Hello Everyone!

This being my first post, im looking for a little advice from the good folks on this forum.

The planets have aligned, and a friend and I are finally getting round to a much talked about motorcycle trip around the states which we have been planning since we were 'wee bairns'.

With me being made redundant from my job, having permission from the missus and a good amount of savings and my friend having just completed a building of a house the timing is right and it feels like a now or never situation!

After having done a few 'practice' trips over the years around Europe on my Triumph Explorer, now its time for the 'Bigger Adventure' and we have booked out flights from UK to LA in June, we plan to travel for 3 - 4 months. We are going to apply for a B2 travel visa and we are currently arranging trip to London to visit embassy.



This being my first time in the states we are looking to see and be part of as much as we can for the time we are there. We are looking to pack the tent and camp the majority of the time whenever possible so any advice on wild camping laws in the states would be greatly appreciated or any recommended routes covering the whole country in 3 months would also be appreciated.

Points of interest for me would be yellowstone national park, highway 1 (California), parts of route 66, rockies, Chicago, Joshua tree, deep south. (To be honest I want to see everything).

We have a contact in LA and a contact in Houston who is willing to provide garage space and tools to prepare the bikes.

The plan is to purchase second hand Harleys when we arrive (then sell again before we leave). Harleys are bikes im not too familiar with so if anyone has any advice on what would be suitable for a tour that would be great. (Im 6ft 5). This is all new territory for me as I am more used to adventure bikes, riding the Scottish and European twisties (quite often in the pishin rain).

Not completely sure on the differences between a sportster, dyna, fat boy etc...... I figured the best way would be to go to a HD dealer and find out, however being in north Scotland, the closest dealer is in Edinburgh.

Any advice on routes, precautions, bikes, things to see would be absolutely brilliant.




Cheers,

Lewis

Hi, your trip sounds great.
Are you locked onto L.A. as a starting point ? Bikes are cheaper in the middle of the country than on either coast. Bikes are cheaper again in the off season.
So.Cal has a year round riding season even though most in So. Cal don't ride if the temps are below 70f.
Since you are already on a heavy bike , I'd recommend going for a Road King . It comes with saddlebags and a rear rack can be added.
So, if you're not already committed to a L.A. flight , land in Chicago , seek out a couple of bikes, head west along the upper tier of states . Hit the Black Hills in S.Dakota , Yellowstone , the Grand Tetons turn north to Glacier Park in Montana west to Seattle through the Cascades . Turn left and you have the coast all the way to Baja , Mexico.

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ride,smile,repeat as nessasary

Thanks for the advice, spot on!

Yes we are committed to fly into LA, however we have considered getting the greyhound bus to Houston where we have a contact with garage space! So if bikes are likely to be cheaper in Houston thats probably the best plan.

I will definitely look into a road king and start getting a better idea of whats available on craigslist/ebay.

Thanks again, much appreciated and very useful.

I'm doing something similar this year but a little later than you - flying in to NY in late Aug and back to the UK around mid Oct (haven't worked out the return date yet). We're also going to buy secondhand and then sell at the end but as my wife refused to get the tats needed to look good on a Harley we're going GoldWing instead (not just for the luxo barge + codgers look - there are a couple of other reasons)

If you're going to buy/sell privately from eBay / Craigs list it could take quite a bit of time - especially the selling part, with no certainty you'll get what you want. To try and sort that out and get round the paperwork side of things I have a friend in New Jersey who's been looking for suitable bikes for a month or two now, and we've found ... one! Ok, it's winter and when spring arrives and the bike world wakes up there will probably be more but it could still be a time consuming issue if you just roll up and start looking. Our plan is to get our friend to buy, own, insure and check out the bike but using our money. Any repairs, servicing etc that he picks up on I'll do when I get there a couple of days ahead of my wife. He'll then be able to sell it at leisure when we come back.

We looked at hiring but for the amount of time we'd need it the cost came to a good percentage of the cost of buying. In fact if we did two trips and just chucked it away afterwards it would be about the same as a rental. We also thought about dealer sale / buyback but we couldn't find any dealer in the NY area that would do that on a Wing.

We're still in the midst of route planning but it's roughly southern route heading west and northern route heading back east. We're trying to keep the big name tourist sights to a minimum but I suppose you have to do some (my wife says Gracelands is non negotiable !).

I'd be interested to see what you come up with as a route - we're nothing if not flexible with this kind of stuff and I suspect (know) that we'll end up changing it all both before we leave and while we're riding.

So you mean to do a USA trip, not North America, because you are skipping by Canada. and BC is one of the most beautiful places in the world with some of the best roads

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When you go to Yellowstone, make sure you ride out the northeast of the park and take the Beartooth Highway. You will not regret.

A little side trip from Joshua Tree. Go to Pioneer Town and have dinner at Pappy and Harriet's on a Friday or Saturday night.

The best part of Highway 1 is from Morro Bay north.

As long as you're in California, Yosemite National Park is amazing. If you're able, go after Labor Day (first weekend in September). Also, there are 3 wonderful passes that cross the Sierra, I'm just not remembering names tonight! : )
Send me a pm if you're interested. I live in California.

I'd say come for a visit, but I'm heading to the UK this summer!

It would be good to do some homework regarding hds the electraglide was not sold in cal but $3-4000 cheaper besides alot of the bikes there are ready for another topend as many are idling most of their lives going from one shopnto another in lS vegas their riding season is short arizonia is a place where the electra glide was sold have a great time n enjoy the comfort of floorboards

Three bits of advice:

1. For three months only, I'd look into renting an HD if your heart is set on one of those as you will lose a lot of money on it otherwise; you could also get burned on servicing & repairs in the used market if you buy.... If determined to buy I'd go with a Japanese 4 or V-strom.

2. Southern Ca is a bitch for wild camping and camp sites are ridiculously expensive - be warned and book ahead for motels.

3. Check out BC in July & August - beautiful scenery and great riding. You could give anything east of BC a miss IMHO, apart from the Albertan rockies and Quebec.

If you want to go to a lot of US National Parks buy a Parks Pass

America the Beautiful 2015: National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass in the Discover Your Northwest Online Store

The US Parks system is worth your whole trip.I have been to over 200 parks so far

Plan Your Next Adventure (U.S. National Park Service)

From the photo of what you ride in England you may find the Harley a bit underwhelming. Consider renting from Eaglerider for a few days before you buy anything. I am 6'3" and would find a harley to be far too small to be comfortable.

Motorcycle Rental - Motorcycle Tours - Harley Davidson Rental | EagleRider

650/1000 Vstroms would be a good choice, older Honda St 1100 / 1300 (Pan Americans to you) Suzuki Bandits.

Good description of BC riding. Try not to miss it.

Consider riding north to Alaska the roads are paved and it is amazing to experience.

Sign up for KOA Kampground membership, seriously I have stayed at some nice ones. Hot showers, laundry facilities and most times the tent sites are quite nice.

Camping, Campsites and Campgrounds | KOA Campgrounds

Depending on where you ride the heat may be an issue for you in the south as will the distances.

Buy your travel medical insurance before you leave and don't skimp on liability insurance for the bikes. Collision insurance for the purposes of your trip is likely not important unless you arrange a buy back with a dealer.

Check with our American cousins regarding how hard it will be to sell a bike plated in one state to someone in another state. California has special requirements regarding emissions I think.

I have had friends who have arranged for the dealership to buy back the bike from them at a predetermined price at the end of their trip.

Consider buying a cheap GPS when you arrive to help you in basic navigation and use a ram mount so you can see it clearly.

Riding from the edge of the Rockies to the Great Lakes is going to be hot, flat and after your first crossing the novelty may wear off .

Try and plan your trip to avoid too many of those crossings. I ride cross continent most years a few times and it does wear you down after a while.


If you are going to need camping gear lots of low cost places to buy stuff. I buy stuff here http://www.sierratradingpost.com/


If you cross into Canada make certain you already have from your US insurers something called the "Canada Non-Resident Inter-Provincial / Motor Vehicle Liability Card", which is known as the "yellow card". It provides a standardized certification that a car is properly insured to be driven throughout Canada (e.g. meeting the required coverage minimums of all provinces).


This is something that costs nothing but the lack of it can/will get you refused entry at the border

Do the tour by all means. Stay flexible and have camping gear and a wad of cash and credit cards. Stop by if you get into montana, we are located between yellowstone and glacier parks. By the way the distance between the parks in the state of montana is around 900km. +1 on the beartooth pass outside of yellowstone.

Have you looked into non current metric crusiers? Here in montana there are shops with non current bikes that are being given away, almost. You can buy large or reasonably fast bike brand new with warranty for cheap. Our local yamaha dealership sold a 1300 yamaha crusier brand new for $6000.00

If you really want to ride a harley rent one for a few days and buy something cheap and reliable for the hard riding. And wind protection, did I mention wind protection? Riding long distance in hot/cold very buggy conditions is not nearly as much fun as being able to enjoy the ride. Each year going to sturgis I always see "cool" harly riders blattinig along with no wind protection getting peppered with grasshoppers as I sail past them with a wave behind my inexpensive large windshield.

Thank you everyone for the advice and taking the time to reply. What a fantastic forum with great suggestions!

Less than a week now until we leave and trying to get final preparations underway!

Will keep you all posted on this thread with how we get on!!

Hey guys! My wife and I somewhat recently completed a 16,000 mile, 3 month trip around the US. We could certainly offer lots of advice, feel free to contact us personally for as much as you need We could probably also help with some accommodation, mechanical help, etc, through family/friends/connections throughout the US. We've also been planning to go back and re-do the trip based on our earlier experience, so many things we could do so much better, in hindsight! Would love to pass on that knowledge and see how/if it helps you!

You can see some of our trip and contact us via our old FB page, "www.facebook.com/3monthsand2wheels", or just send me a PM here. Excited to see how your trip works out, honestly, if I were still in the US, I'd beg to join up! Alas, we are already over in Ireland, about to start our own Scotland/UK/Europe adventure

Best of luck, hope to chat!
gw

Ok, so what happened?

Did they managed to buy bikes in the USA? I just started looking into this and reading DMV's websites in several States (East coast) about requirements to register motorbikes... and it seems there is a requirement to prove residency... asking for documents only residents could provide.


Seems a big stumbling block...


Or do people buy bikes from private sellers and don't bother registering the bikes? Not keen on shoddy stuff! We would like to buy 2 XT250s and bring them back to the UK at the end.


Otherwise we will be shipping our old endure bikes.

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Maria

www.franglais-riders.com