But the problem is that it is already essentially gone, other than a few bits here and there which will probably remain for some time. To each his own, but if I could choose one bike trip in the US, it wouldn't be to see what is left of Route 66.

I have to disagree
 

Not sure that I would want to ride all of Rt66 but there are a lot of stretches that really put you back in the 50s/60s and they are fun. My favorite is the part that I live on; from Needles at the Colorado River almost all the way to Ashfork. From there you have to jump on I 40 but go back to 66 at Williams. All of this area is still well preserved and has little travel.
From Williams (gateway to the Grand Canyon) go north to the canyon and then south again to Flagstaff. You can go one of two different ways and both are nice rides. Many options in the area and all are upper elevation and quite comfortable in the summer when riding.
If you are interested, drop me a line and I will gladly give you some more suggestions. Also, Mo and I have hosted many bicycle tourists throughout the years and would be glad to offer the same to a motorcycle traveler.
Mikey

66
 

Some memorable scenes on 66 ,,,
Great scenery ,,, nice people,, Flagstaff through Arizona, Colorado River,,New Mexico and Texas,, Was rather impressed with Texan hospitality.

Bad ones too ,, all the fat ones through Oklahoma,,, with mistrusting eyes, on any one who's not white ,, ones that will not respond to your questions on directions, on broad day light.( Met another one like that in Tampa, long ago) Ones that great Oakie Will Rogers would be shamed of ,,
Iowa, Illinois ,, St.Louis, Chicago and on to Philadelphia and Manhattan ,, great scenery and gentle people. The drive to Mark Twain's child home town Hannibal, along the old Missi ,, awesome.
Always wanted to visit Springfield, for their famous rifles.

Some shots of people I've met ,,
1) Grandpa and his grand son, at a fabulous Mexican restaurant, outside of Tucumcari
2) A family marching towards the Cadillac Ranch.
3) Old gas stations,, so many of them.. last one was just out side of Chicago.
4) Kids got on my bike outside of Philadelphia

Why So Negative?
 

I am thinking of doing Route 66 with my 12 year old son in June

Seems one camp thinks it will be sh*t-boring and the other thinks it is a historic must-do….

I want a trip that goes through lots of small quirky towns, has a mix of camping and cheap motels, has lots of photo opportunities, feels like an adventure and during which I get lost half a dozen times at least…

Oh - and about 10 days riding….

If not Route 66 …. where to find a good route?

Thanks..

hmmm, well let us know if you find such a road, if it exists. Kind of important where you are starting from, and where you want to go...

The closest you'll probably get are the few remaining stretches of Rt 66 out west. You can also consider Rt 50, which goes through lots of small towns, etc. but I wouldn't necessarily call them quirky, and the photo opps aren't really any better than average.

I don't mean to discourage people from visiting the bits of Rt 66 that remain, which are quirky. I just don't think it is worth it to ride the whole thing, because it doesn't really exist anymore.

Thanks motoreiter

My son wants to ride the Road of Bones or Vlad to Moscow....but I want to warm him up on something a little easier!

I will look into Route 50 and take your point about parts of 66 being good but a methodical one end to the other probably a waste of time

When we wanted a starting point for a tour of the US, as Brits, our thoughts turned to 'Get Your Kicks on Route 66'. We had planned a RTW tour as part of Roynie's retirement holiday and we had three months to kill in the US. We had it in mind to buy a car or RV but, a few months before we were due to leave, a couple of folk we met by chance on a skiing holiday heard the mention of Route 66 and said, "Wow, Route 66, you're doing that on bikes, right?!" They didn't know us well enough to know that we both had m/c licences. Suffice to say we started to do a little research when we got home. We found a bike dealer near Boston who would sell us a couple of new bikes (a Triumph Tiger 900 for Roynie, a BMW F650GS for me). We also found an all-brands Route 66 rally leaving Chicago two weeks after our arrival. The Mother Road Ride/Rally has been the foundation of an awful lot of friendships for us - and I think that riding Route 66 in the company of others is the secret of its enjoyment. The roadside attractions are not worth writing home about, but I couldn't put a price on the friendships that we made. The management of that particular rally has changed in the last couple of years, but I stand by my comment that it is the friendships that you make along the 2448-mile journey from Chicago to LA that are more valuable than the pseudo-Americana retro that you will see along the way. (If you read Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", you will understand what I mean.)

Actually I forgot to mention another option: the Lincoln Highway, which was apparently "the first transcontinental improved highway for automobiles across the United States of America".

Lincoln Highway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I haven't been on this route, so can't vouch for it, but it sounds interesting.

Rt 50, which I mentioned earlier, runs from Ocean City, Maryland, all the way to Sacramento, California. Several years ago I rode it from Ocean City to Kansas, where I had to divert way south to avoid snow in the Rockies. After leaving Rt 50 I was able to see many of the remaining Rt 66 highlights in New Mexico, Arizona, etc.

Top 3rd on the bucket list,, by Time Mag,,
No3 is the mother road,,

1 North Cape in Norway to see Aurora Borealis - Done in 1989
2 Diving Great Barrier Reef in Australia - Went north as far as the Gold Coast on a Harley 2010
3 A road trip down Route 66 - Did it 2011
4 Climbing/ hiking the Grand Canyon - Did it 1972 ,, 1984 ,,
5 Gondola ride down Grand Canal, Venice - Did it ,, 1979 ,, 1982 ,, 1996 ,, 2002 ,,, 2004 ,, 2006 ,, 2008 ,, 2009 ,, 2011
6 Explore The Forbidden City, China - Did it ,, 2006 ,, 2009
7 Marvel at the Pyramids of Giza - Did it ,, 1978 ,, 1982 ,, rode a horse ,, down the sand hills ,,
8 Witness sunrise at Uluru, Australia
9 A boat trip round the Galapagos Islands
10 Walk The Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Peru - Did it ,, 1982 ,,
11 A helicopter Tour of Niagara Falls - Did it ,, 1998
12 Yellowstone National Park, US, and see the Yellowstone Caldera – the largest supervolcano on the continent - Did it 1973
13 Moai statues on Easter Island

14 Normandy War Graves, Somme battlefields - Went by there twice.
15 Tour the Terracotta Army, China - Did it ,, 2006
16 Experience dawn at the Taj Mahal, India Did it 1982 ,,1984 Sri Lanka,, Jaffna to Kerala by boat ,, train to Goa ,, Bombay ,, Delhi ,, Rajahstan ,, down to Agra ,, then on an elephant to the Taj.
17 Jungle trekking and river kayaking at the Amazon Basin, South America
18 Visit Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice
19 Island hopping in Greece by boat - Did ,, many many times ,, Mykonos used to be my favourite,, when it was a really gay island,, no more,
20 Camping Yosemite National Park, US - Did it 1973 ,, stoned on a good ganja.
21 Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia - Did it with my Harley,,,
22 Masai Mara Great Wildebeest
migration, Kenya - Only to Nairobi ,, soon though.
23 Celebrate Hogmanay in Edinburgh ,, Edinburgh , yes twice ,, not that particular fest.
24 Marvel at Michelangelo’s artwork in the Sistine Chapel, Italy ,, About half dozen times.
25 Tour the Rocky Mountains, Canada - Did it ,, Vancouver to Alberta,, skiing.