How to learn enduro and off-road riding in India, and what it costs

Where beginners learn, and what it costs

You do not need to own a motocross or enduro bike to find out if off-road riding is for you. A handful of schools across India run short, supervised courses on their own bikes, and the entry ones cost less than a tank of petrol.

At BigRock Dirtpark in Kolar, Karnataka, the beginner "Bedrock" course runs three hours for ₹5,000, and "We Learn" stretches that into three sessions of three hours each for ₹12,000. BigRock also runs a women only course called She Rides, currently priced at ₹2,500, down from ₹5,000. [[graphic:2]]

Royal Enfield runs a one day Trail School for ₹3,500 in Bengaluru, Kochi, Jaipur and Delhi, teaching body posture, slow speed control, emergency braking and a trail ride at the end. KTM's own Adventure Academy, open to owners of its 390 Adventure and 250 Adventure, has a half day Bronze level course for ₹1,000 and a full day Silver level for ₹2,000, run through KTM dealerships.

None of these need a racing licence. A regular motorcycle licence and a sense of balance are enough to start.

Moving up to enduro and dirt skills

Enduro itself is a timed off-road discipline, raced over hours rather than laps, and at its hardest it looks like the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo in Austria, where riders claw up rock faces most of us would not walk down. FIM's EnduroGP world championship runs a cleaner, forest-trail version of the same idea across Europe each year.

India has no EnduroGP round, but BigRock's advanced slate lets a rider build toward that kind of riding. Dirt Training and Adventure Level 1 both run six hours for ₹11,000, Adventure Level 2 is ₹12,500 for the same six hours, and the two Enduro courses, aimed specifically at off-road racing skills, are three hours each at ₹5,500 for Level 1 and ₹7,150 for Level 2. [[graphic:1]]

These are skill courses, not race entries. They build the clutch control, standing posture and recovery technique that every stadium supercross or outdoor motocross rider needs before they ever line up at a gate.

What bike to buy once you can ride off-road

Once you know you want your own machine, India's dual purpose options run from affordable to properly specced. Hero's Xpulse 210 starts at an ex-showroom price of ₹1.63 lakh and gives a long travel suspension and 21 inch front wheel for genuine trail use. KTM's 390 Enduro R, a sharper, rally-styled machine with switchable ABS and a WP suspension setup, starts at an ex-showroom price of ₹3.62 lakh.

Neither is a pure competition motocrosser. For that, riders typically move to purpose built dirt bikes bought through dealers or teams once they are racing FMSCI events or trying out for a team.

The licence you need to actually race

Riding off-road and racing off-road are different things on paper. To enter an FMSCI sanctioned event, from a local dirt track round to the MRF Mogrip National Supercross Championship, you need an FMSCI competition licence. The federation's last published fee list set a one event two wheeler licence at ₹250 and a full calendar year licence at ₹2,000, both inclusive of GST, letting a newcomer try a single round before committing to a season.

That is also the route that leads, eventually, to the Indian Supercross Racing League's 250cc Indian Futures class, where India's own young riders now race alongside the sport's imported stars. The schools above are how most of them started.

Sources

• BigRock Dirtpark advanced programs
• BigRock Dirtpark beginner programs
• Royal Enfield Trail School
• KTM Adventure Academy
• FMSCI one event license reintroduced for Open Status events, evoindia
• KTM 390 Enduro R price, Zigwheels
• Hero XPulse 210 price, Zigwheels