ADVENTURE BIKE PARADISE IN PORTUGAL

Exploring the stunning mountain range of Serra da Estrela in Portugal…

Link to GPS – https://we.tl/t-LaK56lpLoc

Sarah Diest strella I’m not going to pretend to pronounce it correctly but it’s the highest mountain range in Portugal and 100% pure adventure bike Paradise we got invited Along by Bridgestone to test all the latest Adventure bikes sampling tarmac proper off-road and everything in between the story starts just after we land in Porto and jump straight on some 2024 Adventure steeds and just after I had my helmet stolen from a hotel in staned [Music] airport well bom fim the troco M boras uh we’re in the middle of Portugal some well not middle landed in Porto a minute ago uh I’m really setting to uh to work here straight away I’m on the new GS my first taste is a 1300 I tell you what all I want now is a 12 50 I mean there’s a lot to unpack here we spent the past sort of hour riding on some of the shittest roads that uh you could imagine obviously um a proper test for the bike but I was going through modes trying to trying to sort the ABS trying to sort the suspension it was either too hard too soft the obviously the ABS is the brakes connect this weird connect thing and the big when have a really weird S I don’t know if it’s a a bike fault or a you know uh it needs a recall or but going into corners and you let off the gas and then it goes back on the gas comes back on shut the gas and it just sort of surges forward a little bit very very strange I mean I really I’d like to you know firm things up go back in Dynamic Pro and find some nice roads but I’ve been too busy admiring Portugal I tell you what I love this place I genuinely love the people I love the scenery I love the food it’s weird you associate the GS with you know do it all go anywhere just of munch terrain doesn’t you know on and off different environments doesn’t matter what you ride to just go to and from seamlessly but yeah I not going to lie I struggled like buggery I felt like a right knobber when it was up rough road but now nice bit of TAC Dynamic Pro jobs a dream wa is that wet what do know is this is so much better with a bit of grip I mean I wanted to get off earlier honestly wanted to jump off this thing earlier but now which is so weird you know the G the 1250s just get on going anywhere doing a thing then again North over did have a little fiddle with the suspension settings and uh it is a lot better I mean this motor is insane it’s now a lar peaky bugger I mean it’s got power everywhere but you know when he really wanted to go you got to let it rev and there no doubt in the whole thing has become more KTM more deatti you know there’s no no doubt yeah I mean this bug is like a different point now it’s so bizarre so bizarre I wish I got the camera out early enough or sooner to uh demonstrate how this bike was on that particular Road I do love a Portuguese church so back on the de clattery so jumping back on this is just like slipping into your favorite slippers just love it love it I’d have this over the GS any day in isolation you think yeah you know it’s it’s it’s definitely it’s the it’s sporty but bloody L jumping from the GS uh back onto this man this is um it’s just an executive super bikee isn’t it bloody hell this is uh this is proper Adventure spec isn’t it H where are we going don’t want to crash there oh no you do not want to crash there Nigel no hell look at this oh corner so I left my uh helmet in the hotel last night at the airport and um just put it down to check in checked in left it there someone stole it so if anyone sees a sort of uh flow yellow Torx 5 kicking about with a 44 teeth sticker and a dark visor then uh let us know well I believe we’re 2,000 m above sea level uh we also 2,000 m above the clouds what it feels like bloody H it’s freezing cold it’s gone from 20° to 8° and my nipples are pert flaps like Nikki loud as ears well just had the ice warning on but look at them views well we’ve done I think about 300 km on these bikes today and I’ve been hopping back and forth between the BMW and the dcti and honestly I’m genuinely shocked at my reaction to the GS I was really looking forward to it was a big deal there’s a bit of a fan Fair surrounding it and a lot of people seem to like it but yeah it just it feels big heavy and awkward and I’m really I really don’t enjoy riding at the moment I definitely you know the more you spend on it the more you adapt like most bikes but you know you should have love at first sight and um the initial ride is doing nothing for my confidence or yeah I I’m genuinely shocked at how just awkward the whole thing is I’m definitely ready for a super B the hotel is only 10 minutes away oh to the front then ah no way this is it well good morning I what fine view we have this morning and what a fine view I have this morning cuz I’m going to be on board KTM 890 rally this is a bit of a unicorn W only a few hundred made and uh it’s got some ra a tasty kit on it got some proper Pro component suspension these mirrors are sh though oh look at that I mean I wish the GoPro could uh give you more of a proper perspective what I’m looking at but it’s just absolutely stunning so this morning we are on the at 41s which is like the 80% Road 20% off-road bit of a sort of token off-road effort we’re going to be upgrading the adventure specs today going to be doing a little bit more off-road in this morning and in the afternoon we’re going full adventur spec Offroad on the uh ax41s uh we ate a lot of really rich nice food last night and my body is uh in all sorts of problems and this seat isn’t helping much either so this bike cost £24,000 and I’ve never seen one in the flesh so uh will it live up to the hype as I said yesterday we haven’t done enough riding out in uh Northern Portugal this is absolutely stunning I mean the roads are a little bit wet and damp and cold but these tires these a41s are like the perfect sort of inter but so far this KTM rally I mean uh so far the seat is really hard the suspension’s really stiff um and it’s not really conducive to this kind of uh stuff at the moment well just had a little swapsy and I’m going to go on the EnV just to uro vce this is audio porn it it’s finest there’s not many Better Sound than engines I know some people don’t like triples for some reason but this a V4 uh ailia and the R1 probably my three three favorites this is is like a bloody armchair compared to that KTM oh my God my was just saying thank you thank you got to say these tires are damn impressive I haven’t done much on the a41 obious done a lot on the a41 and the ax41 but not on the at but normally when you go over damp patches I’m uh I’m the first to roll off and pick the bike up and yeah I do not like it unless it’s a wet like a full wet I can’t see why if you were you know unless you were doing track days on your adventure bike then why you want more tire than this genuinely uh you know wet and dry so good yeah we were chatting yesterday about bike launches and you know you manufacturers only ever take you to the nicest billi and smooth roads in Europe so mainly Spain maybe a bit of France uh but mainly Spain but then for real world testing you know we come on a on an event like this with Bridgestone and we ride roads that most other people on adventure bikes ride and it highlights a totally different side of the bikes obviously oh this is rough yeah I think uh right now I want to be on that KTM that North over is on o it’s bloody typical but now I’m uh on the MV Offroad and it’s like this I don’t want to be on this bike I mean it’s a lot to take in this you do not want to fall off there so I’m just going to wind it in a bit and try not to Jesus Christ don’t look down don’t look down well the GoPro decided to fail just as we uh started reaching the summit so we’re 2,000 M up now and it feels like it it’s uh it’s about 2° there’s ice on the roads but the views coming up honestly AP from this massive Centro commercial sign uh this was some of the nicest scenery I’ve ever seen on a bike and I hope that you can see it on the way back down as well absolutely gorgeous yeah these rock formations I’ve never seen anything quite like it they look quite nice and furry and cuddly is the best way to put it like I said I just never would have thought that you get this in Portugal for some reason I don’t know I don’t know why yeah this view coming back up the hill with these rocks in the background but look at it it just doesn’t look real look at that absolutely stunning uh well I’m on the right bike for a quick rev bomb in the tunnel anyway you know I’m getting old and boring when um the BMW f900 GS is the bike that I want to be on to be fair actually that KTM is so good off road it’s not very nice on road as said it’s the seat is super hard the suspension stiff it’s not very uh yeah you can tell it’s just guiding you on and stuff like this but yeah we’ve done a little bit of stuff for camera and this this is uh this BMW is surprisingly nice however the suspension isn’t uh isn’t as good as the KTM I can safely say that very soft I mean look it’s it’s lovely and Progressive but for stuff like this yeah I definitely uh have the KTM can you smell that can you smell that it’s arm pump stinks and this place has got every kind of terrain you want doesn’t it obviously haven’t showed you all the stuff we’ve been on I mean look at that rock formation hi I’m 43 years old and I like rock formations actually if anyone’s interested I will put this uh GPS file I’ll get all of the GPS file and upload it put it on 44 teeth.com uh because yeah this is this is so cool this route is unreal I mean props to PJ and the team behind setting it all up because uh yeah this is uh this is complete adventuring 100% adventuring shout out to these tires I mean a41s you want a tire that can coope with a multitude of terrain and environments then um without going on super off road then you got to try this this is uh you know even on the launch the uh the chance we had to test it it wasn’t as good as this we had we’ve had rain we’ve had you know pretty much ice we’ve had damp roads mud everything that could be thrown at it oh there’s a car [Music] just had a splendid little lunch in a little picnic very intimate and uh now we got ax41s the uh the off-road bastards we got the rally again we got the f900 GS again and we got the desert X rally so looking forward to that so we can work off some of this lunch and I think by the sound of it we certainly will be working off some of this lunch in well this is a bit meteor you definitely get a bit Keen down here couldn’t you jeez this is where I really really would would have liked my helmet not to have been stolen by some cuz uh wearing a full face racing inspired helmet isn’t ideal W Sandy low me oh an hell RS this is where this bike comes into its own I can tell you that it’s been crying out for this all day get me off the T Mark it’s been saying just get get me off the T M you silly bogers well we just done a load of uh video action and man that was insane I couldn’t talk cuz it needed proper concentration it was like a it was like a stage of a rally I mean it was proper intense oh my God that was a nice little warm up that nice little uh way to burn off the food and wake up after lunch I got to say I’m I’m so impressed by this little G I say little this GS 900 I mean it’s certainly not the most sexy but it’s uh it does the job it does it really well fills you cover confidence only thing with the GS the tank gets in the way there’s not a lot to grip onto it goes back to what I saying earlier with this thing there a lovely balance to it really friendly really neutral oh hell shitty hell right desert X had a little go on this earlier on just uh briefly pain in the ass is sorry we had a bit of TC on there yeah I mean the whole um changing mode and TC and abs with the desert X is a a minor inconvenience I say let’s uh yeah to be kind I think it’s just a when you got the the bikes being on this morning the GS and the uh KTM you just a few touch of the buttons while you’re riding it’s uh it’s there we have to S pull over a f around with this yeah I haven’t quite found the uh combin for throttle and engine map on this yeah oh me it’s either too soft or too hard and the initial Taps uh very soft then when it kicks in it’s like w here we go I got to say the suspension on this is very nice so plush gives you sort of lots of mechanical grip W takes a while to sort of warm up to this uh desert X rally yeah definitely takes a little while to warm up to uh this bike I don’t know why but you got the tri from DC coming into the Moss Market and oh H dog I just think that TR manag to make a bike feel and look very similar to to uh the others I know the cat is you know there’s only so much you can do to a Mot cross bike so with rules and regs everything not only looks but but um you know technology obviously they’re going to use the desmo which is going to be massively uh beneficial you can use like first gear on starts rather than changing to or second just your second gear rather than changeing to third so you don’t lose time there but I just got this feeling that like I said Triumph made a bike look look and feel like the others that have been for the past 30 40 years whereas I think deatti the motocross bike will feel I I just got this feeling it’s going to be completely different like this feels completely different this desert X feels completely different to you know your normal sort of uh what do you call it hyper adventure bike yeah it’s definitely the more you ride it this bike the more it comes to you it’s uh definitely not the easiest to jump on that’s what I’m saying the suspension like I said this is the B this is best part of the bike so far really nice really plush really Progressive through the stroke what a playground jeez you could never get bored here that’s for sure on a motorbike wo it now I’m surprised you can tell this engine it’s not really being designed to be poed along at 2,000 3,000 RPM but it does it does it really well and you you know the use a bit of a clutch here and there as well just back on the KTM G has just left me some uh Shrubbery cheers guys God it’s so weird jumping from bike to bike Offroad cuz you can really feel the differences in the individual foibles and strengths and weaknesses yeah the position of this bike takes them getting used to bars are too low but I think the engine throttle and all that sort of this is the best combination for Offroad for me anyway just confident straight away you can feel what the rear is doing we up there I said you can never get bored of hear a riding but I mean you can never get bored of hear of the views either I mean Sarah Estrella come here I’m telling you me and Chris were both saying they’re all they all they’re not they’re not perfect all three of them aren’t perfect Offroad and um it’s difficult to argue with the overall package being this BMW oh that’s rough apparently got watch out for some of these dogs oh she’s these streets are nuts as well Im living here and being interrupted by a load of on bikes oh we’re here wow today has been epic time for a super B so I go as far as to say is this place right here has the most riding opportunities various riding opportunities in one place and anywhere I’ve been it’s just been an incredible few days and it’s not finished yet but however we are riding from here tomorrow morning back to the airport uh so we can go home sadly but we started on the a41 from the airport to hotel and we had the BMW GS which I said before I’m really not a fan of it’s big heavy cumbersome just awkward and yeah I’m bit of a shame but also on those tires we had the dati multi Strada and what else do we have guys oh the ne 900 GS which I didn’t I didn’t get to ride the 900 GS because uh Gary was riding it but I thought we’ do like nice little back toback with the uh dcat Mada and the new 1300 GS I spend a lot of time on the a41 that’s the tire out of all the three that I feel most comfortable on up until the point of this uh this trip but I spent a lot of time in it the track day on the 12 night super adventure uh you know knee down in the wet overtaking super B Riders and that is a very very uh Able Tire that’s for sure so this morning we did a little bit of off-road but mainly on road on the 841 now I think this is the tire that surprised me most we did the launch and you know rode around but that’s the most time I’ve spent on the tire for a while it’s a proper Do-it all go anywhere Tire doesn’t matter what terrain you on doesn’t matter if it’s wet dry you can just safely you know you can ride pretty much the same speed as you go wet and dry which is uh phenomenal so yeah we had the MV in Juro vce we had the KTM 89ed rally and we had the BMW GS the 900 GS so of all those three I think I mentioned it on the helmet cam that being BMW was probably the most well balanced most confidence inspiring and really the bike that kind of I just wanted to jump on and then the afternoon we had the ax41 again spent a not so much time on the ax41 but I mean what were we doing on those bikes genuinely surprised me I mean I was following faster Riders and safer Riders I was just going if they can do it I can too but that is uh genuinely surprised me not only just how good it is off-road but how well it copes with onroad as well super fun on the road it’s quite you know obviously it’s not designed to be it’s a 50-50 tire so it’s designed to be uh you know I guess it’s better off-road than it is on road if you’re going uh if you picking a certain direction so after lunch we had the KTM 890 rally again we had the good old trusty 900 GS BMW again and then we had the desert X rally I think I’ve covered pretty much all the bases of those three bikes uh on the Vlog but it’s just been a phenomen a few days I really really want you guys to come here and experience it for yourself so I will put the GPS in the link I’ll put we’ll put it on the website and you can download it and uh thanks to PJ and the team for amp productions for allowing us to do that because they put on uh another phenomenal trip these guys just certainly know how to put on a put on a party so yes I think that’s done for me um I think I’m ramed on enough and I think I definitely need a beer