This was the year that the ABR Festival finally came of age. It had everything going for it: no lockdown legacy; more live music, guest speakers, test rides, more exhibitors and food caterers than any previous event; and 130 leading motorcycle and adventure brands in the Exhibitor Village. There were more tribute bands than you could shake a mic stand at, and, to top it all, the weather was brilliant all weekend – the grounds of Ragley Hall had never seen so many tattoos!
Adventurize, the organiser behind the festival, has declared this year’s event its most successful show to date, with a record-breaking number of visitors passing through the gates. The sold-out festival welcomed more than 12,500 bikers, surpassing all prior attendance figures.
Constant entertainment was provided by guest speakers and activities on the various stages from early morning to early evening, kicking off with Biker Yoga at 7.30am on the Masterclass Stage. Adventure-biking legends and John McGuinness held forth on the Ténéré Speaker Stage and at the Bridgestone Campfire. The music kicked off on the ABR Stage in the afternoon and stopped at 11pm to ensure a good night’s kip in your tent, campervan, motorhome, pre-booked glamping site or wherever you fell.
The array of motorcycle manufacturers – 45 to be precise – displaying their wares was impressive, as were the available test rides on 27 brands from Aprilia to Zontes, including electric brands Cake, Caofen, Energica and Horwin. There were several dedicated trails and riding skills display areas, and these were busy all day. Several trails in and around Ragley Hall included a 5km Beginner’s Loop, an 8km TRF Trail and the impressive 30km Bridgestone Trail. There was also a mix’ n’ match element, as with the Phoenix Trail run by Phoenix Motorcycle Training, which was a festival partner along with Alpinestars, Bridgestone, Halvarssons, In&motion, Kriega, Metzeler, Muc-Off, Nexx, Öhlins and Yamaha.
More than 1600 test rides were taken by visitors over the weekend, a festival test-ride record, with the new-look Yamaha Ténéré 700 World Rally, Suzuki V-Strom 800DE and Honda XL750 Transalp creating the longest queues. Harley-Davidson was noticeably absent this year, but it did send an apology. “We’d have loved to have been at the ABR Festival again this year with our demo-rides team and the pop-up Mick Extance Harley-Davidson Adventure Centre, but we’ve got 120 birthday candles to blow out at our anniversary celebrations in Budapest.” Harley has already booked for next year.
The festival layout this year was slightly different to accommodate new elements. There was a self-contained Exhibitor Village devoted to clothing, helmets and accessories. As with previous events, the motorcycle manufacturers, main stages, food outlets and bars were grouped on one side of the lake, but for 2023, the pre-booked glamping and VIP camping area were on the other side.
Despite a record number of festival-goers, the welcoming, friendly, respectful and fun atmosphere synonymous with the ABR Festival remained. All those who turned out were brought together by a common interest – motorcycles. A sense of community prevailed throughout the festival, with each visitor making new friends and having a great time in and out of the saddle, a sentiment supported by overwhelmingly positive visitor and exhibitor feedback.
Commenting on the event’s success, ABR Festival founder Alun Davies said, “From the outset, the ABR Festival was all about offering the industry a premium platform to meet face-to-face with the customer. Our aim was to show respect to the rider by providing a first class venue, first class services and first class value, and judging by the overwhelming feedback (and volume of ticket sales for ABR 2024), it’s an approach that the motorcycle community wants. It’s said that the ABR Festival is now the largest motorcycle festival in the UK, and I’ll not argue with that.
“As I like to say, ‘Think Glastonbury, with motorcycles and posh toilets, and that’s the ABR Festival blueprint’. But we can now go one better. So, a big thank you to exhibitors and staff who made the ABR Festival 2023 such a wonderful experience. See you all in 2024.”
HAPPY EXHIBITORS
“We were at the ABR Festival when it was just a few hundred people in a field near Banbury, and to see it where it is now at Ragley Hall is a huge credit to Alun and his team. From our side of the fence, the festival delivers thousands of hugely engaged riders looking to spend as much time as they can on their bikes, which is exactly what we want! We delivered more than 600 test rides both on- and off-road for KTM, and we showed and demo’d Husqvarna Motorcycles and CFMoto for the first time and received great feedback for these brands – as well as welcoming KTM ambassador Chris Birch and Husqvarna ambassador and five-times Dakar winner Cyril Despres, who were both blown away by the event and are looking forward to returning next year.”
Simon Roots, head of marketing, KTM
“The ABR Festival is, for Bikerheadz, a marketing event. We don’t sell directly to the public like some other distributors. Instead, we support these events with a show truck full of our brands and invite the public to loan, use and trial the product first-hand in the environment in which it’s designed to be used.
“This, in turn, means we get time to talk to the end user and direct them to their dealer, giving them the confidence to buy, a win-win situation. This year’s festival was laid out differently from the other years we attended in that we were separated from the manufacturers in a dedicated retail section. To begin with, I thought this may have been a mistake, but having more retailers and a bigger area seemed to work well. This festival is a great motorcycle event for the trade and the customers who pre-paid to get a ticket. We have already booked for next year, bigger and better. Long may it continue.”
Chris Lippitt, marketing manager, TranAm