Written by Amy Miles

They’ve been back exactly a month when we sit down to chat about the adventure, and there are so many stories to tell that I barely have time to press ‘record’ on our interview before they’re relaying tales of winding roads and freak Croatian weather events.

I first met them both a year ago at the Bike Shed Motorcycle Club in London - Charlotte had just returned from a six-week solo-ride across the US, roughly tracing the Easy Rider route, while Claire had, like me, just bought a 125cc. Since then they’ve become familiar faces in the London biker community, regularly coordinating rides for VC London and working on its bike-building project. That’s why, when Charlotte thought-up this trip not too long ago, it was clear to all of us that if anyone could pull this crazy idea off, they could.

It really began with a wheelie day that Charlotte did last year with Stunt Asylum. After teaching everyone to do all manner of rad tricks, the instructor suggested getting hold of a scrappy bike to practice on once the course was over. That was all the excuse Charlotte needed to buy her Skyteam.

For anyone who’s never known the absolute delight of one of these things, here’s what you need to know: back in the late ‘60s, Honda introduced its ST-Series (or Dax) - a range of four-stroke minibikes with a top speed of 75km/h and fat little wheels. They were manufactured right up until the year 2000, but since Honda’s patents expired in ‘98, replicas like Skyteam’s are cheap and plentiful. Basically, they’re the smallest road-legal bikes around which also happen to be crazy amounts of fun to ride (for the record, the brand says its minibikes are designed to “put a smile on your face” and are “perfect whether you’re 17 or 70”…)

Charlotte

“It’s a profoundly shit little bike, but it’s so much fun that I was riding it just for the hell of it. I started lending it to mates - Holly borrowed it, Claire had a go, everyone loved it” Charlotte enthuses.

“Which got me thinking,'' she continues; “I had so many people contact me when I was organising VC rides to say they don’t have much experience, or only ride a 125cc but wondering if they could still come and hang out. I was getting really frustrated with this because there's a perception that you can’t come out on a ride with us if you weren’t on a big bike. So I decided to lead a ride on my monkey bike, it was about making a point that it's totally not about what you ride”. After that, the daring ideas started flowing; “I thought ‘this is great, how far could you sensibly ride one of these bikes?’ Yeah, you could ride this to France, you could probably ride it to Germany… you could definitely cross a continent… fuck it, I'm gonna do it.’ “And then it all went downhill from there” they laugh.

Once the destination was in place, Charlotte mentioned it to Claire;

“I started to talk myself into it… it was quite hard at first because it seemed like a really bad idea, and then before I knew it I had bought the bike - this was only a month before we left… It's a totally different experience to my nice, sedate Suzuki 125cc and it scared the hell out of me when I first tried it!”

With little planning apart from covering insurance, carnets and vignettes, the two set off in April with a Tesco shopping basket, Union Jack and European Flag fixed to the front of each bike. They intended to cover as much ground as they could in roughly three weeks, albeit slightly uncertain as to whether they’d actually get all the way to Istanbul. After taking the Eurotunnel to France, they passed through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Greece, before arriving in Turkey.

Claire

One of the most surprising things that came out of the trip was people’s kindness along the way. The girls were given gifts of tinned peaches by a stranger in Greece, got help with numerous mechanical fixes, and were even offered free accommodation by local bikers when they reached Turkey. Claire describes how some of their nicest experiences happened in the most unexpected places; “Albania was a country that everyone had warned us about, they said it's full of gangsters, dodgy, the roads aren’t finished… so we were a bit nervous about it, but it turned out to be one of the most wonderful places we've ever been to, and it was so safe and friendly and people were so lovely there”.

Turning up on the monkey bikes helped too - there’s nothing more alienating than rocking up on huge touring bikes in full leathers, Charlotte explains;

“a lot of the locals have shit motorbikes, there was an inordinate amount of [Honda] C90s and crappy scooters with whole families on them, or carrying massive boxes and things that really shouldn't be carried on bikes. I think we got a bit more love for being on shit bikes - people saw them and thought ‘that's just like mine… or it's worse!’”

Having seen and experienced so much, is it even possible to narrow down the highlights? Istanbul? Italy’s Grotta Gigante caves?

After some thought, both agree that Southeastern Europe was the most eye-opening place, particularly Mostar in Bosnia, which was bombed heavily during the war in the early ‘90s. “Going through Bosnia helped us put things in context because you're very aware that 30 years ago the entire country was trashed and there was nothing left… you realise how quickly it’s developed and how amazingly advanced they are for the amount of time they've had to do that in. Then you look at people and you think ‘shit, if you're my age or older, you can remember the war and you will have lost people in the war.’ It makes you think ‘I've had this incredibly privileged childhood and upbringing and you guys have come through all of this’ so it's a weird place to be but it's really worth it.” Charlotte comments.

Of course, the trip wasn’t without its tough times - the pair had their seats slashed one night, experienced their fair share of bike issues and rode through some awful weather, including the Croatian ‘Bora’ (basically, hurricane-force winds), in which everyone hid indoors while Claire and Charlotte were battered by the storm on a hillside, feeling very grateful for their Scott waterproofs.

Claire and Charlotte

On the subject of kit, is there anything they couldn’t have done without? The answer is Sena’s 10C Pro intercoms which they were gifted before the trip; “It really made a difference, particularly when we were riding through really crappy weather or just having a crap day, you can kind of share the pain a bit and also just to second-guess each other on directions” Claire describes. Did they run out of things to talk about? “We were chatting shit for miles, as anyone who watched our videos can tell!” says Charlotte,

“They really make the difference because you can share the funny bits and say ‘bloody hell did you see that?!’ or ‘oh shit we’re about to die!’”

Aside from the waterproofs, luggage from SW Motech and Knox’s ‘Urbane Pro’ armour came in handy, as did Spada’s glove covers - a last-minute purchase which the girls say they’ll never ride in bad weather without again.

Lastly, I wonder how they were seen as women on bikes, and happily, neither experienced anything other than friendliness and positivity; “For me it felt much the same as America in that the sorts of people who would be surprised that woman was doing something like that would be surprised anywhere, and I wouldn't get on with them anyway” Charlotte remarks. “I didn't see any difference, certainly from the biker community - it doesn’t matter whether you're a guy or girl, what race you are… you’re a biker.”

Charlotte and Claire vlogged about their trip from various hotel rooms and tourist spots - it’s hilarious and well worth a watch. And if you’re heading to Camp VC in a couple of weeks, they’ll also be running a workshop on how to (or how not to) prepare for a moto trip.

Check out their vlogs on Youtube here!

All images supplied by Charlotte and Claire via Charlotte's Instagram account.

——

Planning an epic trip? Get in touch and tell us about it. Hit us at hello@hairpinjournal.com. We'd love to hear about what you're up to and post some of your amazing photos on our social platforms!