Legendary off-road rider and Kriega ambassador, Chris Birch, confirmed for ABR Festival 2023

• Birch to showcase world-class ability in one-off riding demo in the Adventure Park

• Visitors to hear Chris Birch speak at the Bridgestone Campfire Stage on Saturday afternoon

• The festival will welcome a star-studded line-up of adventure bikers and travellers, with over 35 speakers now confirmed

• Headline names include Elspeth Beard, Ted Simon, RyanF9, Dylan Wickrama and Nick Sanders

• Limited weekend tickets are still available, but limited in number

Legendary off-road rider and Kriega ambassador,Chris Birch, is the latest big-name to confirm their attendance for this year’s ABR Festival.

Birch, a multiple New Zealand Enduro overall champion and two-time Red Bull Romaniacs winner, is widely considered as one of the world's most skilled and versatile off-road riders to have ever lived.

Making his ABR Festival debut this coming June, Chris will be flying in from his native New Zealand and is scheduled to showcase his world-class ability in a one-off riding demo in the Adventure Park, alongside some of the world’s best riders.

This is a rare opportunity for festival visitors to witness Chris’s breath-taking riding skills in person; a chance to see one of the world’s greatest and most talented adventure riders in action.

As well as exhibiting his riding skills, Chris will take to the Bridgestone Campfire Stage as a speaker on Saturday afternoon, entertaining audiences with his experiences and anecdotes from his illustrious riding career.

Commenting on the announcement, Chris Birch said, “I’m excited to be at the ABR Festival this year. It looks like a good time on motorbikes and I’m looking forward to being there. I’ll be doing some riding demos and a bit of a talk. But mainly, I’ll be there to hang out, meet as many people as possible and enjoy some good times on bikes. I’m very much looking forward to it.”

Chris Birch will be joining a growing list of impressive riders and adventurers at the 2023 ABR Festival, which is set to take place at the picturesque Ragley Hall Estate on the 23-25 June. Over 35 speakers have now been announced to appear at this year’s event, with more to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Visitors will be able to rub shoulders and hear inspirational tales from their biking heroes, with the likes of Elspeth Beard, Ted Simon, Nick Sanders, Steph Jeavons, Lyndon Poskitt and Dylan Wickrama all confirmed.

In addition to the packed roster of adventure motorcycling legends will be a contingent motorcycling vloggers and content creators including The Missenden Flyer, The Girl on a Bike and MotoBob - as well as Youtube superstar Ryan Kluftinger, AKA RyanF9.

Ryan will once again make the trip over from his native city of Vancouver, Canada to attend the festival, delivering a series of YouTube and content-based presentations and interviews. A must-see for any aspiring motorcycle content creators.

Commenting on the recent Chris Birch announcement, Bryn Davies, Head of Marketing at ABR Festival stated, “Ever since I saw Chris Birch making a KTM 1190 Adventure look like a trials bike on YouTube, I wanted to see him live. Now, with the help of Kriega, we’re able to show his jaw-dropping talent to everyone at the ABR Festival. With Chris flying over from New Zealand for the event, it really shows the draw the ABR Festival has, and visitors are in for a real treat with the rider displays we have planned. This year’s festival will be one to remember for sure.”

Meet legendary adventure biker and enduro racer Chris Birch, only at this year’s Adventure Bike Rider Festival. Promising more speakers, more bikes, more trails, more entertainment, more test rides and more exhibitors than ever before, the ABR Festival returns to Ragley Hall Estate on 23-25 June 2023.

Weekend tickets are still available for only £149 from the ABR Festival website at www.abrfestival.com but are limited in number. Weekend tickets will guarantee visitors three-day access to the festival which includes all of the attractions and entertainment, as well as two nights of camping within the picturesque grounds of the Ragley Hall Estate.

Parts List: 2023 Indian Motorcycle Sport Chief

• Repositioned the rear shock mounts and relocated swingarm mounts to reduce the rear section’s width.
• Narrowed and lifted the fuel tank, outfitted it and the side covers with 3-inch louvers, and custom-made a fender inspired by old-school Indian style to fit the narrower wheels.
• Modified seven-spoke Morris Mag replica wheels to fit Indian Motorcycle axles, brakes, rotors, sensors, and bearings. Lyndall Brakes made matching chrome rotors and a sprocket to complement the wheels.
• Narrowed down the front fork system to accommodate an 11.5-inch rotor instead of a 13-inch rotor, due to the narrow wheel used.
• Designed custom 8-inch risers to imitate the Indian Motorcycle display gauge engagement system and created handlebars that were narrow with lots of pull back to suit the bike’s needs.
• Fabricated a one-off stainless steel exhaust pipe with a RedThunder cone from the bike’s Italian partners.
• Crafted a fully custom cobra-style gunslinger seat with a stainless steel seat pan and upholstered it.
• Applied a custom paint job with a mix of root beer colors that was darkened to fit the Indian Motorcycle style.
• Paint and bodywork were done by Walt at WW Cycles, while Pacman added custom pinstripes.
• Conducted all work in-house except for the bodywork and chrome/powder coating, which were done by Garett GAS Powder in Simi Valley

Next in the Forged series, Barnstorm Cycles unveils its custom Sport Chief on May 10 with Carey Hart unveiling his build on May 18.

We asked the AI to do an interview (questions and answers) with Alex Marquez, then we compared the created answers (Alex GPT) with the real ones (Alex). Here is the result!
 
ChatGPT: It is all about motorcycles in the family with you and your friend Marc Márquez. What do you think about the comparison with him and how were you able to develop your MotoGP career?
 
Alex Marquez GPT: My brother was of huge inspiration for me, and I always tried to learn from him. But I’m also aware that we’re two different people and with different personalities. So, my MotoGP career is about developing my riding style and race craft. I’ve always focused on doing my best and improve in each race.
 
Alex Marquez: Comparing myself to him has surely had an impact over the years because we did the same path; I was able to manage this parallelism until a time comes when it’s clear that you need to do a sort of separation… Each rider has different careers and paths, so I learned to look at myself only and to improve race after race.

The Andalusian trip draws to a close with an excellent Monday for Team Gresini MotoGP with Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez hard at work for the whole day of official testing at Jerez de la Frontera. 
 
The Italian #49 has done some evaluations in terms of ergonomics and front-end feeling and managed to find some important solutions for the continuation of the season; Alex Marquez kept working on finding the best feeling with his Desmosedici machine #73, while trying some modifications to the setting as well.
 
Both riders completed plenty of laps with very similar lap times: Diggia was the quicker of the two with the fourth-fastest lap-time of the day, 0.2secs ahead of his teammate who rounded out the top ten. The next event will take place at Le Mans in less than two weeks. 

With the zumo XT2, Garmin has now launched the successor model of the premium motorcycle navigator. Even more motorcycle-specific functions enable simplified route planning and provide an even wider range of useful extras when on the road. And, of course, Touratech already has a robust mount for this brand-new device that can cope with tough offroad use.

Large and brilliant display

The Garmin zumo XT2 is the logical further development of the already very powerful XT predecessor model. The 6-inch touchscreen is 15 per cent larger and another five per cent brighter than the XT. This results in the screen being perfectly readable in all lighting conditions, while operation with gloves is even easier than before, due to the larger size.

Planning tools specially for riders

Specially developed for riders, the zumo XT2 offers numerous features for planning inspiring tours. Garmin has pre-installed popular motorcycle routes on the device, and Michelin Scenic Roads are also colour-coded on the map.

The new "Adventurous Routing" function allows you to create winding, relaxed or scenic routes simply by using the slider. Attractive content such as the Michelin Green Guide, Trendy Places and Local Spots round off the range of planning tools.

The newly developed visual route planner enables you to conveniently create and edit routes directly in the map view.

Even more functions with the Tread App

Additional functions can be accessed by linking the zumo XT2 with a smartphone on which the Garmin Tread app is installed. This provides real-time services for traffic, weather or fuel prices. The XT2 can, of course, also output messages and phone calls to the headset.

In addition, the Tread app allows the use of all road navigation maps, topographic maps and satellite images in the route planner, and synchronises routes, tracks and waypoints via the cloud. The Track Recorder allows the recording of numerous vehicle and route data, and last but not least, the Group Ride Mobile function can be used to track the locations of group members.

Equipped for inReach satellite communication

The zumo XT2 is equipped for Garmin inReach, making it exemplary in terms of safety. With this satellite-based two-way communication, holders of a corresponding subscription can send and receive messages as well as share position data and make emergency calls. And that with no mobile reception required.

Touratech handlebar mount for optimum protection

This handlebar mount in legendary Touratech quality encloses the Garmin zumo XT2, giving it a secure hold even in rough terrain. The laser-cut and CNC-bent aluminium and stainless steel parts offer maximum strength and precision, making accidental opening of the lockable mount impossible.

The zumo XT2 is also reliably supplied with power in the Touratech handlebar mount via the on-board network, through the integration of the Garmin motorcycle cradle.

The handlebar mount comes with clamps for 12-millimetre tubes as standard. The possible combination with optional mounting adapters or the RAM ball joint system results in countless variants for individual positioning.