Where and What????

KiwiPhil · 02-09-2003, 01:01 AM

Okay guys and girls - I know we area multi-cultural lot and I know this is a "technical" forum - but if you can, humour me for just a minute.

To liven things up (read my night) a bit I have a couple of questions....

Question 1: For whatever reason, where in the world would you most like to ride a bike.

Clarifications (sounds better than rules)

- you cannot mention your own country (of birth)
- you don't have to have been there
- ride a bike means go on tour, have a quick fang or ride to see something special

Question 2: What bike would you most like to do this trip on - excluding the one(s) you already own?

To start the ball rolling......

I would most like to ride South Africa as it is a place I have always wanted to see and they are a bit like us as well (not that that's a good reason to go there).

Second choice would be to ride around the outside of Australia (not riding at night though, as I'm reliably told by a friend with first hand experience) :-) .

And for either trip I would just HAVE to do it on a thumping great GS 1150 Adventure with all the right accessories :-)

Any advances....?

KiwiPhil

smallj · 02-09-2003, 05:34 AM

Even though I am from the states, I have never had my bike any farther west than Indiana. While the mountains in the east provide some fantastic roads an scenic views, I would love to tour the west on my bike. Rocky Mountains, Deserts in the Southwest, a little bit of everything.

Outside the country, I want to tour the alps on the bike. I've been to Germany-Austria a few times, but never on a bike.

buckeyeRS · 02-09-2003, 06:21 AM

Great Question!
This fantasy has been burning in my mind for about 6 months now.

1. The route: Mexico to Argentina.
2. Duration: 3-5 months
3. The Ride: 1150GS. Eventually this will be the 2nd BMW in my garage. I'm hoping that a lot of shorter people bought this bike and will get tired of the stand-over, opening up the used market for us 6' + riders!

-john

dsl · 02-09-2003, 06:32 AM

Japan,

Super moto-friendly culture and country, best accessories I've seen for the gearhead in me, and the roads... unbelievable... the country is super mountainous outside of the main cities, roads are very well maintained with a lot of safety features (eg, mirrors on blind corners and textured road surfaces on the super tight corners). There’s even a magazine dedicated to mapping out the best roads in the country. Sights, sounds and culture are of course are very unique - alone worth a trip - but the language barrier would be a problem.

Can you believe two of us here actually discussed the same stretch road in Japan in the "Top roads in your state" thread below?

The S would still be my top choice, but if I couldn’t bring that, it would probably be an Duc ST4 or Aprilia Futura, but definitely a Euro twin.

ckcarr · ckcarr's Garage

I'm planning to go South into Baja, then perhaps North into Canada and British Columbia this spring / summer. Depends on my workload, which is getting lighter every week with this economy!

Am in the process of buying an F-650 right now (GS or Dakar, haven't decided). Smaller, more nimble bike than the GS 1150 behemoth IMO, for us 5'7" types.

For you guys like Smallj, who have never been out west past the Mississippi I'd really recommend the rockies, high deserts, California, Dakotas (yes, Sturgis this year!). These adventurers keep passing through Moab on F-650's, KLR's, and all kinds of "adventure tourers". A lot tell me how they road from Denver and didn't use one paved road. I'm jealous!!

Dave Hopkins · 02-09-2003, 09:13 AM

Alps/R1100S

RBMann · 02-09-2003, 10:18 AM

The Tour de France with Lance Armstrong's bike and body. Actually I would settle for the yellow bike they use in the Tour that gives the time intervals to the riders in the pack or break away and make it a yellow Replika.

RB

motoyoyo · 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ckcarr
I'm planning to go South into Baja...

That is a great trip! I had an epic ride to the tip of Baja several years ago with a buddy on our 1988 BMW GS's. We took three weeks to do it and at least 1/3 of it was off road. Both of us had mucho off road experience so we just went for it. Try to picture this...A fully loaded GS stopped in a vast sea of deep, whooped out sand for miles in any direction. The only way out was to put the bike in second gear and blast out. The bikes didn't stop tank slapping untill about 40mph in third gear. As long as we held it above 45mph it was like riding in a boat on plane.

We had the wives fly down and meet us in La Paz and then spent a week touring with them before heading back to La Paz, where they flew back home. My bud and I then took the next week to head back to the border. I now realize that those kind of trips usually happen once in a lifetime. I can't even begin to tell of what 21 days in Baja is like, especially since it is always unpredictable, exciting and challenging. But Hey, isn't that why we do this stuff for in the first place?

Ironically, my next destination wish list would have to be in your neck of the woods, KiwiPhil. I would love to take a three week tour of New Zealand and/or Austrailia. Whatever you do, just give yourself enough time to fully enjoy the adventure. Three weeks is perfect IMO if you can swing it.

KiwiPhil · 02-09-2003, 11:36 AM

BukeyeRS: Mexico to Argentina sounds interesting - how does one get through / past the Darrian Gap these days?

KiwiPhil

lennie · 02-09-2003, 12:08 PM

Phil,

Having relatives in NZ and been there a few times, I would love to get to ride around both islands.

Not sure I could go past the S but maybe a GS.

Riding around at night in the country here in Oz is very interesting and really keeps you on your toes. Made quite a few rides at night and most memorable was a 1:00pm departure from Melbourne via the coast road and getting into Sydney at around midnight. Some fast riding with a good headlight made for a great trip.

Trevor Rossack · 02-09-2003, 07:41 PM

Europe would be good. The Americas - North, Central and South -brilliant. Asia - fantatastic.

To me the ultimate fantasy ride would be ten to fifteen years on the road and do the whole world. Think of all the cultures, people and sights you would see. The food you would taste and the debilitating illnesses we would get. What an experience. All this on a GS1150 Adventure (of course).

An even bigger fantasy would be to ride in the Moto GP for a season on the Honda and show Rossi how to ride properly and Barros how to outbrake someone into a corner. Wink Wink

Cheers
TREVOR

shoemakj · 02-10-2003, 04:31 AM

Italy: I'm still an avid bicyclist and would love to do a bicycle/motorcycle trip through Italy, coinciding with the Giro d'Italia if possible. Bicycle some of the mountain passes just in advance of the Giro and when that spectacle is over, hop on the S or possibly an ST4 and head back into the mountains for some "serious fun" for another week or so.

France: As RBMann suggested above, I'd love to spend some time in France following (or preceding) "The Tour" and watch Lance make them all suffer in mountains again.

Colorado & Points West: I've done many of the major mountain passes in Colorado on my bicycle (pre-m/c days). Decending these passes at 45-55 mph on a bicycle is a rush, but climbing these passes would be *way* more fun on an 'S'.

--Jim

roger albert · 02-10-2003, 05:52 AM

ST4s in all various flavors of the alps.

Rootboy · 02-10-2003, 07:06 AM

San Diago to Cabo aboard a KTM

buckeyeRS · 02-10-2003, 07:18 AM

kiwiphil-
Seems that there is a 54 mile gap in the Pan American Highway (mostly a dirt road) in the Darien Gap area. The plan is to connect the road but it cuts through a rain forest.
The only way is around the national park in Colombia and Panama. Not sure of the route but that is why I would take 3+ months to do it!
-john

Mark Smith · 02-10-2003, 06:01 PM

Russia - on a 650 ural - only joking - on the new Adventurer would be nice from West to East.

Steve Br · 02-10-2003, 07:04 PM

Would love to ride NZ for maybe a month or more during January or February and get away from Ole Man Winter here in Ontario. Know some folks who have been and they say its tough to beat! A GS or RT would do although from what I've read and been told there are plenty of great gravel and dirt roads so maybe a GS with full bags either side and the K11LT Beer Box. Need lotsa room as I suspect we would be two up! Great post, kinda gets the juices flowing. Anyone in Kiwi Land want to trade bikes for our respective summers? Cheers Steve

Josey · 02-11-2003, 09:19 AM

Norway - Route 63 between Alesund and Geiranger (all near Bergen) - known in the area as the "Trollstigen". 10%grade, lots of hairpins, incredible scenery. Drove the road over 20 years ago in a cage - would love to do it on a Honda CBR600RR. Here are some pics from the web - unfortunately, don't have any that I took...

Josey · 09:24 AM

Can't get the multiple file attachment to work (I'm at the office - Javascript is disabled), so here is another pic...

Mark Smith · 02-11-2003, 09:56 AM

Looks like my front driveway Joe!