Wales has a problem. It has too many brilliant biking roads. So, rather than do the sensible thing and simply enjoy them, we decided to turn the whole thing into a competition.
The result is ABR’s brand-new film: The Ring of Hellfire, which you can watch on YouTube HERE. It’s a brilliant watch, if we do say so ourselves, packed full of everything we love about exploring Wales on two wheels.
Two days, seven of Wales’ finest biking roads, and one spectacular journey beginning and ending on the appropriately named Hellfire Pass. The mission? Decide which stretch of tarmac deserves to be crowned King of the Ring.
What followed involved biblical rain, glorious sunshine, the Devil’s Staircase, the Black Mountain Road, Elan Valley, some questionable motorcycle challenges, a Mr Whippy, and an increasingly pointless scoring system.
It also involved some staggeringly good riding. In fact, somewhere along the way we realised we’d accidentally created one of the best bike routes we’ve ever ridden in the UK.
Now, it’s your turn to enjoy it. Then, download the free GPX file HERE, and go and ride it for yourself.
The Bikes
For the Ring of Hellfire we ride two versions of the Kove 800X middleweight adventure bike: the road and touring-focused Kove 800X GT and the more off-road focused Kove 800X Pro. Over two days and hundreds of miles, we discover just how differently these two adventure bikes tackle the same Welsh roads.
The Tyres
We’re riding on Dunlop Trailmax Meridian adventure motorcycle tyres. Torrential rain on day one followed by dry, twisting Welsh roads gave us the perfect opportunity to discover how this road-focused adventure tyre performs in genuinely mixed British riding conditions.
Navigation
We navigate the entire Ring of Hellfire using the Beeline Moto II, including its ability to store routes directly on the device, meaning the Ring of Hellfire can be loaded up and ready to ride when you need it.
The Gear
For our trip, we’d been kitted out by the team at BikerHeadz. Julian wore the CE AAA-rated Halvarssons H80 suit, teamed with Falco Durant 2 adventure boots and a choice of Five GT1 EVO GTX gloves or TFX-1 Airflow gloves. To complete the wardrobe, I had a Schuberth C5 helmet designed to take the Cardo SC Edge communications system. And to top it all off, I used a pair of Alpine MotoSafe earplugs that eliminated wind noise while still allowing the comms system to be heard clearly.
James wore his Rukka Kingsley jacket and trousers, along with a pair of Daytona Road Star Pro GTX boots. Protecting his hands was a pair of Rukka Thermog+ gloves, while up top he had a Schuberth E2 flip-front adventure helmet complete with a built-in Cardo communications system. Despite experiencing four seasons in two days, we couldn’t fault any of our kit. When it comes to quality, Rukka and Halvarssons are up there with the very best.
