Hello and a question!
 

Hi all!

I'm new here, and am a Brit living temporarily in Colorado, USA. I've been riding about 4 or 5 years, and in that time have done a few 4000mile+ touring trips in Europe and the US. My first bike was a Suzuki DL650, and my current bike is a Moto Guzzi California 1400.

I'm starting to get the itch to travel somewhere a bit more out of my 'western world' comfort zone, and like the idea of trips down through South America, Africa and across Asia in the future, so find myself reading this forum more often and thought I should join.

The catch keeping me from my adventure traveling dreams? I have a day job, and am never going to be able to get enough time off to take 6 months or a year to go traveling. Best I'm ever likely to get at one time is 3 months.

My plan, therefore, is to get a big Adventure bike (probably a Yamaha Super Tenere) and do my traveling at fairly high speed. I've done 800 mile riding days before, so can cope with high mileage days if I have to. But the more I read about RTW travel, it seems most people say it's only worth doing if you're able to take a year out to do it slowly on a 250cc single, exploring everywhere properly as you go. While I'd love to be able to do this, I just can't if I want to keep my job.

So my question is this... is doing overland traveling at pace on a large bike better than nothing, or is it only worth doing if you have the time (and light bike) to explore all the little off the beaten track places as you go?

If you went around the world at 99,999 miles an hour .. how much would you 'see'?

If you can only spend short bits of time then an alternative to hi speed road trips is to fly to where you want to 'see' and travel slowly there for your 'short' holiday.. then fly back home. Buy/hire a motorcycle if you want/need it there.

Fair point :) But the journey is part of it for me. I did Route 66 in just over a week a few months ago, and got a sense of satisfaction from having completed the route. Flying to a country, renting a bike, riding around for a few weeks seems more like a normal holiday than a road trip if that makes sense?

I guess I'm just trying to figure out whether I'll need to stick to touring in the 'western world' for my long motorcycle road trips while I have a job to consider, and shouldn't be thinking about setting foot in South America or Africa unless I have a year to spare?

For example, it looks like it should be possible to get from Colombia to Argentina in 3 months, seeing a few things along the way if not everything. But every time I read online of someone doing that route, they seem to have done it over a year on a 250cc single. So I'm trying to reconcile my theoretical belief that what I want to do should be realistic, with the fact that no-one seems to actually be doing it!! :-)

Maybe I'll win the lottery and can quit the day job..........

Think about it.
There are places you cannot ride too ... Australia for instance. So the bike has to be either transported there and back or sourced there.

If you can set yourself up with throw over saddle bags and a tank bag you can use any bike ... fly to X and ride. The trip would then consist of very short air flights, and mostly riding in the place you want to be. Riding there .. even at high speed and a fair amount of the trip is spent transporting rather than riding where you want to be.

Good luck with the decisions. Hopefully someone will be along with more ideas.

Thanks mate, I will! :-) I was actually looking at bike rental in Japan the other day randomly, for doing this sort of thing so I'm not totally against it.

But I do like the challenge of long routes and the sense of satisfaction when you complete them. So I'd rather ride the length of South America in one trip than fly out and do Peru, then fly back, then fly out and do Chile, then fly back... etc.

Equally though, I don't want to just do an endurance ride world record attempt. I do want to see some of the places I'm riding through. Hard to know what the right balance is with it all...

It seems to me that you have already identified the parameters and constraints within which you have to work (literally), and only you can resolve the question that you raise to your own satisfaction; or even to arrive at a less than satisfactory answer.

I recommend that you read some of the threads about ride reports = you will find reports from some who do both types of riding that you are questioning.

As said earlier, there is a trade off between the large number of factors and lots of folks have found their own solutions - I do recall, from a few years ago, a guy who owns and keeps his 5 bikes on each of 5 continents.

Where there is a will, there is a way!

Hi...am from india and discovered biking three years ago and just completed a 13000km india bhutan Nepal ride over 73 days. In spring 17 I am planning a RTW westbound. I believe, do it once and really well. Its not so expensive if u r simple minded. Do not leVe your career of course, as you may be having financial responsibilities.but do think for yourself as well. I am retired at 59. Hope this helps. Cheers

aditya

That simply has to be single minded!!!!!!
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

I didnt get the joke

aditya

"Simple minded" = not very clever! A better phrase might be "if you live simply/cheaply". It's just a small translation thing - don't worry about it. I think we understood your meaning, it just sounded funny:-)
Your point is valid, but you are in the lucky (?) position of being retired, where trip duration is less of an issue.
As far as the o/p is concerned: You could do quite a lot in 3 months in south america, and as the road system is well developed, you actually have to go out of your way to find tough going/dirt roads, except Ruta 40 in Argentina, some parts of Bolivia, and backroads in Brasil and good tyres will cope with most of these before you need a 120kg enduro steed - bike size depends more on what you own already! Flying it in/out, or at least shipping in some form, is still necessary until they build that 2 lane blacktop through the Darien Gap!
Enjoy the planning process, it's part of the fun.
Ride safe,
Simon

You're in Colorado? My advice would be: take whatever bike you currently own and head for the Mexican border for a 3 week ride (say in April or May). That should tell you if you want a smaller bike, and whether you would need to be gone for long periods of time to do what you want to do.

Me I like to travel but I like to come home, too. Tailor your travel style to what fits for you- there are unlimited options for traveling in this world.

............shu

Shu's got it right. Mexico offers so much diversity ... most know nothing about.
Even if just a month, you can see a lot and not rush. 4 to 6 weeks even better.
Beaches, mountains, jungle, Deserts, Ruins, big cities and middle of now where. You will get sick of Tacos. (pronounced TAAco ... not TACKo)

As mentioned above, India is another possibility. I missed out going on a trip with friends to India. They flew in, bought Enfields and spent 6 weeks riding all over India's high mountains. Sold off bikes, flew home.

I've done short trips in Thailand (twice) and Cambodia. I had work there so company paid air fare ... but I did not have much time, so took a few weeks touring round on rental 125's ... fantastic. Trust me, you won't run out of road.
:mchappy:

Also, if you think you've seen all there is to see of the USA ... we'll, I'm betting you ain't seen half the good stuff. Takes years. Short adventures are all many of us can manage. Go for it!
bier

https://patricksphotos.smugmug.com/p.../i-Wxkgb4d.jpg

I am pretty simple minded, it's true! :biggrin:

Thanks guys, you all rock!

I'm feeling a lot better about my future 'adventures' now. I think I'd read one too many tales of people spending 3 years riding around the world on 50cc scooters. Don't get me wrong, that sounds amazing and I'm super jealous of the people who do that, but it's just not something I can do at this stage of my life.

But your posts have reminded me what I love about solo motorcycle touring... nothing but the road and your thoughts; the changing landscape as you cross a continent; the grinning inside your helmet when you open the throttle on your bike the first morning after a couple of days off the bike. I can get all of that in other parts of the world, without having to quit my day job to get it.

I'm only here in America another couple of years before returning home to the UK, so here are my plans:

Spring 2016 - East Coast USA (2 - 3 weeks)
Autumn/winter 2016 - Mexico & maybe other places in Central America (3 - 4 weeks)
Summer 2017 - British Columbia/Alaska (4 weeks)
Autumn/winter 2017 - South America (2 - 3 months)

Even if I only do half of all that, it will have been a good couple of years!

By the way, if anyone is interested in my last trip along Route 66 I filmed it. Hours and hours of footage though, so you'd have to be pretty bored. Also, days 1 and 2 are just boring Interstate riding getting to the start of the route.

Route 66 Playlist

Sounds like a good plan Walkabout, do make the most of North America while you're there. I was amazed at how much good riding in a huge range of landscapes etc. trans Labrador Highway and Utah's back roads really stood out for me.
Enjoy and also definitely follow your 3 month plan as well - a lot of people would be envious at you even being able to take that amount of time. And there are far more people doing these shorter trips than you think - we just don't hear about them as much. I meet plenty when I'm on the road- they're flying in, riding a region then flying out to return at another date. It's a good way to travel as you really appreciate the contrasts with your home country and make the most of each experience.
Good luck

Lands End? No way! I'm a Camborne boy :-)

I definitely need to do more off road riding in America. I've done a little, but not a huge amount... my 2nd bike is a Honda CRF250L which I plan to do some of the Colorado backcountry routes on next year. Maybe I'll make it over to Utah on it if I can get enough time off work for that along with everything else I'm planning. Have done plenty of road riding in Utah though and the scenery is pretty stunning!

Trans-Labrador looks pretty amazing too... wow!

:thumbup1:
Yes, Dr. Gregory Frazier stored a bunch of bikes all over the world. Not sure if he still maintains that fleet or not ... after all, he's been RTW 4 or 5 times by now.
Does some work for these guys:
Dr. Frazier Rides - Motorcycle USA

Also, four or five books published, regular HU presenter at events.
bier

A friend stored his R100GS in a couple places in Mexico after a month or two of riding, fly home, 4 to 6 months later, fly back and resume travel. He did this over two years, through out Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Finally made it home with the bike. Some great tales.

Hello and a question!
 

I (very happily) have the family and career constraints too. Tend to do a european trip or two each year (this year's was UK to Romania and back). I loved it and it felt like a great adventure. My tip would be don't worry too much what someone else is doing, just make it fun for you.

On the speed/distance thing we covered a lot of distance. My approach is to split days into 4 'shifts' of 90 mins. I can ride all 4 and still have a few stops, or i can ride less if there is something i want to see in more detail. You might only scratch the surface but its fun (to me) and there's no one right way to do it.

I've booked a 3 month sabbatical, plus 2 weeks holiday in 2016 to ride Cape Town to Cairo. I am planning to ride at a slower (for me) pace - trying to stick to 2/3 shifts per day max and riding max 5 days on min 2 days off each week. I'm not going to see everything in 100 days but i'm planning to enjoy what i do see.

Enjoy the US - i've done 4 US road trips (3 car, 1 bike) and absolutely loved them all.


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Hi Simon..am planning to ride the RTW on a Bullet 500cc...

aditya

Cape Town to Cairo sounds amazing! Would love to do this one day... I'm sure you'll post about it on here, so I'll follow along!

I think you're right about not worrying too much about what other people are doing, and just enjoy my own trips. It's not a competition after all, and if I'm having fun then that's the main thing.

Just want to get on with doing another trip now! Winter is rubbish :-P