Riding green roads isn’t like (black) road riding, and, no, you don’t need a powerful adventure bike to get started. In many ways you’re better off without one. A good first trail bike should be light, simple, and forgiving: something you can pick up on your own after a slow-speed tip-over in a muddy rut, and something that won’t punish you for a mistake on a technical section.
Popular first choices among TRF members include the evergreen Honda CRF250L/300L, a reliable and light(ish) entry point that’s easy to service, and in fact will last an entire trail riding career. With experience and understanding riders planning on longer or multi-day routes often move on to larger capacity (and heavier) adventure bikes, the likes of Yamaha’s Ténéré 700, while smaller, more focused trail machines like the Fantic Casa/Trail or Beta Xtrainer suit riders prioritising agility over comfort. The right approach is to buy modestly, learn the ropes, and upgrade/upsize only once you know what kind of green roads riding you actually enjoy — some riders stick to gentle byways, others chase technical trails, and the ideal bike differs for each.
The real reason to join the TRF, though, is what it protects. Green roads — the unsurfaced byways (BOATs) and Unclassified County Roads (UCRs) that criss-cross the British countryside — are among the few places motorcyclists can legally ride off tarmac. But that legal status is fragile.
Rights of way can be closed through Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs), disputed by landowners, or simply lost through disuse and incomplete historical records. Once a lane is reclassified or closed, it rarely reopens. TRF exists to research, document, and defend these routes, working with local authorities and rights-of-way officers to keep lanes legally open for everyone who uses them, not just motorcyclists, but walkers, cyclists, and horse riders too.
And when the TRF isn’t defending the green roads it’s often repairing and maintaining them too – the work of physical conservation. Local groups will undertake volunteer work that ranges from light vegetation cut back through to serious road, even bridge, building!
Membership gets you more than a cause to support. It gives you:
That last point matters as much as any bike choice. Landowners and other green road users judge motorcyclists by how they ride, and TRF membership connects you with riders who will teach you to be one that’s welcomed back, not banned. Sharing the countryside considerately, sustainably.
Exploring green roads is one of the last genuinely adventurous corners of British motorcycling. Joining the Trail Riders Fellowship is how you help make sure it stays that way, protected for future generations, and is a place where you learn to enjoy it properly from day one.
The world of Trail Riding and Green Roads has a bewildering array of terms here are some references to get your head around
A short history of public mapping and how it has impacted the status and reputation of Green Roads and Trail Riders ability to use them
Examples of how current public mapping of Green Roads works to the detriment of Trail Riding and wider public access
Trail Riders Fellowship
Registered in England and
Wales No. 05848933
218 Strand London WC2R 1AT
