IN FOCUS: SOPHIE MEAR
In 2019, Sophie had the opportunity to open a Honda dealership in the Bay of plenty and jumped at the chance. Three years on and many rides later sees Sophie loving dirt bikes and enjoying time with great friends she met along the way.
Name: Sophie Mear
Location: Tauranga
Bike: 2021 KTM 150EXC TPI
Been riding for how long? 6 years
I’d been around motorbikes for a good part of my teenage years. Many people I knew had dirt bikes when I was growing up in Kenya and I often found myself hanging out in a shed with a few mates whilst bikes were being fixed. As for riding them, I’d say I was generally a passenger on the back of a dirt bike and never actually riding one myself.
When my two kids were both toddlers, we moved out to Vietnam for a couple of years as my then husband had a ship building contract over there. We owned a couple of scooters to get around on, which gave me an intro into riding on the crazy roads over there.
Supporting the Honda team at Fieldays.
Upon return to New Zealand, the kids started riding little PW50’s from as soon as they were able to walk and on our lifestyle property in rural Tauranga, with weekends spend watching them ride in circles and develop new skills.
I pretty much started out the same way, mastering clutch control was probably one of the first things I learnt and after working my way through a couple of different bikes, we started tackling family friendly trail rides, Berm Buster being one of our favourites.
In 2019 the opportunity was presented to go in on a Honda Dealership and I haven’t looked back since.
I signed up to a ladies training day with Chris and met some absolutely amazing girls on that day who have now become my bestest friends. We regularly ride together either as a group of girls or with our families. Our latest adventure was taking a once in a lifetime trip down to Queenstown to take part in the epic adventure that is SNOWMOTO.
A session at Snow Moto with her chick riding friends. Highly recommended.
Having experienced the comradery and amazing friendship that has developed amongst ladies riding together, I helped to develop the idea behind the DIRT ANGELS ladies rides that unfortunately have been postponed this year, but will take place at some point after covid decides to bugger off!
Initially I think I found dirt biking to be quite a male dominated sport, but soon found there was such a demand and market for women wanting to learn to ride later on in life like me and to learn little things that make it more accessible to them. It was such a comforting surprise to find that generally, if needing help unloading my bike or picking it up on a tricky rutted uphill part of the trail, there’s always someone at a trail ride that’s happy to help.
Enjoying the easy to ride KTM 150 at a recent Kids Camp.
My first bike was a Suzuki DRZ125 mainly due to its height. As a shorty being able to put both feet down initially was super important to me. I very quickly outrode this bike especially when discovering that having no kick start on a steep trail was a good way of steaming up your goggles and experimenting with colourful words.
I’ve since had a KLX140, CRF150, CRF230 and now my favourite bike of them all, my KTM 150EXC TPI.
I absolutely love this bike for its light weight, quick up and go, and can do attitude on any trail I attempt. It’s super easy to maintain and starts first time every time. I’ve had this bike lowered and a cut out seat fitted also, but the best money I ever spent was having the suspension professionally set to my height and weight. If there was one piece of advice I could give to the girlies out there, it would be to set your suspension to your weight and type of riding.
Son Jack has now commandeered the CRF230 and is already eying up the KTM 150.
It’s taken practise but I can now load and unload this bike myself into my van, one of my biggest obstacles when learning to ride.
I wish that more ladies were shown during coaching courses, how to load, tie down and unload bikes successfully. It’s a skill that takes practice, but I think if we were all shown some tips and tricks, we’d be able to master this very early on.
Sophie isn’t afraid of a little mud.
Being a Honda Dealer, I get access to a lot of blogs and feeds about riding, but one chick who has completely inspired me and continues to on a daily basis is The Girl On A Bike.
She tackles all styles of riding and shares top tips for girls, my favourite being the best way to pick up your bike when you fall off or drop it mid trail.
This is one skill I wish I had learnt early on as at times depending on the trail or general mood of the day, I have a good relationship with the ground.
I don’t want to brag or anything, but I kinda introduced these girls to each other at a Ladies Coaching Day. From Left, Noelene, Sophie, Lisa and Clare - Core riding buddies makes for a great day.
My home life pretty much consists of running our Honda Dealership, ferrying my daughter to dance competitions, being pit crew mum to my sons karting and then swapping all that for our love of dirt biking and the next trail ride.
If I could give any other girl considering getting into the dirt bike scene a piece of advice it would be to put aside any fear you may be holding and give it a go! The community of supportive chicks riding the dirt is brings about unbelievable bond you’ll never find anywhere else. And you’ll never regret or look back on the adventures it gives you.
The trusty CRF230 was a great bike to learn on before stepping up to a full sized bike.
As mentioned previously, Sophie operates Bay Honda Motorcycle dealership, located in Te Puke, servicing all areas of The Bay. You can check out the teams Instagram or Facebook pages below and get in touch if you have any motorcycle needs. Bay Honda are also huge supporters of the Honda Kids Camps and are the dealers you will find at the super-popular Lake Rotoiti venue.
Website - www.bayhonda.nz
Instagram - @bayhondanz2
Facebook - Bay Honda
Sophie with daughter Maddie.