4 important lessons from Ryan F9’s RTW record attempt

If you’re already one of the most popular motorcycling stars on YouTube, what’s your next challenge? Well, if you’re Ryan Kluftinger (aka Ryan F9), you set your sights on becoming the fastest person to ride around the world.

And so the Canadian star did exactly that, conquering the feat in a remarkable 16 days and 23 hours with his friend Connor Bondlow, and in doing so shaved more than two days off the previous mark of 19 days and four hours set by Nick Sanders in 2005.

Being one of the world’s biggest biking stars, Ryan, Connor, and award-winning filmmaker Edwin El Bainou, of course made a film of their circumnavigation challenge, called Yalla Habibi. It saw them ride from Anchorage to Miami, Lisbon to Istanbul, Mumbai to Kolkata, Bangkok to Singapore and Perth to Sydney. You can watch a preview of the film below…

Their time was inclusive of all flights, border delays and sleep; the clock started when they left Vancouver and did not stop until they came back around. Handily, Ducati provided fresh Multistrada V4 Rally bikes in each continent they travelled through.

But before the news of the record-breaking ride was officially announced, Ryan sat down with ABR to take us behind the scenes of his incredible achievement. And it was during that conversation he shared how he packed the global biking adventure of a lifetime into less than three weeks.

You can read the full interview with Ryan F9 in issue 90 of Adventure Bike Rider magazine, available HERE with free UK postage but, in the meantime, here are four things Ryan learned during the planning and attempt of his epic achievement.

Be flexible with your bike choice

The lads rode Ducati Multistradas which proved ideal for the challenge

You’d think any bike manufacturer would jump at the chance to join Ryan on his ambitious quest, but that wasn’t the case. In the end, the natural choice proved to be the one with speed and competition embedded in its DNA.

“We called everyone that we know. I’m rather bike agnostic. I’d happily have done the ride on a Gold Wing, or a GS, or a T7, or a CB500, it doesn’t matter. So, I called every manufacturer, and all of them invariably said, ‘no, it’s too dangerous, too silly. We don’t want to be a part of it’. Ducati, to their credit, immediately said, ‘yes, we’re a racing company. This is a race, we want in’.

“And it took a lot of cojones on their part, because they knew that we were shooting a movie that’s going to be shown in theatres. It’s going to be on streaming services, and the bikes would be a central part of the story.”

You don’t always need a support vehicle

With a talented photographer riding pillion, you can leave the support crew and van at home

In the true spirit of adventure, Ryan and his co-rider decided that an elaborate support team and vehicles would only slow things down, so they took the lean and mean approach.

“My friend Connor and I rode the entire circumnavigation ourselves and our filmmaker Edwin rode the entire thing as a pillion. There’s no other support vehicle. Our camera kit was built into a top box with some big batteries that charged off the bike and powered all the film gear so that we could rock up to a stop.”

Prepare your body, not just the bike

Roadside dining is the norm, so get your body ready for it

As any world traveller knows, fatigue can take its toll, so Ryan and his team stacked the odds in their favour in order to stay healthy and alert on the journey.

“Connor was on top of the supplements. The dude was our little pharmacy because we went off everything in the months leading up to it. No caffeine, no nothing, just good food and water. We tried to get really healthy and really stable energy, just with our natural, biological selves.

“And then Nuun tablets are kind of like a seltzer. They’ll calm your digestive system if you’ve eaten some smoking hot curries… But they also have a small amount of caffeine and tonnes of vitamins, tonnes of electrolytes and, because they dissolve in water, you get tonnes of hydration as well.”

Always plan your fuel stops

Running out of fuel isn’t an option when you’re chasing a record

Finding the correct fuel for your bike can be difficult enough in foreign countries, but when petrol stations can be hundreds of miles apart, making sure you can always bridge those gaps is critical.

“The tricky thing came crossing the Nullarbor Plain in Australia, where gas stations would often be 300km (about 186 miles) apart. The problem is those gas stations close at 6pm and if the WiFi is down, they’ll just shut at any time because they can’t take payment.

“So, we had to carry fuel on the back of our bikes. I think we had an extra 60l so we could fill both bikes again, and that enabled us to push through the night when the gas stations were closed. It’s a bit of the same problem in Alaska and the Yukon, but not quite as extreme as in Australia.”

Read the full interview with Ryan F9 in ABR magazine

You can read our full interview with Ryan F9 in the Nov/Dec issue of Adventure Bike Rider magazine. Get your copy today with free UK postage HERE.

The premiere of Ryan’s film will take place in Vancouver on December 22. If you’re in Canada at the time you can get tickets HERE. Or, if you’re located elsewhere in the world, the film can be streamed HERE.