Why Ride with GlobeBusters?

If you are looking to undertake a major overland expedition with a company, then you need to know who you are handing over your money to and who is organising it for you.  It is very easy in this day and age to produce a nice website, create a list of trips that sound good and populate it with generic photographs from the web.   It is also easy to make claims that cannot be proven or backed up with facts.   Before you chose a company to travel with we suggest you ask them certain questions and see what their answers are.  Here are ours . . .  

What are your credentials?

GlobeBusters’ Co-Founders are Kevin and Julia Sanders.  Kevin and Julia hold two Guinness World Record Holders for the Fastest Circumnavigation of the World by Motorcycle and for the Fastest Trans Americas by Motorcycle.  These are official Guinness World Records™, independently verified by Guinness and still held in their record books unbroken.   In fact Guinness have now closed the record to new attempts due to safety concerns (Kevin and Julia covered over 1,000 miles a day!) and so the records will never be broken. 

Kevin and Julia Sanders are also the Directors of BMW Rider Training, BMW Motorrad UK’s only national Rider Training Centre for the UK.  Kevin has operated a motorcycle training school for 20 years and is qualified as a RoSPA Diploma Advanced Instructor; this is the highest civilian motorcycle advanced riding and instructional qualification that can be obtained in the UK.  Julia is also a RoSPA Gold Advanced rider.

GlobeBusters is an Official BMW Travel Partner and are supported by BMW (UK) and BMW (AG) since 2003.  BMW only work with a very few selected operators throughout the world.   As an Official Travel Partner, GlobeBusters appear at BMW Motorrad Days in Garmisch in the BMW Official Travel Arena and have consistently been invited to show their motorcycle adventure travel films at the BMW Cinema, as well as being featured in the World of BMW Activities Brochure.   For BMW to lend their support and the BMW name to an independent operator such as GlobeBusters is a major endorsement.

Who else in the industry consults or recognizes you?

As well as our partnerships with BMW

• Kevin Sanders was consulted by Long Way Round as they prepared for their around the world journey and BMW Rider Training also assisted in providing road training for some of the team on Long Way Down.
• Kevin Sanders led His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent and nine other riders as part of a Trans-Siberian Charity Ride called the White Nights, traversing Russia from Valdivostok to St Petersburg.
• GlobeBusters are also widely consulted for expertise and advice including by author Robert Wicks and Haynes for the books “Adventure Motorcycling” and “How to Build the Ultimate Adventure Motorcycle”.  
• With Dakar Veteran Simon Pavey, Kevin has instructed at the BMW Off Road Skills School in South Wales.  
• Kevin & Julia Sanders continue to write a monthly feature for Motorcycle Sport & Leisure magazine called the “Open Road” and have been doing so for over 3 years.  
• GlobeBusters are also regular contributors to Motorcycle News in the UK and have been published in numerous UK and International Bike Magazines.

What makes your expeditions special?

We are pioneers in overland expeditions.  We research our own routes to be unique and ground-breaking.  In 2009, we were the first company to take a motorcycle group overland through the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan, to traverse the whole of Tibet and visit Everest Base Camp, as part of our Silk Road Expedition. These motorcyclists didn’t fly in and pick up a bike; they rode there the whole way from London!

In 2005, we were the first company to take a group of motorcyclists on our Trans Americas Expedition, a route inspired by the Guinness World Record™ achieved by Kevin & Julia in 2003.  Our route started in Anchorage, went north to Prudhoe Bay and then south all the way to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.  To date, other companies have tried to offer “Trans Americas”, but none have succeeded in operating this route in its entirety and completing the full north to south ride. 

In 2011, we will operate the first Trans Canada Expedition from Vancouver to Halifax and taking in the Trans Labrador in its entirety (Phase III was only opened in 2009).  This is another unique and spectacular trip that is not on any other company’s programme  . . .  yet! 

We thrive on being the first to offer a particular route to riders and where we go, others follow!

How do you operate your Expeditions?

Firstly, a member of our support team will personally have travelled every route we run.   We research the route, the quality of the roads and riding, as well as the operation of borders and customs and how good the hotels are. We know exactly where we, and you, are going.   We don’t turn up in a place and then try to work out where to stay.  We don’t put you in the dodgy areas of town or even camp on the outskirts to save on costs.   Travelling with GlobeBusters is about seeing, tasting and experiencing the places we go. 

It is really important that each person rides their own ride.  We always run expeditions with as much freedom to the rider as possible.  We do not include lunches or fuel so that you are not required to ride as a group, eat as a group, turn up as a group and refuel as a group.   It is important to us that people ride their own ride, at a pace they are happy with, stopping to see what they want to see.  Our feeling is that the requirement to turn up for lunch and to fuel up all at the same time and same place takes away this freedom and so we don’t do it.  It’s similar with dinners – you won’t to eat as a group every night for months on end.  So we include one group dinner each week to get us together and swap stories, but other than that you are free to do your own thing  . . .  and yes, we will have plenty of recommendations for you!

For each day, our Expedition Leader will provide road notes, details of interesting stuff on the way and the night’s destination.  We give you simple guidance to ensure that you can manage your day, whilst still ensuring that you have access of our support vehicle in case things do go wrong.  We keep group riding to a minimum.   We do it when crossing some borders, where safety requires it or there is a legal requirement to be with a guide, such as in China.   This is not a coach tour on bikes!  Having said that, if you want to ride with the Expedition Leader, that’s no problem either.

Tell me about your support vehicle?

We own a dedicated fleet of GlobeBusters support vehicles that we own and kit out specifically for our expeditions.   We do not just hire a local pick-up truck and rely on local drivers.   

We use Ford Transit LWB diesel vans.  We have both 2 wheel drive and 4 wheel drive vans to cope with the differing  terrain of varying expeditions.  These provide secure storage for tools, spare parts and medical equipment and transport for up to two bikes and two riders in the event of any accident, illness or injury.

We carry spares that our extensive experience has taught us are most likely to be required when on the road, and we are adept at solving problems en route – but we are not a mobile manufacturers workshop!  Any serious damage to your bike requiring major parts will normally mean it gets loaded into the van and carried to the nearest available town where we can source parts or have access to a full workshop.

Our support vehicles are also equipped with a comprehensive medical kit, including spinal board and a satellite phone to remain permanently in contact.

Who staffs your expeditions?

Each expedition will run with one or two motorcycle guides and a support vehicle driver.    Our Expedition Leaders are a small group of experienced overland travelers and are all:

1. Trained to RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) Gold Standard in Advanced Road Riding
2. Off Road Skills trained through an official BMW Training Centre (either BMW ORS in UK or Hechlingen Enduro Park in Germany) 
3. Expedition First Aid Qualified
4. Have received Mechanical Training from Dakar Rally Experienced Technicians
5. Have completed our own Tour Guide Training Course

Our current team of support vehicle drivers are the best available.  Each one has supported a Dakar Rally Team in the past and has a wealth of real world experience in keeping motorcycles on the road on extended trips.   They have also attended our Tour Guide Training, are Expedition First Aid Qualified and are independent experienced overland riders in their own right.

For details see The GlobeBusters Team.

What do your previous customers think of you?

We are very proud that over 98% of our customers would “recommend without hesitation” GlobeBusters.   This is an unrivalled level of customer satisfaction.   We think it is even more positive that over 25% of our customers book a second expedition with GlobeBusters.  When you consider the “trip of a lifetime” nature of our expeditions this is a major recommendation.  We have no hesitation in you talking to any of our previous customers, should you wish to chat to them about their experience with us.

How do I know that I can trust you?

We have never cancelled an expedition with only a few months to go.  We work very hard to ensure that all our expeditions are viable and you can be confident that when you book the expedition, it will not be pulled at short notice. 

GlobeBusters Ltd are fully compliant with UK Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992.   You should note that your payments made to GlobeBusters Limited in advance of your tour are financially protected, wherever in the world you may be.  Beware of paying your money to companies not registered in the EU as you may not be afforded any financial protection or security.

In accordance with the Package Travel, Package Holiday and Package Tour regulations 1992 and the EC Directive 90/314/EC, all Participant(s) booking with us are fully protected for all payments that we receive in advance, arising from the cancellation of curtailment of travel arrangements due to our insolvency.  GlobeBusters holds all Participants’ money in a GlobeBusters Motorcycle Expeditions Trust Account, regulated by an independent Chartered Accountant.

What pre expedition preparation can I expect?

Prior to every expedition we hold pre-trip briefings.   These briefings are held at GlobeBusters offices on the edge of the Brecon Beacons.  You can come and meet us at our offices anytime.  The briefings vary in length and content depending on each expedition.   Briefings give you the opportunity to meet your Expedition Crew (whenever possible), other members of the GlobeBusters team and the other riders.  Depending on your chosen expedition, this will include some or all of the following:

• Briefing meetings covering matters such a bike preparation, equipment you will need, documentation, freight arrangements etc
• BMW Off Road Skills Training at the BMW Off Road Skills Centre
• Motorcycle First Aid Training
• Advanced On Road Training with BMW Rider Training

If international customers cannot attend these meetings we can arrange to include them via a Skype Conference facility.

The cost of the pre expedition preparation is included within your expedition, although you need to pay for any accommodation or travel required to attend.  

How much experience have you got actually running expeditions?

As pioneers, we always have one or two new expeditions in our forthcoming calendar.   However we will have planned, checked, researched and ridden them ourselves long before you ever do.   We don’t fill our brochure with speculative trips.   That’s not the way we work.  If a company doesn’t have a detailed itinerary planned and a published price for the trip, you should ask why not?

In the last five years we have operated:

• Three Trans Americas Expeditions
• Six South American Expeditions
• First Silk Route East via Tibet in 2010
• And other expeditions in Africa, Asia, North America – The world is our playground!

We also operate the longest supported expedition in the world.  Currently, this is the Trans Americas at five months on the road.  To date we have successfully taken almost 70 customers on the Trans Americas and have accumulated all the knowledge and expertise that can only be achieved by operating the expedition.  In 2009, we were the first company to put Colombia back on the map, taking 20 riders into Bogota, north to Medellin and then south to Popoyan and Pasto.  In 2011, we will run our fourth Trans Americas Expedition and each one gets better!

In 2010, we will break our own record by operating the “Discover Our Earth”, in conjunction with Edelweiss Bike Travel - a motorcycle journey around the world taking almost 8 months! It takes a very special set of skills to manage a group on the road for such an extended period of time and the GlobeBusters team has them! 

We have contacts with manufacturers, dealers, bike clubs and overland riders throughout the world.  What that also means for you is that we will have already pre-planned sufficient time in the itinerary in the right places for you to have your bike serviced - and we pre-book the time with the dealers.  We also pre-order all tyres so that we can be sure there will availability for you.  It’s not all done at the last minute and it’s not down you to organise it.

Our travels and experience means we have contacts throughout the world.   Need 30 tyres in Colombia?  We know a man.   Need a new piston and cylinder head fitted to a GS in Chile?  The rider filled the bike with diesel and was back on the road in under 48 hours.    Need a shock absorber in Xinjiang Province?  We know how to get one there. 

And just for the record!  GlobeBusters is not a travel agent.  We don’t sell other company’s expeditions - we operate our own expeditions directly.   Look carefully as some companies that you think you know as tour operators – they are actually travel agents just booking other company’s trips and taking a commission. 

The only place you can book a GlobeBusters Expedition is with GlobeBusters.   We look forward to hearing from you and if you have a questions that we haven’t answered, please call us on +44 (0)8456 304015 or send an email at info@globebusters.com.