travel guides with motorcycle-travel relevant info?
 

Who knows travel-guides (for any country in the world), that are not written for pedestrians/backpackers?
What I miss at Rough Guide, Lonely Planet and stuff like that is: nice routes, parking facilities at accomodations, importing rules for vehicles and other stuff, that is relevant for motorcycle travellers!

For south america, I heard the Footprint is quite good?
Any advice for New Zealand or Australia?
Any other favorit for anywhere in the world?

greetings from Colombia

Panny

The usefulness of the mainstream guides is a topic that has been discussed at length though I fully agree with the sentiment but I also believe that the market isn't big enough for dedicated motorcycle travel guides. Would be happy to be proven wrong however. Maybe it should go to a vote. ?c?

IMO, with an word or two (ie. parking or no parking) and perhaps an extra paragraph per chapter in the LP or Rough Guides you could get most important and relevant information for a motorcyclist/overlander. :smartass:

Afterall we are still interested in the majority of info captured in these guides, it's especially helpful to know where to avoid (ie. the author recommedations) so as not to be stuck with 1001 backpackers. :rofl:

I'm no expert, but I've seen quite a few motorcycle-specific travel guides--to the Alps, to Alaska, to Mexico..... Try a search on Amazon.com or elsewhere.

Plus didn't I hear vague and unsubstantiated rumors about an expanded Adventure Motorcycle Handbook?

Mark

Hi Panny,

There is quite a bit of free stuff for NZ on the net:

Free GPS routes:
ADVRoutes NZ : Home
Ride Motorcycle Roads in New Zealand at MotoWhere.com

Free GARMIN Maps:
Downloads

It's pretty easy to make local contacts at Kiwi Biker - NEW ZEALAND MOTORCYCLE NEWS

Amazon.com: Great Escapes : A Guide To Motorcycle Touring in New Zealand (9781877135453): Peter Mitchell: Books is a great bit of treeware. Unfortunately, out of print and quite pricey unless you find a used copy locally.

I saw on motorradkarawane that you are still sorting out transport and time options. Let me know once you get closer and I can give you some advise.

Cheers

These sites might help:
Chris Scott Adventure Motorcycling Handbook

http://www.overlandexpo.com/news/201...k-at-ox11.html

cheers
Chris (NOT Scott)

I've found the Bradt Overland books pretty good; Africa Overland for example. I've also heard some not so positive comments but if you're starting from scratch, they're quite good for basic information.

as cross-posted to Panny's cross-posted query
ADVrider - View Single Post - travel guides with motorcycle-travel relevant info?

Footprint "South American Handbook"
 

Hi all,

thanks for your answeres. Especially for the links and the Overlander-tip (if I ever ride through Africa I´ll use that guide).

Actually I´m looking for a normal PRINTED travel guide, since I like most of the infos they offer and in certain situations I prefer to read a book and make notes in it instead of using the laptop.
What I´m looking for is a more or less "normal" travel guide, that also offers motorcycle-travellers-relevant info.

After two month of searching in Central and South America and visiting 100 book shops (at least it felt like that), we where lucky and found a Footprint "South American Handbook".

After cross-reading for an hour I LOVE IT!
This is exactly, what I was looking for.
I give you some examples:
- for all accomodations parking facilities are mentioned. We checked Lima for example and there are three hotels with MOTORCYCLE parking mentioned.
- there´s a generell introduction "Motorcycling" for the whole continent. And it´s not focused on renting a bike (as it allways is for Lonely Planet and those alike), but on riding your own bike. Including which documents are needed to ride the bike in each country and for the temporary import. There´s even a paragraph about the Carnet and alternatives (yes, they say, it´s not mandatory!).
- for each country XXX there´s a section "Driving in XXX" (Roads, Safety, Documents, Organizations, Fuel) and a really good section Maps.

I´m so enthusiastic, that I can forgive them, that the included maps are crap.

Who has experiences with Footprint handbooks for other countries/regions?
Do they contain the same features like those mentioned above or is the Southamerica Handbook an exception?

greetings from Ecuador

Panny