Who we are looking for
Are you a dedicated biker, qualified motorbike instructor or bike mechanic who enjoys writing or sharing your experience? Or someone who has a few tours under the belt with travel stories photos and videos to share? If you are one of those people, join us on the pages of RoadTrooper. If you are in the motorbike trade we also want to hear from you, especially small businesses and the self-employed. We can’t offer you direct advertising, nor do we accept monetary payment for advertising. However if you have a good story, or can contribute to the promotion of motorbike safety, motorbike life, motorbike touring or anything along those lines then you are more than welcome to plug your business. Basically, if you are willing to contribute to the biker community, then you’re welcome to advertise within the written contribution. Non-corporate, non-profit and inspires we also welcome those who are looking for a bit more exposure of their personal blogs, Flickr galleries or video channels. If your site is non corporate, non-profit and inspires, informs and promotes more bikers to start touring, or would be bikers to get their licence then we are happy to help promote you. Motorbike gear retailers free advertising is also offered if you would like to submit certain types of new gear for either review, and or the option for RoadTrooper to host an auction with the monitory proceeds going to a registered charity of your choice. If you can’t think of one then we know of loads of worthy charities that we can suggest the moneys can go to.
Please note, due to our own very tight budget any costs incurred by us, such as postage fees, Ebay fees etc would have to be deducted from auction profits. When possible we will supply a receipt to you from the charity and all moneys raised will be posted on RoadTrooper including links to the contributors involved. Service trade you are also more than welcome to offer a service, be it a mechanical service, advanced training service etc for auction or review in trade for advertising. Maybe you’re a self-employed bike mechanic why not write or upload a tutorial on how to properly do a regular or pre-tour bike safety check on any model. Or maybe a model specific tutorial on what look for when buying a 2nd hand bike and advertise your business and let everyone know you and your expertise. Your article/ad will be there for all to see for as long as RoadTrooper exists and it will be indexed by Google and other search engines. And the higher volume of a useful and relevant content you publish with RoadTrooper, the better online visibility your story will receive in the Borg Collective that is the Internet! We are looking for all those who are insanely passionate about motorbike touring and we want to welcome them to RoadTrooper to expand our team and to introduce new names to the community of our readers!
What We are Looking For
Have a look at the RoadTrooper online publication, read our articles accompanied by GoogleMaps, business and gear reviews, videos and photos. Check our YouTube TV Channel for the growing series of routes documented on video.
We’re looking for well-written DIY and safety guides, touring stories to unique and local destinations and photos or links to videos of your recorded tours. These don’t have to be a “mid life crisis” trip to Angola, although that would be something I for one would love for you to submit.
But don’t forget, local knowledge of a region can be incredibly important for a “non local” when planning a successful trip, so stories, advice, routes etc of your local area can be a massive help to those riding into your area for the first time. For example, this year I rode into Navarra in the Basquelands for the first time, but as I knew little of what to expect I know I missed many great sights and roads. So, if you’re a Basque biker, please give us stories and advice for your local roads, from years of riding them you may now take them for granted, but I assure you, neither I nor hundreds of other bikers would. From the roads I rode in Navarra in May/June 2012 my initial impression was spectacularly world-class bike touring roads. I want to know more so I can return informed!
It is absolutely essential that your article is original. If a photo that accompanies your article does not belong to you, than you need to obtain permission from its owner and submit it with your article. Also we do not publish materials that were published elsewhere already.
Don’t get yourself all stressed out about being a great story-teller, as long as you can string a sentence together then you’re in. Just be mindful that the more information you can give the better – biker friendly businesses and places to stay, great roads inc. road numbers or better still maps, local info or regional food and drink to try. Same goes for your own gear reviews, the more info the better.
What Is In For You
As remuneration your name and picture will be accompanied with every post you write along with links to your personal or business web site. Writing for RoadTrooper is a great way to get exposure for yourself, your business your trips, your experience and to help get more potential bikers on the road and enjoying an incredible way of life.
Help us to replenish the ranks, herds of self-serving or just pig ignorant politicians in Brussels would have us all off our bikes. They are forcing every EU country to change their laws to make motorcycling ever more difficult. They claim it’s for our safety but refuse to drop the taxes on safety equipment like helmets, refuse lower taxes on rider training and utterly ignore to train car drivers of our existence. We must help ourselves, stick together, promote our way of life and give the next generation of motorcyclists every possible reason and help to join our dwindling ranks before our votes and demonstrations become too weak to count.
Rules And Guidelines
Here are some very basic guidelines to an article we accept for publication, which will most likely change or be added to in time -
Content: 800 words minimum (if you’re submitting a tour review, How-To guide, etc. it will usually end up much more than that). Spell check before sending your article.
Visuals: photo or link to your video, as we do not host large video files. Photos, images or videos must be your own.
Do NOT submit the following as it will go straight to the trash bin.
- Any racist or unjustly abusive comments.
- We are only interested in political stories or views if they relate to, or affect the motorbike community in general.
- We are mostly all adults here so language can be “colourful”, but just remember the idea behind the site is to also be of interest to younger people who may have an interest in motorbikes. So just keep your language realistic.
- As with language the same goes for photos, if you want to show photos of your bike trip to a nudist camp in France then we’d all love to hear that story, but the photos of the camp itself may be censored. Remember this site is open to all ages; we want to inspire the next generation of bikers and NOT turn them into social deviants in desperate need of professional counselling!
- Stories of accidents and especially photos of accidents are of no interest, even if they inform how the accident could have been avoided. We would rather promote safe responsible riding from the outset through informative and instructive stories especially from qualified training instructors or those who, at the very least, know what they are talking about.
We do not mind if you publish your articles elsewhere again, we won’t be claiming any of that copyright nonsense.
If you change your mind and you wish to have any article you have written removed just let us know from the original email address that the article was submitted from and we will scrub it for you.
If the article for removal is connected to a business we may request further contact to be sure the request for article removal is a legitimate request from the business owner/manager.
Any article submitted by a business must be submitted by the business owner/manager and full business contact details must be supplied. For any questionable article we may seek contact by phone for direct permission by the business manager/owner before an article is published.
Any article submitted by a business or individual that is in any way defamatory towards another named business can not be considered for publication at this time. Trading in this climate is difficult enough and we aim to positively support everyone involved and not make things worse. A dedicated business review section will be available at a later stage where you can fairly rate your experience with a motorbike business or service in the interest of promoting those businesses with exceptional customer service.
Who or what the heck is RoadTrooper
RoadTrooper is an Independent Motorbike Touring Magazine established in 2010 by a devote biker and landscape photographer Denis Smyth. Since 2000 Denis has dedicated 12 years travelling extensively throughout Europe on motorbike following his passion of motorbike touring and photography. Working and living in various countries has given Denis a diverse experience in everything related to motorbike touring from bikes to gear, from the best roads and local customs to dealing with avalanches, landslides, pissed off euro cops and free range bovine road hazards.
Denis is now based in Spain, Ireland and the Isle of Man as he is simply not capable of staying in one place for any length of time. Originally Denis set up RoadTrooper as a travel blog to inspire a love of motorbike touring to others. Strangely enough the site proved very popular, it’s now constantly evolving along with the small team of dedicated bikers selflessly dedicating their time to help build the site and inspire a new generation of aspiring motorbike travelers.
Since 2010 RoadTroopers monthly reader base has grown from 0 to over 10,000 and climbing across all digital channels, which include the digital magazine RoadTrooper as well as its YouTube Video channel.
The idea behind RoadTrooper is simply this:
- TO PROMOTE the health and sanity benefits of motorbike touring
- TO EXPAND the minds and horizons of those who have not yet taken their bike further a field.
- TO HELP would be motorbike travellers to plan, manage and to gear up (or down) for a successful and safe trip with a long list of roads to ride and places to see.
- TO GIVE EVERY REASON, SUPPORT AND HELP to those new to biking or those thinking of going for their motorbike licence and show them how worthwhile, life defining, life affirming and how bloody marvellous it is to be a biker.
- And last, but not lease, TO LET OTHERS SHARE THEIR STORIES, EXPERIENCES, EXPERTISE & LOVE OF MOTORBIKE TOURING to the rest of us who are always looking for new ideas and places to ride our bikes.
RoadTrooper is a non-profit independent publication. It’s supported solely by motorbike enthusiasts and sponsors from small business in the motorbike trade. The site is not sponsored or helped by any motorcycle manufacture. While Denis mostly tours on BMW models this is simply his current choice of favorites (which changes on a regular basis) and there is no intention to promote any one brand/model over another.
If Denis or another contributor say’s he like’s something he will tell you why, if he doesn’t like something he will also tell you why, but these are only a personal opinion based on personal likes, dislikes, experience and, or more likely – lack thereof. With the writers being only human they are almost certainly deeply flawed and should be viewed objectively, completely ignored or laughed at and ridiculed over a couple of pints with your mates. The writers are also bikers and will therefore most likely have a slightly twisted sense of humour so try not to get offended by anything they say.
Complaints & Responses
Any complaints should be addressed to arsebiscuits@roadtrooper.com Please be patient, your complaints matter deeply to us and we will reply as soon as we care.
Rational responses (even differing opinions can be posted by registered RoadTrooper members only under any article/story of interest and will be replied to in a very slipshod manner or when time allows. Don’t forget we have day jobs and other commitments too, but we always get there in the end.
How to contact us
Please contact Denis directly at email Denis dot Smyth at RoadTrooper dot Com, subject line “RoadTrooper Contributor” with your story or proposal.
