The Adventure Bike Rider Festival is expected to reveal record-breaking attendance figures, with numbers swelled by thousands of riders heading to the Ragley Hall estate from London and the South East, organisers have told the Standard.
This year’s show, on the historic, family-owned 450-acre estate in Warwickshire, was the biggest in the show’s eight-year history, also attracting more motorcyclists from the capital - eager to swap tarmac and traffic jams for countryside off-road trails - than ever before.
With 20,000 ticket sales, up from 17,500 last year, footfall figures over the four days - used by the industry to measure attendance at major shows - is expected to top 100,000, outstripping other, rival UK motorcycle shows. But could it be getting too big?
Boosted by the sell-out success of the festival, attended by all major motorcycle manufacturers, who offered 12,000 free, guided road tests of the latest models on and off-road, the organisers now aim to expand the concept, launching similar festivals worldwide.
The key attraction for many at the four-day event from June 25 - 28 was a curated network of off-road trails across - and beyond - the estate. Novices were able to try off-roading for the first time on a gentle Beginners’ Trail or with tuition and bikes provided by London-based Phoenix Motorcycles, while more experienced riders tested their skills on their own bikes on around 40kms of trails snaking - and undulating - through the countryside, with marshals at strategic points.
Muddy waters
The most daunting off-road challenge was the challenging Trail Riders Fellowship (TRD) off-road course, expertly designed to incorporate deep, muddy water crossings, ruts, steep ascents and descents on a mixture of surfaces with varying grip, adverse cambers and tight twists and turns. The bravest - or most foolhardy – could tackle The Bog of Doom. Filmed live and broadcast to the main festival arena, it featured a swampy corner of the estate, with deep, slippery - often impenetrable - mud. Many entrants had to be hauled clear by 4X4s.
Other leading attractions included live music on five stages and a roster of 80 hugely varied speakers also on five stages, including Top Gear and Grand Tour star Richard Hammond, Long Way Round star Charley Boorman, comedian John Bishop, World Superbike champion Carl Fogerty, and leading round-the-world riders, adventure authors and documentary-makers.
Attractions included a wide range of manufacturer stalls focusing on security, adventure travel packages, clothing, tools, luggage, camping gear, bike modification equipment and more, while Inch Perfect offered trial-riding on electric bikes. Motorsport legends including Chris Birch, Ken Roczen and Kevin Gallas demonstrated breathtaking riding skills in a specially-prepared, natural arena. A welcome relief from the heat came in the form of free tours of magnificent 17th-century Ragley Hall, where there was a line-up of collectible motorcycles, a wide-ranging adventure photography exhibition, and an adventure travel film festival.
Speakers were informative, funny, insightful and, above all, inspirational. Some told of how to tackle specific worldwide destinations such as India, Vietnam and Africa on two wheels, others on how to discover green lanes in the UK, or tackle officialdom at international borders.
Expert riders Llewellyn Pavey and Chris Northover swapped tips on off-road riding techniques and overland travel, while The Girl On A Bike - Vanessa Ruck - spoke movingly about recovering from life-threatening injuries sustained in a road crash, before taking-up motorcycling full time and throwing herself into a world of tough, televised, adventure. On the Royal Enfield stage, Ruck delivered an engaging masterclass on how even smaller riders can manoeuvre, and pick up, heavy motorcycles.
Field of dreams
“The festival originally started as a few friends, motorcyclists, getting together in a field; I just thought it would be great to have a party with my mates,” Alun Davies, 67, founder and owner of the festival, told the Standard. “Then I dreamed of getting even more people along.
“Manufacturers turned up expecting little more than a motorcycle rally, but that’s not what it was, or is. Visitors might be spending £25,000 on a new BMW bike motorcycle so we wanted to give them a proper festival.”
Davies, accountant-turned-publisher of Adventure Bike Rider magazine, who has enjoyed mountaineering and motorcycling despite losing an eye to cancer, as a child, said that with the latest expansion of the festival, more than £250,000 was spent in 2026 improving toilet and shower facilities, with additional water-tankers on standby to help festival-goers cope with the intense, 35-degree heat. Marshalling and staff numbers also rose.
“We have grown to the point where we have 200 exhibitors selling everything from motorcycle tours to far-flung world destinations, to motorcycles, garage equipment, motorcycle clothing, training, specialised luggage and technology.
“My vision, following the success of this year’s show, is for motorcyclists to be able to say ‘I’ve been to the ABR at Ragley Hall; now I’m off to the ABR Festival in Vietnam, Italy, wherever; I’d like to see an ABR festival in every corner of the world.”
Is Davies worried that the festival could lose its appeal by becoming too big? Size is one thing - quality another. So far, however, with exemplary marshalling of off-road tracks by the Trail Riders Fellowship, a well-posted ‘zero tolerance’ policy on bad riding, well laid-out, countryside camping facilities, an ever-watchful clear-up team ensuring there’s never a stray piece of litter, helpful information booths, generally good signage (it could do with improvements), ground protection measures, a brilliantly curated line-up of speakers and musicians, ABR is still pleasing the crowds with a high-quality, safely-run, user-friendly offering.
“We’re deliberately growing incrementally at Ragley Hall,” Davies assures me. “We added 2,500 more visitors this year including many from London, and we are listening - watching - carefully. We’ve invested heavily in more infrastructure; we are determined that while growing, we won’t lose that feeling of a few mates getting together in a field to enjoy their motorcycles.”
