The Lost Adventure Motorcycle Tours and Rentals
So here’s our first blog post. We’ll be sporadically posting updates on well, a bunch of stuff: news on our tours, bikes, movies, music and people we like, and God knows what else. We welcome your comments and feedback!
Lots of people start motorcycle touring companies. Do a quick search on Google and you’ll find a universe of different trips available, from Route 66, journeys through the Alps or around the world. Some people are bikers and set up motorcycle touring businesses as their retirement plan. Like a lot of things, anyone can do it, but not everyone can do it well.
So why did we start The Lost Adventure, anyways?
Well, we’ve been doing tours for a while. Tim Orr started Big Rock Bike Holidays in the late 90’s, taking customers to the Pyrenees to ride their sportbikes on superb tarmac, and to World Superbike and MotoGP races. In 2005, Tim did his first American motorcycle tour, to the Laguna Seca MotoGP race. We worked together on the itinerary, and I helped guide the tour, which ran from Las Vegas to San Francisco, with stops in Los Angeles and Monterey in between. In subsequent years, we added trips to Indianapolis MotoGP race, and took a alternate, northern route to Laguna. Several companies offer trips to the Laguna MotoGP now, but we’ve been doing them the longest. Since we started running the tours, we’ve worked with EagleRider as our bike hire partner.
A couple of years ago, Tim sold Bike Rock to a travel conglomerate, and his involvement with them ended in October 2010. We’d been talking for a while about what he’d after Big Rock; we knew we wanted to work together and start a motorcycle touring company that would reflect our tastes, interest and experience. We love road racing, especially World Superbike and MotoGP. We love the old school cafe racer vibe, Steve McQueen, imagery from a time when biking was simpler. And we love the feeling you get on a long ride, when you put in big miles and all the white noise of everyday life goes away.
So we started The Lost Adventure in November 2010. Between us, we’ve got hundreds thousands of touring miles under our belts, and a pretty good idea about what it takes to put together a great ride. And we’re a fully licensed UK EagleRider tour operator, so we’ve got the best partner in the business.
We’re looking forward to hitting the road with old friends, and making new ones. If you’ve found us – nice to meet you!
Cheers,
The Lost Adventure Motorcycle Tours and Rentals
6 Comments
Leave a Comment
You may also like...
Get your eats on Route 66!
5 Hotels To Die For!
I want to start a similar business working out of Dublin, Ireland. Can you contact me to let me know how to go about it?
Wil
[email protected]
Hey Wil;
There are a lot of things to consider. We’ve been doing it for a very long time, but started after putting together some trips for friends to ride their sportbikes in the Pyrenees. Getting all the ferry bookings and hotel reservations wasn’t that hard for 5 friends, but it’s a lot different when you start a real touring business. There are so many aspects of getting a small business started, and a lot of it is learning by doing. Both Tim and myself have a tremendous amount of experience in motorcycling, especially Tim who’s been selling tours for over a decade with his former company Big Rock Bike Holidays.
The best place to start would be to go to write a business plan, then go to your local small business association and get their feedback. You should also clearly understand local laws about tourism, consumer insurance and taxes. All this stuff is a lot harder than learning how to ride a bike, but you have to do it. Of course incorporating the company, deciding what to call it, registering your trademark, and building a website are necessary too. And getting startup money – that’s the hardest part!
I’d also spend time looking at the many motorcycle touring company websites around the world (not just Ireland and England), and understanding what products they offer.
Hope this was helpful – it’s really the same no matter what kid of small business you decide to start up. There’s no instruction manual, you really need to do it yourself and learn, but doing so will insure that you are much more confident when you launch your business.
Thanks for reading! Jim
Nice business plan sir ji
I would like to subscribe to your newsletters
Signed you up Lesley.
Please sign me up. Johan Basson from South Africa. Would love to read your news letter.
[email protected]