Bike or backpack?

[ggemelos]

I am planning to quit my job and start a long trip this coming June. I have to be back in California in August for w friends wedding, so I will be spending the first two months riding my bike up to Alaska and then to the east coast. After August, I was going to spend a month or two in Nepal and then drop down into India for something like 6 months to a year. This is where the planning kind of stops. I like to keep this open and I figure I will have a better idea where I want to go in a years time; high on the list of options is China, SEA, and Africa. Overall the trip will be a couple of years, but nothing is set.

I have done a lot of backpacking in many of these places and was initially thinking of backpacking on this trip; maybe rent a bike here and there while I am stationary in some town. Then I started to think about doing the stans up to Mongolia and then down China. That sounded like a great options and would probably require my own transport like a bike. I wasn't sure how realistic it would be to buy a quality bike mid trip, so I started contemplating doing the whole thing on a bike.

So here is the question. Do I backpack of bike? I have backpacked and contrary to what a lot of people on this forum say, I had no problem getting off the beaten path. I also found it very easy to meet people. I am 33 years old and I enjoy meeting other travelers and having the occasional good time or party. I have never traveled to places like this on a bike. My fear is that on a bike I will be spend a lot of time finding places to keep the bike safe and I will be less likely to meet up with other travelers. Does anyone have experience with both that they can share the trade-offs? Are my concerns unfounded? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

The first two months will be spent riding