Del Bondio Adventure Travel/Death Valley Scouting Tour
had originally planned to impress the
gro up of guys I was riding with by reenacting Seth Enslow's infamous jump
from the first "Crusty Demons Of
Dirt" video at Dumont Dunes. The
huge off-highway r iding area south of
Death Valley, California, is frequented by all
sorts of off-road vehicles, from sand rails to
motocross bikes , ATVs and BMWs. Yes,
even the new 2005 BMW R 1200 GS. The
big GS is actually quite capable of negotiat ing the huge dunes , as I discovered, but it
was also one of the major reasons I decid-
I
38 JULY 21 , 2004
ed not to launch myself into the desert air
for minimal glory... and maximum pain. I
don't think that 600 pounds of Bavarian
metal would look good permanently
wrapped around me , and besides it' d
already been done.
There are a lot of touring companies
doing business in every remote COrner of
the globe, and Del Bondio Adventure
Travel has been leading tours to exotic
locations for over 10 years. Besides the
fact that you get to ride a motorcycle, customers of Del Bondio get to see places
CYC LE N EWS
where streetbikes just can't go, and that's
one thing that makes these t rips so enticing. It's funny to have a German tour guide
leading you around in your own country,
but the fact of the matter is that most of
the company's clients are European, and
Del Bondio knows what they want to see
and where they want to go.
Christo ph Del Bo ndio, the owner of
the company, has been riding, touring and
racing off road for over 25 years , and he
has taken t hat experience and applied it
to his company's tours. The company
40th Anniversary
concentrates on adventure touring, lots of
off-road and off-highway riding, because
as he says, companies like Edelweiss
already have the other riding/touring spectrums covered .
Up until this year the company has concentrated on tours in Europe, South
America and Africa, in some of the most
beautifu l places imaginable , but Del Bondi o
felt they needed a North American desti nation, and what's more exotic than Death
Valley if you're from Euro pe, or anywhere
else in the world for that matter!
