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 a slow-speed adventure on roads less travelled while dressed in dapper, vintage-style clothing.

Plenty of people have cottoned on to the business potential of the café/bobber/street scrambler trend and are making good money out of its various aspects, from building bikes to setting up locations and events where enthusiasts can gather, notable examples being the thriving Bike Shed clubs in London and Los Angeles, and Deus Ex Machina, which began as a customising house in Australia but is now a giant global brand with stores on every continent.

But cousins Jonny 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 by organising the inaugural “Malle Mile” in 2015, a year after establishing their high-end motorcycle luggage business, Malle London.

The Mile began as a fun, no-red-tape hill climb and sprint race for a few friends in the grounds of Kevington Hall in Kent, but such was the success of the first event that it has become an annual fixture and – now held at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire – it attracts more than 1,500 participants and at least as many spectators.

The rapid success of the Malle Mile spurred the pair on to establishing an annual Beach Race in Margate and, in 2016, a more ambitious project called the Great Mile, a 1,200-mile motorcycle rally for up to 100 participants that traverses the length of Britain from Cornwall’s Lizard peninsula to the Castle of Mey in Scotland. The Beach Race and Great Mile have become yearly happenings, too – and were this year joined by the daddy of all Malle events (so far): The Great Malle Mountain Rally. Running from Austria, along the length of the Alpine range to heights of almost 3,000 metres and finishing just a few inches above sea level in Monaco, it promised to be a European motorcycling adventure like no other – and it was.

Around 70 riders entered, bringing with them an eclectic selection of machinery ranging from off-the-shelf Harley-Davidsons to the type of “inappropriate motorcycles” (ie, the aforementioned home build café racers, scramblers, bobbers and so on) that Cazzola and Nightingale always encourage to take part in their events. I chose a modern-day, retro-styled Royal Enfield Interceptor for the trip, which began with a pre-start gathering and overnight campat Schloss Friedberg, an impressive if daunting-looking castle on the outskirts of Innsbruck.

The night before the off, Nightingale encouraged everyone to make a short speech explaining who they were, why they were there and what they were riding – which revealed that people from all walks of life had signed up for the ride, from a special effects film-set builder to a dealer in wood-burning stoves; from a tech entrepreneur to a chemistry genius. But by the end of the first day the common denominator that had brought us together was what really mattered: we all loved riding motorcycles on incredible roads, and the initial 189 miles of The Great Malle Mountain Rally had been packed with them from start to finish.

We had passed through the heart of the Dolomites, cruised between the verdant pastures of the Tyrol, marvelled at the sights of the Paneveggio natural park as we climbed the Rolle Pass and ended the day at Castel Katzenzungen (home of the world’s oldest grapevine), where we ate in the banqueting hall before camping nearby – with the gentle sound of cowbells lulling us to sleep.

The following six days provided more of the same as we took in legendary roads such as the Furka Pass (made famous by a car chase in the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger), sped along in glorious sunshine, rode gingerly through fog, cloud and rain and opened our luxurious bell tents each morning to ever more spectacular views.

To say it was always an easy ride would be a lie. There were challenging moments for all, especially those who had taken the plunge to sign up despite having relatively little motorcycling experience – but, when we reached the end and took a final celebratory plunge into the Mediterranean Sea off Monaco, there wasn’t one among us who wouldn’t have done it all over again the following day.

Indeed, such was the success of the inaugural Great Malle Mountain Rally that it is to join the other Malle events as a permanent fixture on the annual calendar. And, excitingly for anyone who loves to go the extra mile, there is talk of staging both “Arctic” and “Desert” versions in the very near future.

Where do I sign up?

Full details of forthcoming Malle events canbe found at mallelondon.com