Hints and Tips for motorcycle travellers

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A few considerations for motorcycle travel in the US and Canada: -

1. GETTING A MACHINE.
Hiring is advisable unless you are going on a world trip, as the costs are more or less the same as bringing your own bike. If you do there are good specialist firms in the UK - but there's no guarantee that the machine will arrive on time or in one piece. We decided it was too much hassle and hired from who arranged the hire with a local agent in Canada.

Don't assume you can cross borders with a hired vehicle. We needed to ensure that we could take the bike over the border to the US and back - so asked HC Travel to arrange that for us. It's vital the hire company gives you a copy of the relevant vehicle registration details and the insurance papers. You may be stopped from crossing over if papers aren't in order.

If your bike is on finance you need the permission of the finance company to take it out of Europe - in which case they probably won't give it

Alternatively you could buy a bike locally - and do some kind of deal with the local bike dealer on its return value.

Borrowing a friends bike is probably the most cost effective option - just check your insurance is adequate as a foreign rider of a locally registered bike

The excess on insurance for hired machines is steep - ours was $2000 Canadian - a very good reason to ride safely and responsibly! Travel insurance is A MUST. Don't skimp here or you could end up with some hefty medical bills. They are specialist insurances for bikers - some travel insurances don't cover motor biking adequately. We used the AA after checking with them and reading the small print carefully - but you could also try HC Travel who offer specialist insurance for motorcycling trips.

2. EQUIPMENT AND BREAKDOWNS
There is NO effective road rescue scheme for bikers in North America so travel equipped accordingly. Other bikers are generally helpful and friendly. If you hire a Goldwing - as we did - you will have a machine ideal for long distance travel - but also you will be able to join the Goldwing Owners group - - and get their handbook - which contains a list of riders who will come out and assist you. I think the same applies if you hire a Harley.


We took a puncture repair kit and a compact electric air pump that worked off the 12v battery so we could repair punctures on the roadside. Also spare valve cores, cable ties, and spare auto wire. Gaffer tape is very useful and can be torn off in strips and stuck to the inside of panniers for emergencies

We also took pre wired harnesses and mounting equipment for our satnav - but the rental agent insisted on fitting that for us (again pre arranged), which added a delay to our journey - but worth the wait to make sure it’s done to their satisfaction

Finally we took spare batteries for our cameras and mobile phones, and carried a power cable with two pins and a North American adapter for our battery chargers. We didn’t need a power transformer, as the battery chargers supplied now tend to work with a wide range of voltages.

3. WHAT TO TAKE WITH YOU
Travel light is my best advise. We borrowed custom pannier and top box bags so we could pack them and work out what would fit before we went.
CLOTHES. Motorcycling. For travel in the summer be prepared for very hot weather - up to 94ºF/34ºC, and for coolish wet weather. As well as proper armoured riding gear, take base layers made of none wicking materials as worn by bicyclists - I swear by the HH Cool Trailwizard L/S top and HH Dry Fly Pant long johns for bottom (both by Helly Hansen). If you don’t your riding gear will be unbearably uncomfortable and smelly. The Helly gear can be washed and dried overnight and the fresh top is ideal for walking out in the evening.

Americans don’t tend to war protective gear - not even helmets where we travelled. Your travel insurance won’t cover you fully if you follow the same trend - don’t even be tempted. Don’t take leathers - they are too hot for the North American summer. Take textiles without the thermal lining. Even they are too hot. I would advice buying a Dainese or BMW ventilated suit with armouring. I decided the expense wasn’t justified and suffered with heat exhaustion on more than one occasion

Carry lightweight waterproof jacket and trousers to go over - don’t take a one piece as this will restrict what you use when sight seeing off the bike. (I use Helly Hansen again - bought from their factory outlet at Beicester, Oxfordshire).

CLOTHES. ‘Normal’
Take only 2 sets of underwear and socks, a micro fleece, lightweight walking trousers, one drip dry shirt and either trainers or motor bike boots which you can also walk in. We ordered special made to measure boots from Altberg but they let us down so we bought cheaper ones from Heine Gericke (Tricky GTX and Travel boots). If you are female and want to take a dress Rohan, the walking specialist, do lightweight compact travelling clothes ideal for the situation.

FOOD AND DRINK.
Carry as much water as you can store - we usually had about 4 litres between us. It is worth also carrying some fruit - fresh apples and dried fruit (trail mix), as emergency rations. Most days we tried to have a least a decent lunch /early dinner before finding accommodation. If we then were too tired or late to eat out we didn’t suffer. Where we stayed in B&B - as against a motel, we took full advantage of breakfast.

ACCOMMODATION.
We recommend trying a variety of accommodation just for the experience. We only pre-booked where we intended to stay for a few days or where language might be a problem (Québec for instance). We used a range of means for finding accommodation. Some we just found as we travelled, other were recommended. Most days we used the accommodation listings on our Garmin Satnav to find B&B or motels. In combination with our travel guide ‘Road Trip USA’ we rarely had problems finding somewhere.

There are online facilities in most B&B and Motels to help find the next watering hole. Some of the motel chains are better than others. We liked the Jameson Inn chain for instance, but it gets boring if you just follow the same motel chain listing. Some of the one off motels or smaller chains may not guarantee a constant standard but the experience they offer will be more individual.

There are also quite good B&B associations that run their own online service - some are regulated by the authorities. We liked B&B Canada which is regulated. The USA typically had a whole range of Associations - try which seems to be of a high standard.

Lastly an ‘Inn’ in north America can mean a small hotel, a motel or a private bed and breakfast house, and is generally in the value for money range of accommodation.

MONEY
Travellers cheques (American Express) are a good way of carrying secure money and paying for accommodation. No body refused TC’s, but it’s always worth checking first. We were able to top up our cash reserve where the bill came to less than our TC denomination - useful. We also took cash and Visa cards. Accomodation varies in cost. We generally found prices were not far behind British rates - probably better value for money with privately run Inns and B&B’s than the UK. Rooms in motels can be quite cheap - but breakfast isn’t often worth writing home about. Just one private motel provided a breakfast that was more than ordinary. Allow about 95$ per room, up to 135$ if you are in small cities (2009 prices). Fuel is relatively cheap. A lot of fuel stations charge extra for using Visa. Some have a weird system such that if you are paying cash they take the money first and set the pump accordingly - so if you pay 10$ that’s what you get whether the tank is full or not!

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Photos

Road Trip Tips
A Canam motor(tri)cycle. We saw these from time to time. They look fun to driven and the one owner we spoke confirmed that. The quality of engineering looks really good - they can be bought in the UK.