Elefantentreffen (Bavaria) and the Mammouth Ride (Quebec): Two Winter Motorcycle Rallies, One Spirit

While most Quebec riders put their motorcycles away for the winter, two rallies prove the cold season can also be lived on two or three wheels. In Bavaria, the Elefantentreffen has drawn thousands of riders into the snow since 1956. In Quebec, the Mammouth Ride borrows the idea, on a smaller scale, in the Hautes-Laurentides. Two events, one spirit: cold, tents, campfires and camaraderie.

The Elefantentreffen — the “elephant rally” — was born in 1956. The journalist and rider Ernst Leverkus imagined it as a winter meeting for riders of the Zündapp KS 601 motorcycle-sidecar combination, a machine nicknamed the “Green Elephant” — hence the name. After Stuttgart, the Nürburgring and the Salzburgring, the rally settled in 1989 in the Bavarian Forest, in the valley between Thurmansbang and Solla, near the Czech border, where snow is guaranteed. It is organized by the BVDM, the German motorcyclists’ federation, and is regarded as the world’s oldest and largest winter motorcycle rally.

The 69th edition will take place from January 28 to 31, 2027, in Loh, at the Hexenkessel site, in the municipality of Thurmansbang, north of Passau. Every year, between 5,000 and 10,000 riders from all over Europe make the trip. In 2010, for example, Straubing police counted about 4,000 participants and 2,000 visitors, with about half a metre of snow on the ground. Nights can drop to -20 °C, sometimes -25 °C.

The spirit of the rally comes down to a few simple rules. You arrive by motorcycle only: cars and quads are excluded, and only two- or three-wheeled motorcycles are admitted — trikes based on a motorcycle are accepted, but not Vespa Apes and similar vehicles. All camping gear must be carried on the motorcycle: BVDM rules forbid unloading trailers or lorries nearby. You sleep in a tent in the snow, warm up around the campfire, and that is the whole program: there is no festival tent with live music and no organized entertainment. On the grounds, you ride with a helmet and without alcohol, and the official invitation lists quiet hours from 12:00 to 7:00.

On the practical side, admission costs €50, or €40 for BVDM and FEMA members, and tickets are sold only at the box office on site — there is no advance sale. The grounds are open from Monday at 10 a.m. Trophies reward, among others, the most beautiful road-legal custom motorcycle, the longest journey and the oldest participant. For those nostalgic for the old site, the parallel Altes Elefantentreffen takes place at the Nürburgring about two weeks later.

Across the Atlantic, the same spirit exists in a Quebec version. In Sainte-Véronique, in the Hautes-Laurentides, Quebec sidecar riders have taken up the idea of a winter rally like the famous Elephants in Europe. The Mammouth gathering takes place from mid-March: an evening around the fire and a night under a tent, despite the cold. The community gathers on the Side-Car Québec Club Facebook page, run by Éric Boulianne, a craftsman who installs and adapts sidecars and knows Ural, Dnepr and BMW machines well.

David Ponchard, director of teaching staff for the motorcycle segment at Tecnic, calls it one of his favourite moments of the year. He joins his friends in Sainte-Véronique via Route 327, in below-zero temperatures and demanding weather — an exhilarating adventure, he says, even over just a few kilometres. He rides a 1973 CJ750.

The Mammouth Ride takes place every year on the first weekend after March 15. In 2027, March 15 falls on a Monday: by that rule, the next edition would fall on the weekend of March 20 and 21 — a date calculated from the rule, not an officially announced date. What we do not know should also be said: the exact gathering spot in Sainte-Véronique, the number of participants and whether there is a formal program could not be verified. It is an informal get-together, organized among enthusiasts, and that is precisely part of its charm.

On one side, more than 70 years of tradition and thousands of riders in the Bavarian Forest; on the other, a handful of Quebec sidecar riders around a fire in the Laurentians. The distance is enormous, but the idea is the same: refuse to put the motorcycle away, face the cold together and gather around a fire. Not to be confused with the Marmottes rally in Saint-Véran, France, on January 8 to 10, 2027.

Photos

Main photo: a snow-covered sidecar outfit at the Elefantentreffen in 2010. The photo shows the German rally, not the Mammouth Ride — but it captures the sidecar spirit that also drives Sainte-Véronique. Photo: Dulliman, Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources

• BVDM, official invitation to the 2027 Elefantentreffen (bvdm.de)
• Wikipedia, “Elephant Rally”
• The Munich Eye, February 1, 2010
• Custom Tour Magazine, “Le side-car : ajoutez une roue à votre passion” (customtour.ca)
• Tecnic, “Un héritage sur deux roues : la naissance d’une passion avec David Ponchard” (tecnic.ca)

The 2027 Mammouth Ride date is calculated from the first-weekend-after-March-15 rule, not taken from an official announcement.