Over the years when we’ve been previewing our rides during rider briefings we often get asked the question
“How hard is it?”
That is really difficult to answer, so our response has often been “How hard is hard?”
To try and quantify difficulty levels since late 2018 Maschine have implemented a Route or Track Grading System for our motorcycle adventure rides.
As best we can, we will try to objectively grade each day’s route or particular sections of track so you have some expectation of what you are in for.
We looked long and hard at pre-existing grading systems from other motorcycling groups and also other sports like 4WD, downhill skiing and mountain biking. While other motorcycle ride grading systems already exist, we found they were generally targeted at one end of the riding spectrum (ie. Enduro riding) and didn’t allow for road riding or the full spectrum of rider abilities and interests. Also, some of the descriptions were pretty vague or obscure with vegetables and even the number of toes used to grade rides! Confusing!
The system we have devised and tested out since 2018 includes 6 levels describing increasing levels of difficulty. An important note is this is intended to cover every type of motorcycle riding terrain from street riding down a major highway to extreme off-road hard enduro and trials style stuff. We have also adopted a familiar colouring and icon system used by other sports like Four Wheel Driving (4WD) and Mountain Biking (MTB) to identify and grade tracks. This helps with familiarity.
A key consideration obviously when referring to this system is weather conditions and how that can affect grading. Red clay surfaces that become wet can quickly escalate from a 2 to a 4 or worse! We also considered there is often the “X Factor” of distance, fatigue, remoteness etc. that should be allowed for.
We hope this system might be adapted as a standard for motorcycling and in particular off-road riding so that in time riders have a better understanding and reference point of various difficulty levels.
Each of our Maschine tours will provide an overall rating for the tour and then on individual days we will grade particular tracks or our Enduro sections to give you a gauge of what you are in for.
See the Maschine Motorcycle Track Grading System descriptions below.
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