Motorcycle Road Trip

Road Trip With Friends

Road trips allow you to escape from the normalcy of life a little bit and hit the open road headed for adventure. 

Taking a motorcycle road trip with some of your closest friends can make your journey even more enjoyable and help you make some more great memories. And in the end it doesn't matter whether the road trip is just a few days, a long weekend or even weeks. On the road, you can visit some interesting places and have an experience that will last a lifetime. 

However, before you set out on a road trip with your friends, there are a few things that you need to consider and plan for. If you don’t do a bit of planning before you hit the open road, you will be kicking yourself later on.

It’s All About The Journey

Your road trip is all about the journey toward your destination, but you do need to have a destination in mind. This means that you and your buddies shouldn’t just head out without any final destination as your goal. You need to have some place that you are trying to get to during your road trip. 

When you are picking a destination for your road trip you do need to be logical and use a bit of foresight. You need to take into account the typical distances that you have traveled on your motorcycle before and the amount of miles that you can cover during your trip. When you think about the amount of time that you will need, you also have to account for rest, sleep and the time that you will spend off the road. 

Most motorcycle enthusiasts don’t like to travel more than about 500 miles a day, so you have to make sure that you and your friends decide on the amount of miles that you wish to cover.

Comfort is Important

You don’t want to get in a race against time. Make sure that you plan a road trip that allows you to relax and take in the scenic views and sites that are along the way. You don’t want to be in too much of a hurry, because it will keep you from experiencing all that your trip has to offer. 

The most important thing to remember is comfort. If you own your own motorcycle, you just have to deal with it but if you need to rent one, take a comfortable touring motorcycle. You'll benefit from it especially on longer road trips. You want to plan a road trip that allows you to feel relaxed at all times. You and your friends do not want to be trying to cover too many miles along the way. At the end of the day, any journey can be enjoyable as long as you have your prized motorcycle and your best friends by your side.

Break it Up

Sometimes breaking up your road trip into small excursions can be the best way to help you get a full experience on the road. Check out this site for more info. You can choose a few smaller destinations along the way that can be interesting places to stop and explore. 

As long as you have your trip mapped out and know where you are going, you and your friends are guaranteed to have the time of your lives.

Weekend Trip With a Motorcycle

Taking a weekend trip on your motorcycle allows you to take in the breathtaking scenes that are all around and check out some really cool sites. Short trips are meant to be a little more carefree and less planned out, but you still have to have some direction before you hit the open road. Even if you are only going to be away from home for just a few days, there are a few things that you need to bring along and plan for. Your weekend motorcycle trip will be so much more memorable and enjoyable if you are prepared for what lies ahead.

Make sure that your motorcycle is serviced regularly so no surprises will come during the trip. I've just been looking into getting a new touring bike (see here). To get some ideas about possible US trips, check this site here. And I've found this site for Ontario routes.

It can always be a good idea to go on a weekend motorcycle trip with some of your closest friends. This will give you company, but also help you stay safer along your journey. 

Think About a Pace Car

If you're traveling with a large group then having a pace car that follows behind with all the things that you will need is also a great idea. This car can hold all the stuff that you will need once you make it to your destination. There is not a lot of room on your motorcycle, so a pace car is the ideal way to take along the things that you will need most. Some items that you can consider packing in the pace car include blankets, sleeping bags, food, tents and all the equipment that you will need once you make it to the camping area. A motorcycle trip is only enjoyable when you truly enjoy nature and spend the night camped out under the stars.

Take Along a Map

It is always a good idea to know where you are going to ensure that you don’t get lost along the way. Even though the journey to your destination is probably the most enjoyable part of the trip, you still need to make sure that you stay on course. This means that you have to carry a map with you that you can use as your guide during your stops. Instead of maps you can consider to buy a GPS device which shows you the route on the little screen. Make sure that you have your trip planned based upon the number of miles that you can cover in a day and the places where you can stop to fill up on gas. Some routes can be pretty desolate for miles, so you need to make sure that you fill up on gas when you can to keep you from becoming stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Emergency Kit

If you want to be prepared for whatever your weekend motorcycle trip throws your way, you should have an emergency safety kit tucked away on your bike. This kit can include tools that will help you fix your motorcycle if any small emergency repairs are needed. You never know what will be thrown your way during your weekend excursion, so it is best to be prepared for everything. It is always better to be safe rather than sorry and this is especially true when you are on the open road. If you do have a pace car driving behind, then this is less of an issue since the pace car can bring you the spare parts and heavy tools.

Anyway, whether it's going to be a weekend trip or a longer trip, enjoy the scenic routes and time with your friends or family. That's part of the good life!

Touring Motorcycles

If you're planning to head out camping or on a long trip on the road, why not take a bike on your next trip? If you're already a bike fanatic, you probably already know how incredible it is to head out on the road with a bike in tow. I certainly know how great feels to head out on the road with a touring motorcycle!

Don't have a touring bike? Why not think about buying one? Naturally, there are many suitable touring bikes on the market. Let's take a look at two top touring motorcycles (wiki) for your next bike tour.

BMW K1600 GTL ($23,950 MSRP)

The BMW K1600 GTL (info) is a fast, comfortable and capable bike is a favorite of many who like to take this bike out on the road. Many reviewers consider this bike a 'very fast, capable and incredibly comfortable bike' that just doesn't feel like a heavy bike—even though it weighs a little over 700 pounds.

The performance is great, too. That's thanks to its powerful 1,649 cc engine, 160 hp and 129 lb-ft of torque. It also feels comfortable to ride, constructed to position the foot pegs lower and more forward, while the bars are positioned higher and closer to the driver.

Couple that with various luxuries among an already impressive standard equipment list, and you have a pretty great ride.

Honda Gold Wing F6B ($19,999 MSRP)

The Hond Gold Wing F6B (info) is best described as a long distance tourer and an all around town cruiser—and for good reason.

The Honda Gold Wing F6B is actually an improvement – an upgrade of sorts – from the standard Honda Gold Wing bike. And, according to reviewers, it's a much-needed upgrade. This bike, unlike the standard Gold Wing, makes changes that are all the better.

This 'Flat Six Bagger' (F6B) bike boasts the same 1,832cc flat-six engine, frame and transmission as its counterpart. It does, however, lack the electric reverse gear, among other equipment. Though, the reduced equipment load, surprisingly, took off well about 60 pounds from the bike's total weight, bringing to a little less than 850 lbs when wet.

What ultimately makes this Honda Gold Wing better than its counterpart is its seat positioning, which offers the rider much more space to move around, especially if they're already covering a lot of miles. The construction of this bike lets you ride it like a sport bike or, if you're covering a lot of road, settle back and enjoy the ride while cruising about.

If you're looking for your next touring bike....

As you can see, plenty of options for good motorcycles exist out there (top 10 here). Even if the market looks a bit expensive, there are a lot of bikes that you can look at on the market that are fairly reasonably priced—that is how I got my new BMW touring motorcycle!

As with every new bike, there are some options which I needed to buy straight away. For instance side and top travel cases, a tank bag and a navigation device. There are a lot of GPS for motorcycles available, from BMW (looks great but expensive) to TomTom Rider (affordable!) to Garmin (most popular motorcycle GPS are the Zumo 665 and 590) but in the end it’s what you feel comfortable with but make sure you get a waterproof device… Same counts for the travel cases by the way. I’ve seen some bikers coming to a camping ground after a rainy day and taking out of the cases their wet clothing. That’s not really what you want of course!

Once you've bought a touring motorcycle make sure you ride a lot on it! Get the feeling of it because it will probably handle differently than your previous bike. You can go for some short weekend trips to begin with, combine it with a short hike to loosen up the muscles. Take your basic clothing (not too much) and food (breakfast because lunch and dinner you can buy on the road) with you and a tent or go to a motel.

Got anything to add to this article? Just want to comment about your new touring motorcycle? Send me a message via the contact form!

A Few Tips On Planning A Weekend Hike Trip

A weekend hike trip can be more fun than docking yourself at a pub or blasting your woofers while driving down an expressway to a downtown bar. Hiking is rejuvenating, it is exciting, the adventure will replenish your energy instead of fatiguing you and you would learn more than you can imagine. No matter how old you are, where you live, how much you earn and who you have living with you, there is always enough opportunity to plan and go hiking. It doesn’t really matter if it is for a weekend or a weeklong vacation.

But, planning such a trip calls for smart thinking. If you haven’t planned a similar adventure before then you need some tips to guide you along (more here). Here is some advice that can help you to have a great weekend, hiking on some of the easiest or some of the toughest trails that you consider accessible from where you live.

• A weekend is a short period. Don’t plan a huge trip and don’t go very far. If you spend hours or perhaps more than half a day traveling, then the whole purpose of a hike trip becomes irrelevant. You should not tire yourself or anyone during the traveling. Pick a place that is close to where you stay. If the place is far enough, then choose to take a train if possible or a bus. Try and avoid driving. It is likely that one person will not be doing all the driving but being in a car for several hours is always taxing. Hence, pick a place that is nearby which would take just a few hours. Else, take a different route or conveyance option which will get you to a far place faster and more conveniently. The bottom line is, travel less and hike more, toil less on traveling and spend more energy and effort on hiking. That is the secret to a great adventure.

• The next tip on planning a good hiking trip for the weekend pertains to the choice of trail. You cannot pick a trail randomly, especially not considering the expertise of the people. You cannot go on a trail that involves rock climbing if you or those traveling with you are not accustomed to or trained in rock climbing. Choose the challenges based on your expertise or abilities and then add some. There should be something new that you have not done but that should not be beyond the possibilities for everyone involved.

• Take the right equipment with you! Even a short weekend away, hiking in the mountains or forests, you need to pack the most essential equipment. If you're sleeping in a tent, you shouldn't forget to make the agreement who packs the tent. How many can sleep in the tent is important as well. Everybody should take a sleeping bag as well. If it's really warm then a thin cotton bag should be sufficient. Next to the tent and sleeping bag, you need to eat. So make sure you bring a camping cooker and food with you. Take a torch with you so you have some light at night. Nowadays almost everybody hikes with a GPS device and if you have one, you should know how to use the navigation maps etc. If you don't have a hiking GPS then you should bring normal maps with you which is smart anyway (also when you have a GPS) because a map will never run out of batteries! Good hiking GPS devices (read more hiking GPS here) are for instance Garmin eTrex, Monterra and Montana and the Magellan eXplorist.

• The selection of people who would go on a weekend hike trip is also very important. You cannot take all your friends. You cannot all be novices or amateurs. There has to be a blend of experience and inexperience, friends and professionals and more importantly, everyone should be on the same page. If you take one unhealthy person or one person who is unwilling to go the distance then your entire group will fall back and all of you will have a very poor experience throughout the trip. Thus, choose your group wisely. If you all are inexperienced, then have a guide or a pro take you through the trail.