George Aramouni originally hails from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. “I lost the feeling of belonging a long time ago; I left home when I was eighteen and had been roaming around since. Home is where my family is now. Currently, I live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a big part of my heart in Italy, where I studied, worked, and still visit monthly.”
George’s two-wheel adventures started at a young age, in the small streets of his childhood neighborhood. “I started riding when I was about fourteen. Mostly I was stealing moppets from our neighbor’s garage for blasts around the community. Then I became interested in my uncle’s Kawasaki KDX125, an enduro version of the KMX125, which I admit to quickly crashing once I got into the saddle.”
Having owned several motorcycles in Lebanon and Italy, George’s motorized preference started with road bikes. “Beirut has a popular motorcycle culture, and road bikes are everywhere. I saved up and bought a Kawasaki ZX10R. I picked it up on a Friday and went out with some friends for a ride on Sunday. We rode much too fast for the roads, and I almost killed myself three times. However, that didn’t actually scare me. On the way back though, a motorist suddenly crossed five lanes of traffic without warning into the oncoming lane so he could take a shortcut. I must have been doing almost 125 mi / 200 km per hour. I slammed onto the brakes, praying to all the gods available, swearing in all the languages known to man. My wheels locked up and slid to a standstill less than five meters in front of his car. After that, I drove straight back to the dealer and dropped the keys there and then.”
In 2011, after moving to Dubai, George found himself at the local BMW dealer with the full intent of purchasing an S 1000 RR. “A friend suggested I move to ADV bikes, saying road riding would be boring around here. I thought, why not. So I got myself an F 800 GS instead, and I was converted for good from the start.” This move connected George with a broader circle of friends and riders that explore the dunes and wadi’s of the small country on the Arabian peninsula.
That adventure road hasn’t been smooth sailing all the way though. “In the beginning, we would just head out to explore. On one of those trips where we would go scouting and just head in any direction, we ticked all the wrong boxes. As we rode on that day in May 2020 we got lost, ran out of water, got stuck in a wadi, had to rescue two riders that couldn’t make it out on their own steam, survived a flood, and totaled one motorcycle. That incident was the last of a series of small events over the years that got me thinking. I returned home that day and decided I wanted to do something about it.”
“Initially, Get Out There, GOT, was set up to improve rider skills and awareness of ADV riding. As our first goal, we set our main aim on getting riders ready to complete an amateur Rally Raid over three days that would involve the skills they could regularly use to improve their riding experience. I’m not just talking about riding skills, but fitness, navigation, readiness, ethical riding, awareness of the other riders around you, first aid training, etc. Honestly, my main aim has been to make GOT the reference for adventure riding in the Middle East.”
GOT has, in many ways, become the unofficial de facto group where new riders join once they enter the ADV world in the United Arab Emirates. Offering everything from group rides on weekends, off-road rider training with specific partnered trainers, navigational training, first aid course, and camp-outs, it’s a community of like-minded individuals that are slowly raising the bar for ADV riding in a region mostly overlooked for its global riding potential.
“A huge learning curve for me has been to teach myself to adapt to situations that I would have avoided in the past. I tend to avoid crowds. I’m someone who can spend all of his time on his own. So my most significant personal challenge with building GOT has been dealing with people. I’m generally not a patient person. GOT is all about the people in the community, and part of that is each rider’s personality and evolution within the group dynamic. Everything we’ve done has been as hard, if not more challenging, than I imagined, and that’s not necessarily a negative thing. Seeing riders learn and get more enjoyment out of riding is what makes it all worthwhile.”
Being a die-hard rider himself George also loves the sport for all the right reasons when it comes to motorcycles. “I wanted to get a lighter bike than the GS Adventure I had been riding for a while. For me, the KTM 690 Enduro R was the logical choice for a proper dual-purpose machine. I bought it from the KTM dealer in Dubai and started upgrading it from there. Now it’s heavily modded to fit my riding and what I want out of it.”
Breaking the wind on this Enduro traveler is a Nomad ADV Rally Tower kit with Baja Designs lights, an F2R electric roadbook kit, and RNS Tripmaster. Doubletake Mirrors and a Touratech windshield modular extension also ride up front. A Flexx Handlebar and Flexx hand guards are stabilized through a Ralle-Moto steering damper. George also fitted a Rade Garage aux tank for a more significant range, and a Seat Concepts rally seat makes those miles just a tad more comfortable.
Also from Rade Garage is a set of their adventure foot pegs, with just above that a P3 Carbon full exhaust heat shield to protect against melting boots. A Wings slip-on exhaust, Rottweiler Performance catalyst converter kit, and Nomad ADV sensors protection kit round out the exhaust system. A Rottweiler Performance fuel dongle and KTM offroad dongle manage performance while the Kriega Soft Luggage system mounts on Nomad adv luggage racks. “The best part of the Kriega system for me is its modular design. You can expand it or collapse it to a bare minimum. Add bags, latch items, and the list goes on. Soft luggage also has a weight reduction advantage and an easy mounting system. It’s very sturdy, and I’ve been using it for three years now with no visible damage.”
“I started with paper maps and traveled all around Europe without a problem. I still love maps; however, nowadays, I use a Garmin Montana 700i with the in-reach feature. It’s convenient for keeping tracks and records that are super useful. I love technology and embrace it. However, I can see a loss of primary navigation and orienteering skills with the younger generation or the new riders. Simple things like distance and time awareness are a bit diluted. How easy is it to follow google maps and listen to a voice telling you to turn left without really thinking?”
“That’s one of the main reasons I and some friends started a group a year ago within GOT for old-school paper roadbook navigation. We’re about eight guys who enjoy plotting and prepping roadbooks for the others to navigate. It adds a whole different level of complexity and satisfaction to navigation. Riding becomes second nature. Reaching a waypoint is as satisfying as winning a section. We’re back to being aware of what it means to go 300 meters at 60 km/hr, spot a landmark, and turn left!”
All images copyright 2022 – George Aramouni.
I have known George for a few years now, we actually met a few times on the road assisting other riders. I have been part or shall I say the cause for him to start GOT, yes I was that person needed rescue and lost my GS1200 in a river that day – yes Dubai do have rivers that drags anything in their path with them, but luckily for a short time.
The point I would like to make is, I have been part of the ADV riding in Dubai for a very long time and Dubai has never been ideal as a biking community, mainly due to weather and general work pressures. Since George started his vision to establish the GOT community the ADV riding, guidance, organization and professionalism has moved the ADV community way beyond what my initial thoughts was for Dubai and motorcycling. I thank George for his resent-less pursue and enthusiasm in creating an unbelievable great community GOT in a harshly non-biking environment. Congratulations George, GOT rocks man!!!
I am Very Proud of you 👏 . I know how Hard it is to Create Something that only you are Passionate about , and other People are Careless ,And Doesn’t Support you . I like to Ride with you Guys , let me know your Coming Events Please. God Bless you…
GOT is definitely a wide angle approach to ADV riding – and not only this. I’m sure there are more things to come to motivate people to ‘get out there’ to improve their skills and enable their mindset to do it in the right way.
Would be nice to have various opinions here.