Dirt Bike Tours Ireland – Bouncing across the peat bogs of Muckish Mountain on AJP motorcycles

Dirt Bike Tours Ireland

Dirt Bike Tours Ireland run tours all year round so you can see plenty of shots that include snow riding on the Dirt Bike Tours Ireland Facebook page, but for us County Donegal turned on some uncharacteristically hot conditions that made it feel like riding back home in Australia.

Paul met us on a bright and sunny Monday morning and transported us out towards the Derryveagh Mountains and the peat bogs of Muckish Mountain.

Our mounts for the day were to be AJP PR3 Enduro 240 machines. These Portuguese trail bikes are somewhat similar to a CRF230F Honda or TT-R230 Yamaha. Tipping the scales at 100kg and with pretty reasonable suspension that offers almost motocross levels of travel, but still with a modest 870mm seat height, they proved a versatile tool for the job.

Sure, there is no real snap to the Zongshen 233cc engine but it mustered enough torque to climb the peat bogs to some stunning peaks that opened out into panoramic vistas overlooking the North Atlantic Ocean.

Of course, a tour company has to cater for everyone and as an ex Trials and Enduro racer Paul can cater the tour to any skill level, but the little electric-start AJP machines allow him to even cater for riders with very little, or no, off-road experience. The fact that he knows them inside out due to being the official AJP distributor throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland certainly helps.

Dirt Bike Tours Ireland can also supply you with boots, helmet, knee-pads, pants, jersey, body armour and gloves. I was kitted out in trusty DriRider adventure gear, Sidi Adventure boots and the latest Shoei Hornet Adventure helmet, but did borrow some thin dirt specific gloves and left the jacket behind in favour of a slip-on upper body armour due to the unseasonal heat.

The terrain was very different to anything I had ridden in Australia. The soft undergrowth just seemed to swallow your tyres and made it feel like riding on plush carpet, then there were rocky trails, and also a little mud to add more diversity to the ride. At a couple of points in the ride we sent a drone up to capture some of the Donegal landscape.

Paul supplied a cut lunch and kept us fed and watered throughout.

It was quite a little workout at times but the little AJP machines just kept on keeping on with a minimum of fuss and were much less tiresome than a more hard-core machine would have been on our bodies.

We asked Paul to head down towards the coast on the way back so we could take a dip in the Atlantic Ocean, as it would seem a rare day in Ireland that a beach would beckon, thus it would be silly not to! The water was still a little brisk but eminently refreshing after bouncing across the peat bogs of Donegal all day.

For those that have their own enduro bikes and want something a little more hard-core Paul can of course cater for them too, but we had a good day out on the AJP bikes and there were enough challenges to keep us entertained.