Wide of the Mark - A motorcycle adventure film

Wide of the mark was created out of a hunger for a motorcycle adventure in its purest form. Mixing the things I love most in life, and throwing them out into the wilderness. We built adventure bikes out of every day commuters to handle harsh terrain, packed our camping gear and went riding for 2 weeks. Our only goal was a rough road map of some of the most testing terrain Tasmania had to offer.

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In the Wide of the Mark blog series I’ll take you through our bikes, the riders and all the destinations we’ve hit. Giving you an inside look on what ingredients we put together to make this whole thing happen. For me it was a huge task, I’m a motorcycle builder and parts designer, that just happened to decide to produce a motorcycle documentary. The whole concept was new to me.

With the combined energy of myself and the team at Electric Bubble (my partners in the project) we were able to pull off a once in a lifetime ride trip, and capture the entire thing. Electric Bubble are currently working on the documentary of the trip, and we’ll be giving you more details on its release soon.

Building and riding the bikes was the only part of this project I actually knew how to do. Meeting and organising sponsors, funding, Ride trip schedule and location research for our shoots, logistics, camping spots, support vehicles, spares and tools were all on my shoulders to make happen and keep the team running and happy. Then there were the things I thought would be easy but proved to be a challenge, like keeping 6 tired and hungry riders and 4 film crew fed and happy while pushing them each and every day to ride long hours through tough landscapes.

The saving grace on all of this was no matter the challenges we hit, Tasmania delivered breathtaking tracks and trails with incredible views on each and every day. Wide of the Mark took in such a vast array of landscapes and ride challenges from soft beach sand, to alpine mountain cliffs and anything you can imagine in between.

What we aim to create with Electric Bubble behind the camera is a documentary that inspires riders, adventurers, and builders to remember why we love motorcycles and the freedom they can deliver. Pushing the boundaries of what a hand built custom motorcycle means to the rider, and the extra element of fun that an adventure bike you built yourself has to offer.

Countless times I found myself thinking, “If I had bought this bike 2 weeks ago and ridden it down here for Wide of the Mark, I would be stuck not knowing how to fix anything that broke”. The best and worst part about these bikes is that we have built them ourselves. Without the years of R&D behind them, and facing tough off road riding things will always go wrong. The silver lining is that because I built it, I know this bike back to front, and can fix anything that has taken a hit with confidence.

The 2 bikes I built for the film are a 2006 Harley Davidson sportster 1200, and a Sol Invictus Nemesis 400 piloted by Emma McFerran. Both pretty un-assuming road bikes, but with the work we put in these bikes stood up amazingly well on anything from dirt roads, single forestry trails and twisty bitumen corners. Nothing made it out un-scathed, but they all made it through. And that in itself is a big achievement. It may not seem like it yet, but once you see the documentary you’ll soon understand. For an insight on the build process, hit the Purpose Built Moto YouTube for an end to end build series on both bikes.

From the outset we had riders taking big crashes, and the bikes taking a beating. This is what adventure riding is to me. Going from A to B the most ridiculous route possible, and seeing what putting yourself and your bike to the test turns up. It could be one of the best ride experiences of your life, or it could all turn to shit and leave you in the cold and rain doing roadside repairs. This is what we want to show you through our film. The good the bad and the utterly ridiculous circumstances that motorcycle adventuring will put you through. Memories will be made no matter what.

With a good overview of exactly what Wide of the Mark Means, from here I will take you on a written journey of the places we’ve seen, people we rode with and the challenges we faced. Not only on the ride trip, but in the making of the film aswell. I’ll give you a day by day behind the scenes of our adventure and hopefully motivate you to get out and create your own memories. Wide of the Mark, 6 riders, hand built motorcycles, the ride trip of a lifetime and a film that gives you a look at it all.