Hey everyone, Dave checking in from the Bay Area. I’ve been lurking for a bit, trying to absorb everything, and it’s great to see this community evolve from the original “Beyond Starbucks” concept to the full-on XLADV forum. Much props to Eric for sticking to his vision of what big bikes were meant to do – they were meant to be ridden of course!
So quick background – I started riding sportbikes about 15 years ago, but like many, I loved long-distance travel on 2 wheels. Then when Long Way Round came out in 2004, I was hooked on the whole ADV thing, but didn’t go all-in until a few years ago.
Currently I ride a Ducati Multistrada 1200, which I’ve outfitted the best I could for off-road duty. I did a 2,000 mile trip from SF to Baja last year and it held up surprisingly well.
Also have a KTM 690 (Medium-ADV, ignore this one, ha ).
About a year and a half ago, being completely obsessed with the whole Adventure Riding thing, I remember I was looking for a t-shirt or something to represent that passion. Well, I couldn’t really find any quality options that I liked. I thought, well, the Harley and cruisers have their gear, sportbikers and MX have theirs, and of course the café racer and vintage riders have a lot to choose from.
I know there’s that “snowmobile brand” out there that ADV riders like – they have great stuff, but I was looking for something even more hard-core ADV. So that’s how the concept of ADV ADDICTS (www.advaddicts.com) was born. Premium apparel for us. I wanted to do casual stuff for off-the-bike, since there’s plenty of great performance and technical gear for on-the-bike already.
So for those times you’re at the campsite, hanging out in a bar with your buddies, or at the mall with your significant other, and you just have to rep ADV – that’s the gear I always wanted but couldn’t find. So I launched the brand to give myself some more options, hoping there were a few others out there who felt the same way!
Just as we planned to launch late last year, I had the opportunity to design the gear for the Rally-Raid Products 2015 Dakar Team, which was a great experience. It was really a dream come true, to see our logo on the rally bike, and be a part of the Dakar in a small way.
Fast forward to today, and we’re doing our best to put out cool gear for all the super-passionate, ultra-obsessed, ADV addicts out there!
Alright, well glad to be a part of this, and looking forward to reading some killer ride reports! 👍
Ride safe,
Dave