Malle Mile 2021
Malle describe the Malle Mile as "The British inappropriate motorcycle race and festival in motion. A non-stop celebration of the speed, music and art of motorcycle culture." It's all of that and so much more.
Inappropriate = Appropriate
Back in September last year, I’d seen photographs pop up all over Instagram. Dark and moody with a dramatic sky over a beach covered in motorcycles of all shapes and sizes. Marshalls in white overalls brandished huge union jack flags while two riders faced off against each other kicking wet sand up behind them. To say they were emotive is to undersell them.
Clicking through, I started to learn more about Malle London. Established by cousins and designers Robert Nightingale and Jonny Cazzola, Malle (pronounced Malay) started out as a luggage brand. Starting with a single pannier bag, they now have a beautiful line up of luggage, clothing and accessories. Their British waxed canvas jackets are made of the same super sturdy, heavyweight fabric as their luggage and they’re clearly made to last.
Asides from the jackets, luggage and accessories, the crew at Malle have also created a series of unique events. The photos that I’d seen were from the Beach Race in September 2020. A sprint race, it was held right down on the shoreline in Margate whilst 10 metre waves threatened to wash the whole thing out and force 9 winds battered the riders.
There’s also the Great Malle Rally, a 1500 mile, 3 day ride from Cornwall on the very Southern tip of England, through Wales and up to Scotland. But it was at the Malle Mile, held at Grimsthorpe Castle from the 23rd-25th of July that I finally got to understand what they meant by ‘run what you brung’.
Community
The sense of community and inclusivity was palpable. From Dakar bikes to Vespas, café racers to dirt bikes, three-piece suits to shorts and t-shirts, anything goes. 99% of the bikes there were shed builds. They were made for riding and for fun, not for staying at home keeping the mileage down.
There’s a sense of kindred spirit amongst people who build. Getting your hands dirty means that you know your bike inside out. You’ve likely had to spend hours staring at it over a cup of tea just to decide how the handlebars are going to sit or trying to figure out if you’ll have to crack the engine cases open to find out if there’s an issue with the stator. The bike is a part of you and it wouldn’t exist without you.
It was a pleasure to see Jonathan Hull’s original CG125 café racer and his latest scrambler side by side in the Art of Machine tent. If you’ve had the chance to read some of my earlier diary entries, you’ll have seen that Jonathan was a huge help when I was having trouble fitting a new filler cap to my fuel tank and is one of my favourite examples of when social media works to bring people together.
I also had the opportunity to meet Abby from Grease and Grain and Max Howard for the first time in real life. Max and I have since chatted and I’ll be kicking off a podcast series with his interview soon.
The Future
It was surreal, in all the right ways, to be in a crowd for the first time in way too long. Only time will tell how Covid will continue to affect us all but the Mile provided a much needed glimmer of hope for the future. The weather held out so being outside meant that there were fewer concerns about wearing a mask and touch wood, I haven’t heard about anyone getting pinged and having to isolate.
Next time, if we can finally finish either of the bikes that are currently in parts in the garage, we'll be there on two wheels instead of four.
Thanks to everyone at Malle for organising such an incredible event. Clicking the images below will load them up larger in a lightbox but if you see yourself or recognise anyone else in any of the shots below, please get in touch and I’ll happily fire the full resolution versions over.
