RTW with Harley Davison
 

Hi @ll

my wife (she rides herself) and I are planning a trip rtw. We own 2 Harleys, a 2001 road king and a 2007 ultra classic. We are very unsure, if this trip will be possible with those choppers. The route will start in germany, over poland russia, kazakhstan, Krygistan, China (Kashgar - karakorum highway, silk road), vietnam, kambodia, thailand, malaysia, australia, new zeeland, argentina, chile kolumbia, mexico, usa, spain, to france and germany. We don´t want to take heavy dirt roads ore riding in a river, but nevertheless would it be probably better to take enduros?

Thanks for any advice.

Eaglerider

This question has been done so many times before but most folks would go the enduro bike route for many reasons - just do a quick search on this site.

I don't think you can take large cc bikes into Vietnam though.

Check out Peter & Kay Forward's story. 550,000 km (342,000 mi) RTW trip on a HD Electraglide Classic, 1340cc.

Incredible!



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Can't comment on most of the world, but in most of Russia and the parts of China I've seen you'd be fine on your Harley's. I say "most of Russia" because apparently there are bad stretches of road between Chita and Khabarovsk, but I haven't been on that piece of road and therefore am not sure.

Moreover, while west of Chita the road is quite, there is about 100 km of road east of Krasnoyarsk where the road is essentially a rutted dirt road churned by trucks. While it was a snap on a GS while it was dry, I'm not sure how much suspension travel your Harleys have, and I'm sure it would be no fun if it was muddy and you had street tires.

Good luck!

As Keith said, Peter and Kay have been traveling for 13 years on their Harley, including those difficult countries most people keep out of....because they have been to EVERY country recognised by the UN. Not just off the ship, a lap of the wharf area and back on either. Read the sections of their blog where they have been the whole length of West Africa... more than once.

Regards

Nigel in NZ

Thank you
 

Thank you very much for your comments. I haven´t seen the posts of Peter and Kay before my question. sorry!

check out RTWdoug trip reports at ADVRIDER.COM