Anyone who has kept an eye on the motorcycle scene these past few years will probably agree that things have changed a bit. Biking is now less about haring around on plastic-clad race replicas and more about casually throwing a leg over a cool-looking custom build in search of slow-speed adventure on roads less travelled—all while dressed in dapper clothing.

Plenty of people have cottoned-on to the business potential of the cafe racer/bobber/street scrambler trend and are making good money out of its various aspects, from building bikes to setting up locations and events at which enthusiasts can gather. Notable examples include the annual (and global) Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride fundraiser and the thriving Bike Shed—combining a club, restaurant, and coffee shop—which has bases in London’s trendy Shoreditch and the even trendier Industrial Street in Los Angeles.

But cousins Jonathan Cazzola and Robert Nightingale set out to do more than most to give owners of custom bikes the chance to have some serious fun on their machines, and they did just that by organizing the inaugural Malle Mile in 2015. Named after their business, Malle London—maker of high-end motorcycle luggage and riding apparel—the Malle Mile began as a no-red-tape hill climb and sprint race for a few friends held in fields around Kevington Hall in the English county of Kent

The event grew so big, however, that it had to be moved to the considerably more expansive grounds of Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, and now attracts hundreds of riders and thousands of spectators. These days, the Mile is just one of several major happenings organized by the Malle boys between spring and autumn, the other permanent fixtures being the Margate Beach Race, the Great Mile (covering the entire length of mainland Britain from south to north) and the Mountain Rally (Austria to Monaco).

Staging the big, road-based events for up to 100 riders amounts to a military-scale operation, but it’s something that Nightingale seems to relish. Because why else would he have upped the ante this year by announcing the largest, longest, and most madcap event the team has hosted to date—the Great Malle Arctic Rally? It comprises a 2,500-mile route from Copenhagen to the Nordkapp, otherwise known as Norway’s Northern Cape—a place often referred to as “the end of the Earth” since it’s well inside the Arctic Circle, with the next significant stop beyond being the North Pole.

It’s a journey that plenty of adventurous types plan for themselves, both on two and four wheels, but what Malle offered was a turnkey package which took into account the fact that many people have limited time in which to complete such an adventure due to work , family, or other commitments. For that reason, Nightingale reconnoitered the route twice himself in order to work out a way of breaking it down into manageable, daily stages that would make it feasible to start on a Friday and finish nine days later, enabling riders to be back at work on a Monday morning (albeit slightly weary).

To make that possible, participants could opt to have their machines transported to the start line and back from locations in the UK and France, or rent from a dealership in Copenhagen and have the bike returned there from Norway. (There were still a few fearless individuals who had already covered an impressive distance before the rally proper had even begun—including UK-based Stuart Wynne, whose journey from home to Copenhagen, on to the Nordkapp, and home again saw him rack-up around 6,000 heroic miles on a 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet, a bike with a top speed of 60 mph.)

Lack of time left me with no option but to take advantage of the offer of a Yamaha press bike, a 900cc Tracer 9, a three-cylinder sports tourer with (I’m almost ashamed to admit) an automatic gearbox. It proved smooth, fast, comfortable, and perfect for the job. While Malle’s original aim was for riders to use “inappropriate” motorcycles on its rallies, the ratio of home-built and classic machinery to off-the-shelf and modern models has shifted  sharply in favor of the latter two, and the majority of the bikes lined up at the start line outside Copenhagen’s Classic Car House—a remarkable “hotel” for collectable automobiles—were as good as new.

Day one comprised a 232-mile stage which took us to Hovas Kallbadhus, a delightful Swedish seaside resort south of Gothenburg, where we spent the first of nine nights under canvas, glamping in bell tents set up in advance by a relay team of Irish tent riggers who were always a day ahead of us, preparing the next night’s camp. Little did we know—because each day’s route is kept secret until the night before—but the run into Sweden was the second shortest of the entire trip and, on three of the subsequent days, we clocked up well in excess of 300 miles between dawn and dusk.

That might not sound like much, but the roads became steadily smaller as we climbed north—and, once into Norway, we were subject to the country’s incredibly low (and severely enforced) speed limits which top out at 50 mph everywhere except motorways, where a heady 56.2 mph is permitted. But as we passed by glistening fjords, took ferries across magical inlets that linked the country’s meandering coastline, and encountered rutting reindeer, gushing waterfalls, and majestic mountains, it was more about taking in the remarkable sights than getting from point A to B as quickly as possible.

True, it rained. A lot. But thoughts of damp riding kit and long miles spent enduring inclement weather were quickly forgotten amid the camaraderie of communal dinners filled with that day’s tales from the road—including stories of $500 fines for exceeding those speed limits by a reckless 6 mph, close encounters with reindeer, and even the joys of a visit to the Arctic Circle Motorcycle Museum.   

Any hardship certainly seemed worth it as we approached our goal, the celebrated Nordkapp—especially when the day’s grey weather gave way, seemingly on cue, to shafts of golden sunlight which pierced the clouds to light up the infinite vastness of the Arctic Ocean.

And, if your masochistic side is making you think that you, too, should have gone along for the ride, don’t despair: Instagram posts of what was originally intended to have been a Malle one-off have attracted so much FOMO that Malle has announced that it would all happen again in 2027. So start building that “inappropriate” bike . . . or just find a new one to rent.

The next Great Malle Arctic Rally takes place from August 6 through 15, 2027. To learn more about future Malle adventures, click here.

Click here for more photos from the 2025 Great Malle Arctic Rally.