Q&A: Endeavour Motorcycle Tours

If you’ve been around our Transmoto events for a while, you’ll most likely be familiar with the name Kye Anderson – an eight-time Transmoto Ironman-class winner. Having also an international racing career and KTM Group test and development rider role spanning over a decade behind him, it’s safe to say Kye has a pretty robust skillset when it comes to bikes. 

What’s Kye up to these days, you ask? You probably won’t find him on the track racing. Instead Kye, alongside his partner Lesley Flanagan, own, operate and run Endeavour Motorcycle Tours; a GASGAS-endorsed motorcycle tour company based out of New South Wales, combining the best adventure bike routes with forgotten sites and history.

We had the chance to catch up with Kye to learn more about Endeavour Motorcycle Tours, and find out if there’s another Transmoto event in his future…

Check out the full Q&A below. 

What is yours and Lesley’s background and how did you get into bikes to begin with? 

Well, as a young tacker, I didn’t really have a proper passion or interest in anything. I kind of bounced through ball sports here and there, without really finding anything that stuck until motorbikes came on the scene.

Once I started riding bikes at the age of 12, I simply haven’t stopped. It got under my skin and I can’t shake it. As for Lesley, she was never really around motorbikes until she met me when we were 18, but then motorbikes somewhat changed her life too. At that point in time, I started racing when I finished school and progressed through the ranks here in Australia, which then took us all over the world. Before I knew it, the people I used to watch on DVD’s and see in magazines, I was racing against as we jumped around the globe. Motorbikes have definitely given us a life of adventure that most people would never really understand or appreciate. 

When and how did Endeavour Motorcycle Tours begin? What was your incentive to start a motorcycle tour company?

Remember that crazy and controversial era 2020-2022? Well, COVID did a solid number on everything I had worked for and built with racing, and testing for the KTM Factory in Austria. I was left feeling pretty damn jaded by the whole situation and disappeared off the scene for approximately two years, basically hanging out in the bush away from the COVID chaos wreaking havoc on the world. But, as I mentioned before, motorbikes can get under your skin and sure enough I ended up finding myself on an adventure bike so that I could get into really remote areas without getting sprung by authorities.

Next thing you know, I cooked up the idea of ENDEAVOUR MOTORCYCLE TOURS sitting in a mountain hut one night in front of a fire. We then spent months investing tonnes of time, money and energy to get everything in place to try and hit the ground running as soon as the world opened back up.

How did the partnership with GASGAS arise?

I must say, it was quite rewarding after only 18 months of ENDEAVOUR operating, we signed a contract with GASGAS to be adventure ambassadors. The shoe fits, ENDEAVOUR is a “youthful” brand operated by “youthful” individuals being myself and Lesley. GASGAS is just the same, a “youthful” brand breaking into the somewhat senior world of adventure bikes.

We use the GASGAS ES700 for our bikes, displaying their versatility and performance which separates them from most other adventure bikes on the market. If I were to go out and buy a bike with my own hard earned cash, I would still end up buying what we have so I do feel very fortunate to be in this position.

Speaking of support, Endeavour Motorcycle Tours has a National Park and NSW Forestry endorsement – how does that work?

As I mentioned before, we spent tons of time prior to launching ENDEAVOUR investing in everything we needed to be 100% legit. In this day and age, you simply cannot afford to cut corners or not have your ducks in a row for the chaotic land of legalities. In a previous life, I studied environmental science at university plus worked in state/local government, so I used this experience to literally apply and change NPWS policies on over 25 individual National Parks to allow motorcycle tours to operate. Once NPWS came on board, NSW forestry jumped on the band wagon quick as wink, and we then finally affiliated with Motorcycling Australia which gave us three governing bodies endorsing our, relatively, new business – proving that ENDEAVOUR MOTORCYCLE TOURS are paving the way for the motorcycle industry.

What do you find are the biggest takeaways participants of your tours experience?

The most common feedback we get is that what we offer isn’t just a ride, it’s an experience. 

Instead of just following a GPS line and “see ya at the end of the day”, we literally ride with the customers showing them points of interest and places they simply would never go to on their own. Throw in all meals and accommodation, customers simply have to enter-arrive-ride giving them the best chance to enjoy everything we have in store for them often with some bonus extras!

What do you think is the most defining factor of Endeavour Motorcycle Tours? What sets it apart?

Not only do we have our publicly advertised tours, but we also specialise in private tours and private rider training. For both of these, we can offer fully customised packages to specifically cater for the customer or groups needs, and in that way they can really get THE ENDEAVOUR EXPERIENCE with just themselves and their mates. 

Is there a personal highlight for you both running these tours?

For both of us, it is pretty rewarding taking people to really unique and remote places that we really enjoy going to ourselves. Additionally, staying in the motorcycle industry post-racing career and giving back to the moto community with rider training is also quite rewarding.

What’s 2025 have in store Endeavour Motorcycle Tours? Anything new on the cards?

Well, the tours are going along nicely at the moment with our catalogue of tours selling out for the first half of the year. So, in time, we will release our second half of 2025 which may have some exciting new tours and riding training. We have a few irons in the fire that we will pull out soon…

…Fancy another Transmoto event?

Mmmmm, we will have to see. I am all washed up now and the older I get, the faster I was. Perhaps I may make an appearance in the near future and cut some laps on an adventure bike for the novelty/fun of it. Going ironman though is a definite no! My back hurts just thinking about it haha.