Off road; what's legal?

[jarl]

I was talking to a friend about this and we realised that neither of us had the first clue. I thought it was pretty much all illegal but would like to do it, but he reckoned that since the bike isn't a dirtbike, if I were to stick to tracks used by 4x4's and not go through any "private" signs, then I should be good. Thoughts?

[StumpyFingers]

If the track is used by other vehicles, and it has no prohibitions then it should be O.K. as you say it is not a dirt bike.

[TRANSPORTER]

Join your local TRF group they will have a list of all useable lanes in your area, plus if you plan on a visit to another area thae other group will gladly include you into one of their ride outs or with abit of communication would have one of their members take you out on your own.
Also its worth joining for the public liability insurance and that if you do inadvertantly go off route or there is a debate wit ha local ref legallity of your route and goes as far as a court case they have there own dedicated lawyers worth the membership fee on its own.
Also alot of areas have had breakaway groups from the TRF, mine is the KTRC (Kernow Trail riders Club). Thse groups still ride within the boundaries of the law and also along side the TRF, they just saw that the TRF was getting bogged down in the political side of things and not riding.
There are alot of unsung heroes in the TRF who do alot of backroom work to keep the byways open for us so join both groups and have the best of both worlds.

[rich1960]

Yes....couldn't agree more with transporter.

The TRF are full of local knowledge and in your part of the world have an expert in Rights of Way.

As a general rule, I would suggest buying a landrainger map 1:50,000 and look for the red dots (ORPA's) most of these are legal, but in some instances they're not, which is why its best to join the TRF.

Most groups will be happy to take you out either on your own or in a group, but as I say to members in our group (www.wytrf.org.uk ) you get more out the more you put in.

Rich

[mikepotus]

TRF definately the way to go, (plod can have your bike crushed if they catch you somewhere you shouldn't be, prob unlikely but possible)


mike

[YEN_POWELL]

Also its worth joining for the public liability insurance and that if you do inadvertantly go off route or there is a debate wit ha local ref legallity of your route and goes as far as a court case they have there own dedicated lawyers worth the membership fee on its own.

This is true, the TRF spent many tens of thousands of pounds whilst defending me and two others on a trespass case (we were on a legal route, but the land owner wanted to prove otherwise in court so he could build over it).

And that was money spent without even losing the court case.

[Jenna]

Basically what everyone has said..plus.

A lot of farm tracks are on private land with no public access just because a farmers 4x4 has been down it it defiantly does not mean you can too. Also there is a large contingent of irresponsible 4x4 owners (just as bike /quad/ horse and rambler) that have no respect for private land an go where they want regardless of legal byway or not... follow one of these routes and you will end up in court (and rightly so) if your caught.

There has been a massive movement towards down grading of public access over the last 10 years thanks to a whole host of reasons (damage, trespass, development, maintenance costs etc etc etc) you may well find that a track that was legal in the past is now not, you may also find a track has been downgraded or has a TRO or prohibition notice on it... again get caught on these tracks and you could end up in court or worse.

Join the TRF, thankfully they are becoming a lot more localized and not so wound up in fighting political battles, that said the quality of groups vary tremendously so you may find your local group is not as good as one a little further away!... you can also get involved with the Virtual Peaks online TRF forum (run by a fellow S10 owner). virtualpeakstrf.co.uk

If you’re super keen you also can join GLASS and LARA as these both go some way to protect and promote the legal use of our green lanes in the UK.

Lastly a good source of information is the Wayfinder Project, however I have noticed that some of its data is jetting a bit out of date so get any lanes you intend to use checked out with local council (just because it shows legal access on the make it won’t hold up in court!!!!).