3 years ago, Claire Elsdon arrived into Capetown, having left London a year earlier alone on her Suzuki DRZ 400s to ride the length of Africa. Along the way, her understanding of how high quality motorcycle maintenance can play a major part in reducing the soaring road traffic death toll in Africa was born, along with her appreciation for the importance of giving opportunities to women to learn practical skills, which they can earn a sustainable living from for their families. As a result, earlier this year she moved to Tanzania to set up Africa's first motorcycle maintenance workshop staffed by female apprentices, called Pikilily.

The good news is that Pikilily now has a workshop space near Lake Victoria in Mwanza, Tanzania, just a stone's throw from town. This workshop will provide a place for women apprentices to learn their very first motorcycle maintenance skills and before too long, open the gates to paying customers, enabling them to earn an income. 

Many of Pikilily's customers will come from the 4,000 motorcycle taxi drivers in Mwanza, who are in great need of a reliable, safe & good value motorcycle maintenance service - impossible to find at present. Consequently right now, poor maintenance is costing riders precious time and take-home pay, but also sadly too often, their own lives and that of their paying passengers.

Claire and the team can't wait to help and get started in our workshop but first, they need to raise some money to make it possible!

They need to raise £500 to complete the refurb of the workshop. This would pay for watertight roof on entire premises, secure door and metal grill window to store room plus gates to main entrance, levelling and concrete the floor smooth in apprentice working area, fitting seating and working space in training room/office area and painting the Pikilily mural.

In addition, they need to raise the funds to pay the next 12 months worth of rent - its £50 a month.

They need tools, materials and equipment to equip each of the 5 workbenches in the apprentice area. The list is long but to give you an idea, a spanner would cost roughly £5, pliers £10, brake bleeding kit £30, set of torque wrenches £50.

Ideally they would also like 2 small motorcycles on which to train the ladies in motorcycle maintenance. Such motorcycles retail at around $1000 each.

To say thank you, a "Wall of Thanks" will form the backdrop to their work area. Names, countries and messages of support of those donating to this campaign will be written on there, nestled around the Pikilily logo mural, reminding apprentices each day of their friends across the globe who helped make this community project possible. The wall will appear in the regular workshop vlogs that Claire has been putting out since the start of the campaign.

If you would like to donate, here is the link - www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/pikilily

www.pikilily.com 

Motorcycle Live 2016 is just weeks away and the new machines unveiled at Intermot in Cologne this week will be winging their way to The NEC, Birmingham to make their UK debut. 

There will be 35 of the world's leading manufacturers at Motorcycle Live, each one showcasing their entire model ranges. Book your tickets now and be one of the first in the country to see the 2017 bikes!

Live action!

The awesome FMX Live presented by Arenacross is set to return to Motorcycle Live for 2016 and this year, the heart-in-your-mouth, edge-of-your-seat action is included in the ticket price, meaning you can experience the mind-blowing show for FREE! 

Turn to the Dark Side   

The Yamaha Dark Side MT Tour will be making its final stop at The NEC, with the impressive range of MT models, clothing and accessories on display and a fleet of demo machines, including the outrageous MT-10, the updated MT-09 and the award winning MT-07, available to ride for FREE.

Motorcycle Live has teamed up with Suzuki to offer you the chance of owning a brand new SV650, the new, naked V-twin from the Japanese manufacturer. See it on the Suzuki stand, ride it in the Test Ride Zone and be in with the chance of winning it in the show competition! 

An advance adult ticket for Motorcycle Live is priced at just £19.50, while Seniors pay just £12, 11-16 year olds are £1 and children aged ten and under get in FREE (accompanied by a paying adult)*.There is also a limited offer £25 advance ticket that includes a Spada bag worth £29.99**!

www.motorcyclelive.co.uk

It is with great regret that we announce the death of Furygan’s founder Mr Jacques Segura, who passed away on Saturday 3 September 2016.

“Monsieur Jacques”, as he was affectionately known, created Furygan in 1969 and the company has always revolved around his core values of pride, discipline and family. He was determined, innovative, passionate and very-well respected – both in the motorcycling industry and amongst his employees, whom he educated for many years with his technical knowledge and expertise. Monsieur Jacques had the utmost respect for motorcyclists and was devoted to protecting them with innovative yet timeless clothing and technologies. Today, we are filled with sadness but we pledge to continue this legacy with pride.

Enjoy a ‘Biker’s Special’ meal for just £6, 1st - 31st October @ Shuttleworth, Old Warden Aerodrome, Bedfordshire...

Valid in the restaurant throughout October 2016 when you visit on two wheels!

Breakfast, Brunch, Burgers, hand battered fish, chips and peas, main meal of the day, including a roast on Sunday.

Open seven days a week, turn up on the day or pre-book (recommended for groups/clubs).

www.shuttleworth.org/bikers-special

The Shuttleworth Collection - an unique flying collection showcasing the first one hundred years of flight. Also featuring vehicles and motorcycles dating back to 1900.

Job, money, family, commitments … As of now, there are no more excuses when it comes to making the dream of an adventurous time-out coming true.

The Adventure Country Tracks (ACT) by Touratech combine the most interesting motorcycle routes, breathtaking landscapes, and the pure joy of riding. They are perfectly worked out and can be done within the timeframe of a normal holiday

The project introduced by Touratech at the INTERMOT in Cologne, Germany allows individual adventure trips even with a short time budget. It starts with a five-day adventure tour across Portugal, which is also available on DVD.

Carefully worked-out routes lead through the most beautiful regions of Europe. 

It starts with a five-day adventure tour across Portugal: 1,200 kilometres with 65 percent off-road tracks, suitable for big adventure bikes and for all kinds of riding skills. The route leads from Bragança in the North down to the Southern coast near the town of Tavira and follows curvy tracks connecting the most interesting places with regard to landscapes, culture and history. That way, riders can experience the country and its people not only individually, but also most intensively.

This has also been the intention of Filipe Elias (Touratech Portugal), who contributed his whole insider knowledge to the planning of the first ACT tour. “I believe that ACT Portugal will enthrall many motorbike riders”, says Martin Wickert, Touratech’s marketing and sales executive, being justifiably proud of his new project.

The Adventure Country Tracks have been inspired by the Backcountry Discovery Routes, a pioneer project by Touratech USA. However, it wasn’t possible to copy the entire concept as it had to be adapted to European conditions; the planning goes on for more than twelve months now. In the future, there’s going to be a new ACT tour every year in another European country.

At www.adventurecountrytracks.com, everyone interested can download the GPS data for ACT for free from this specially set-up website. The data simply needs to be transferred to a navigation device with suitable map software, that’s all you need to explore the route on your own. “Discovery is an important element of adventure riding, to find things on your own, to open your eyes to the world”, Martin Wickert describes his philosophy. “With ACT tours, you can do all this. Only the route is fixed; what you do with it is your own choice.”

A nice attunement to ACT Portugal is the DVD about this project (article number 01-202-2300-0), available at shop.touratech.com. There, you can also purchase a tour map with all stages and selected highlights.