestone North Europe, said: “Bridgestone has been involved in the ABR Festival since the very first one when it was just 250 people in a field in Banbury, and as the main sponsor of the event since 2018. It has been great to see it grow to what it is today, with all the people and the extra add-ons such as the Bridgestone Stage and the music there. A massive congratulations from everybody at Bridgestone, what an event!”
John Small, Commercial Director, Cool Covers, said: “We have been a supporter of the Adventure Bike Rider Festival right from the early days in a field in Northamptonshire, when it was just one tiny little tent. From our point of view as a vendor, last year we had fantastic sales at the event, and I came here with the optimism that we would excel that, and we have done that. It adds to the fact that not only are we supporting this fantastic festival, but equally our product is being exceptionally well received by the festivalgoers. We’ll be back here next year!”
Alun Davies, Founder, Adventure Bike Rider Festival, said: “It’s the people who make events come to life and with that in mind I’m indebted to all the public and industry who came and made the ABR Festival such a fantastic, vibrant and friendly celebration of motorcycles and riders. I’m missing the vibe of the festival already and can’t wait to welcome you back to ABR Festival 2025.”
Adventure Bike Rider Festival 2025 Early Bird tickets will go on sale on 15 July, priced at £139. For full information, visit: www.abrfestival.com
