A British biking duo known online as ‘The Happy Bikers’ have embarked on an 18-month, 70,000-mile adventure of a lifetime – travelling around the world on a pair of brand-new, second generation Ducati DesertX adventure bikes.
Duncan Wales, 55, from Holbeach and Steve Staines, 60, from Chatteris became friends around six-years-ago through the Ducati Owners Club and began crafting their expedition at the 2024 Adventure Bike Rider (ABR) Festival in Warwickshire.
Two years and around seven drafts of the route later, the experienced duo set off from the UK on June 27 during the 2026 running of the annual ABR event – arriving in Italy in time for the centenary World Ducati Week (WDW) celebration at Misano World Circuit, which ran from July 3-5.
“We deliberately don’t have a hard schedule,” Wales told MCN during the Italian celebration. “We don’t even have a route. We’ve got a list of countries, direction of travel, and we’ve booked as little as possible in advance.”
To ensure they were ready in time, the pair received some of the first DesertX models to arrive in the UK this year. Being so new though, accessories are still limited, with upgrades expected to become available as they progress further into the journey.
“We’ve done the research, so we know what we have to do to cross borders and air freight the bikes,” Wales added. “But we’ve deliberately left it all pending because we don’t want to chase a calendar, we want to be able to decide where we go the night before and decide how long we want to be in places.”
Although keeping the plan loose, the pair’s first stop was Slovenia – a decision made to allow Staines to pick up an important package.
“We’re headed up to Denmark to get the boat to the Faroe Islands,” he explained. “But two-years-ago when we left here, I stupidly left an Apple Watch at a campsite in Slovenia and they’ve kept it, so we’re going there Monday night to collect it.”
Unlike many RTW explorers, the pair plan to ship their bikes to either the US or Canada after a spell through mainland Europe and onto Iceland, before returning to continents such as Asia further down the line.
“We wanted to get to northern Alaska before winter and then down to Ushuaia before winter and that’s the only way that we could get it to fit around the seasons,” Wales added.
Although a chance to see the world, it’s also an opportunity to connect with family, with Staines adding: “I’m really looking forward to getting to Sydney, because my daughter lives there and I haven’t seen her for nearly three years.
“I’ll be riding up to her house on my own motorbike to see her so that’s my special moment of the whole trip but there are many places that we’re going to get to that are going to be so spectacular.”
To find out more, and to follow the adventure yourself, visit thehappybikers.com today.
What an adventure it will be. It’s so good to see riders living their dreams and planning and heading out on these epic rides. We wish them the best of luck on their travels.
Dan is a fully-trained journalist, with a Gold Standard Level 3 Diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists. He has a passion for motorcycles of all capacities, but feels at home aboard a sportsbike. He's been working for MCN in print and digital for the best part of 10 years, with regular contributions to RiDE Magazine on the side.
News Editor, trackday fan, lover of 90s sportsbikes