Like John above I'm old enough to have been biking for more years than I care to remember. I've done quite a number of long(ish) trips not only by bike but also by other methods - car /van / 4x4, backpacking, fly-drive etc but over the long run it's the bike trips that stand out. It's not all been wine and roses - some of them have been disasters, but they've been memorable.

Usually if I'm planning a trip my first decision will be whether I can use a bike. Often there will be a reason why I can't such as there's four of us so a car would be more sensible or I've got a month and I'm going to Japan so it's going to have to be a plane but for quite a few a bike is the weapon of choice.

Which bike I choose has been a decades long game of La Ronde. At the moment I'm in the part of the cycle that says smaller and lighter is better than bigger and faster so I'm planning a downsize from my current hard luggage 600 single to a soft luggage 250. I've been round this cycle at least three times before though and toured on everything from two up on a Honda C50 (not a good idea) to a GoldWing and back again. At the moment I'm planning a Eurotrip on a 70's Honda 400/4 (small and light) but longer term there's a US coast to coast with my wife on an 1800 GoldWing on the horizon so that may be everything coming round full circle again.

Quite why I should be so bike centric is something I've puzzled over for many years. I know a number of people who think the same as me and others who think that long distance bike trips are more torture than travel. I can rationalise it and say that it's cheaper than four wheels and gives you more freedom than backpacking but it's equally possible to say that it's the worst of all worlds - no weather protection or security and you're still stuck with a large lump of metal subject to legal requirements. No real answer but I'll be clicking the traveler on a bike box.

Just to really split hairs, aren't "Bikers" blokes with tattoos who wear studded leather jackets and own cruisers? If you answer yes to that one, would the choice rider or motorcylist result in a different answer in the pole?

I think the answer for most people here is both. I picked Motorcycle traveller because I aren't into riding in small fast circles or to coffee shops as much as I am to ambling about the back roads to see what's there, but if anyone has free tickets to the Moto GP or wants to drink tea and talk bikes I'll do that too! I don't even think the choice of bike narrows it down, I think we all move from one to the other and take our preferences and knowledge with us.

Andy

Definately not me, I'm not into 'lifestyle' biking but have to say I thought the traveller with bike category was aimed at backpackers (nothing against them - I do it myself from time to time) who rent bikes when they get to their destination.

It is difficult to pin down, personally, I'd never consider an overland journey by any other means than by bike but at the same time I need to travel and have limited time, budget and family to consider so often fly off to destinations that I couldn't possibly get to on a bike in the time frame. Bike trips are about the journey not the destination and it would be a shame not to dedicate sufficient time to them. Not to mention the weeks/months of preparing the bike and planning.

You already mentionned the term I had in mind from the very beginning which goes beyond these categories and which is common place for all us here...No, those bikers are not interested in HUBB, since (fortunately) modesty is a benchmark here.

very interesting question! I've wondered this myself quite a bit about the make up of folks on these forums that I mostly just lurk around.

In my mind this place seems to be more travelers on bikes compared to ADVrider with seems to be more bikers. Of course there are gradations to each.

I'm definitely a traveler on a bike. I backpacked around with surfboards looking for waves to ride for years after college. In fact I never would have bought a motorcycle without the thought of long-term travel in mind, and Africa in particular. Too dangerous - I'll ride mountain bikes for kicks on two wheels is what I always figured.

I've had a bike for about two years now and just done short trips of 10 days or less and I have to say that I have surely moved further towards the 'biker' end of the spectrum. Its hard for this not to happen I reckon, both with the riding skills and learning how to work on the bike. Its all just loads of fun.

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Trying to apply logic as to why you would travel on a motorbike is a lost cause and really the reason that I put myself down as a 'biker'.

As I've said before I wouldn't contemplate an overland journey by any other means. Apart from the pleasure of riding the bike I like the idea that you can't take everything with you and choosing what you should take and how you carry it is all part of the fun. I also like the fact that you have to be much more aware of the climate and make provision for any changes of climate along your route - leaving for Africa from the UK in January needs some thought.

Security is an issue although in my experience 4x4 drivers become complacent and tend to be targetted by the professional thieves. Bikes and their luggage can often be hidden away (in hotel rooms, for example).

I have met travellers who have acquired a bike thinking that it will give them more freedom to go where they want but have hated the experience for all the reasons I would list as positives (and crazy local drivers).

I think you have to be a biker to the core to overturn the logic that says bikes in many instances are the worst possible choice.

I can say with hand on heart that I have only personally come across one bike traveller having something stolen in the 3rd world. And that was a £300 Helmet left on his bike. I've never ever had anything taken in South America or Africa and I only use soft bags.

However, I have met LOADS of 4x4 travellers who have had their windows smashed and things stolen etc. Literally twenty more or so.

I'm not sure if it's a case of complacency of the 4X4 drivers thinking their car is thief proof or more of a fact that a big 'pimped' up overland vehicle is just a flashing Neon light shouting "Rob me, I'm full of loot"...

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Beyond the question of “more a biker” or “more a traveller”, which does not try at all to put anyone in a box or raise the differences among us but show the diversity of approaches and different ways each one followed to get here, I've thought from the beginning that OVERLANDER would a broader term where most would fit, since it proves hard to choose. I mean overlander in the sense of preference to travel while touching the ground and at a natural pace, so that you can see how crossing a mountain chain takes you to a different people, race and creed, how a river makes a different landscape and culture and how a desert separates two former empires… For me, it's an amazing feeling. And it applies to biking, cycling, 4WDing and IMHO of course to backpacking if you decide to go overland. It does not mean banning flying, we all do it, but I refer to it mainly as a contrast to a South East Asian trip with 8 flights in less than 3 weeks or an organized one with 3 days in Bangkok, 2 days in Hong Kong and a week in Bali (sounds like a honeymoon).

And Why a bike?, with the bad things of every world (as backofbeyond mentions)? Apart from the usual reasons as love riding, freedom you feel, closer contact to local people without barriers, etc, I’d say because of two factors: Improvisation and Challenge. It often forces you to change plans (and quite often that’s where the fun lies) and if you are stubborn to stick to the plans, then it’s challenging, with some sort of stamina getting out for body when you have to be at the ferry, it rains, it’s dark and you decide to ride (or drive). For some reason, suffering is also pleasing for many, a mixture of euphoria and relief, by contrast to an organized cruise / tour where all fits to schedule which may become too dull.

Just how I (think I) see it.

I am a bikeler!
Because i see being a biker and traveler as one.

Saludos

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Another 'Traveller on a bike'. I love to ride a bike, even to and from work. But when I ride in unknown areas the love doubles! I love to travel by bike, I have a 7000 km trip planned over small roads to the south of Spain (from Holland). My brother in law asked me why I didn't do it in my car. I told him there would be no fun doing it by car. Well, no fun isn't all true but the fun would be far less. I'm going into Paris and Barcelona, easy on the bike but no fun with a car. I'm going in July to the south of Spain, 40+ degrees Celsius, hot on the bike, unbearable in my car (no air-conditioning!). And many small roads, a joy with the bike, a pain in the butt with a car.

In Seville we say : "in summer at 4pm you only see tourist walking on the streets, they all stop under a public thermometer to take a picture of them under the 47ºC figure". Nobody is that mad to get out!

And when it's hot, the quicker you go on a bike, the more it burns and dries you, because the air is hotter than your corporal temperature, so better to cover well and bring a good camelbak or a similar other hose to a water source. My father was a farmer and used to get hot coffee instead: no Thermo flask could stand long the heat. Spill water over your head and body, so that it evaporates, we do it.

But sure it will be great, it's wonderful, you will love rolling over golden fields of (already harvested) wheat over the plains of Castilla, you'll feel it's another planet compared to northern Europe (I'm missing my dry, overheated homeland now). And don't miss the whole province of Cadiz, it's wonderful, and it's so Spanish! Ruta de los Pueblos Blancos.

Safe trips,

Esteban

I joined HUBB before I'd ever sat on a bike. I still don't have a licence to ride the bike I'd like to do a trip on.

For me, a bike seems to be the best way to fulfill my dreams. I want to see so many places but unless I was enormously rich, I don't see any way I could do that without a bike. A car would be too impractical, though I would consider one in some countries, and expensive due to the cost of fuel. I wouldn't like to fly around the world and stay in hotels, simply because it's all too artificial. I wouldn't like to backpack because it'd rely too much on public transport.

For me, a bike seems to be the best of all the possible solutions. Cheap, good MPG, I can carry everything I need, I can stay anywhere I want and I have absolute freedom. I don't think I have that with the other options.

It's my dream to ride a bike around the world but only because it's my dream to go around the world. If any mode of transport was more practical, I'd choose that instead.

I do like motorbikes though. They're really cool but my true passion is travel.

I didn't vote but in my case it's been an interchanging between sailboats, cars and motorcycles as the tool for travelling.
A bit unfair since I've been born into a family of sailors and was educated as a merchant sailor.

I would claim that sailboats will bring you even closer to nature forces and closer to the roots, to the philosophical understanding of life compared to motorcycles.

Motorcycles come in second for me.
However, my wife and I are more contend travelling the bike due to the ease of acces to remote areas compared to sailing boats.

And then there's the fact that sailboats takes 10 times more gold to buy and run compared to motorcycles.

Cars are just a sorry replacement to bikes and boats for us, except for veteran / vintage / special selected sports cars as they create some feelings of care, love and familiarity that even most modern bikes miss just like a veteran / vintage / special selected motorcycle can.

Niklas

Nice one Jon933 Bloody hell 65 and I thought I was pushing it at 62!!!

All power to your carbs brother.

Remember "Its not the destination but the journey thats everything"
That was written by Socrates, Im not sure what bike he rode but he obviously got lost on the way.

I identify pretty much equally with a label "biker" & "traveller" although I always see my motorcycle as a tool to go where I want, it's a means not an end.

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