A Fife-based former soldier who now offers motorcycle training to budding riders is expanding his business.
Kevin Murray is a lifelong motorbike fan. His dad represented Scotland, and Kevin followed in his footsteps aged 10.
A career in the army, including two tours of Afghanistan and Iraq, followed, before he decided to set up his own business.
A former Scottish and British champion, Kevin launched Ride Off Road Scotland in December 2019.
He offers a range of off-road motorbike training at locations across the country. Clients have ranged in age from three to 77 so far.
After a difficult beginning due to the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for Kevin’s expert training has rocketed.
‘I need some help’ says Ride Off Road Scotland boss
As a result, he is looking to take on three new members of staff.
The managing director said: “I’ve got a fleet of bikes that I take people out on.
“Some of them have never ridden motorbikes before.
“That is quite full-on, then when I get back to the workshop I’ve got to get the bikes ready again.
“I’ve also got to look at bookings. I just don’t have a spare minute so I need some help.”
He hopes to recruit an apprentice mechanic to help in the workshop and an apprentice coach to take some of the sessions.
“That will hopefully then ease my workload a bit,” the 40-year-old said.
Being so busy is a far cry from the position Kevin was in last year.
Having launched the Fife business only months before, the first lockdown brought the business to a halt.
Kevin said: “I had 24 people booked for last April and that all got knocked on the head.
“We had a couple of months as we came out of lockdown that we were really busy, but then we went back into lockdown.”
Taking on the Dakar Rally
While continuing to grow the Buckhaven-based business, Kevin is also preparing a team to compete in the toughest event in motorsport, the Dakar Rally.
He is in training for the 2023 event, which takes 14 days to complete.
The former soldier is part of a team of four, including Tim Bradshaw, who was a novice when he joined one of Kevin’s training sessions.
He acknowledges that the challenge is the toughest in motor sport.
“I had a customer turn up who couldn’t make it round the track – he kept falling off.
“At the end of the session he made a good bit of progress and said ‘would you train me up to ride Dakar?’
“He wanted to take on a difficult challenge to inspire other people to do the same. I jumped on board.”
And while training continues, Kevin hopes he can add staff to his business with demand continuing to rise.
He said: “I’ve had some conversations with customers about them taking on the roles – young guys who are out of work.
“I definitely think there’s some potential there.”