Category Archives: General

To some, all roads are the same no matter where you travel. For others, every road is a magical escape to a land undiscovered and a trail never ridden before. If you’re one of the latter and love to venture into the special areas of the world on the back of your motorcycle, then you will be interested in learning more about some of the best motorcycle routes to include in your itinerary as you set of to explore the countryside, meet new people along the way and have fun taking the ride of your life.

Before venturing out, be sure to learn about a few road trip hacks like how to pack or what tools to carry to make your ride time more efficient, but most importantly, choose the right road to have the time of your life.

These are the roads you need to check out, and when you do so, be sure to take your camera along because you’ll want to capture every detail along the way.

1. The Pacific Coast Highway

If you love to travel the coastline of the west and check out small surf towns, hang out at isolated café’s or relax for a few days in quaint bed and breakfasts or luxury spas, the Pacific Coast Highway is a road trip you will love from start to finish. Whether you stay in California and hit places like Los Angeles or Santa Barbara or you choose to travel the highway to check out Santa Cruz and some great surf spots or San Francisco to have a night out on the town and a nice meal, this is a road trip you won’t want to miss out on.

2. Cabot Trail

If you have the chance to take a ride to Nova Scotia, Canada for a little scenic ride time, you’ll find a beautiful selection of winding roads where nature abounds and riders can enjoy time spent with nature by taking time to stopover at campgrounds along the way. Since you will need to travel outside the U.S. to get to Cabot trail, you may want to have contact information to have your motorcycle shipped to Canada where you can pick it up once you enter the country and then enjoy your road trip.

3. Beartooth Highway

This ride has been chosen as the best motorcycle ride in the United States by many riders and it lives up to its fame with some of the most amazing scenery in the nation as well as long and winding roads all throughout Wyoming and Montana. When you take a ride on this road trip, you can stop to visit Yellowstone National Park as well as sleep under the stars at local campgrounds, have a home cooked meal at a local roadside diner and really feel at one with your motorcycle as you spend hours on end taking the curves and enjoying the thrill of the ride.

4. The Tail of the Dragon

One of the curviest rides you will find in the USA and one that can be quite dangerous if you don’t pay attention every second of the ride. This ride is especially great in the fall when the leaves in the southern U.S. are changing colors as it borders both Cherokee National Forest and the Great Smoky Mountains as it crosses through North Carolina. Be sure to take some friends along and pack a camera because you won’t want to miss the photo opportunities on this road trip!

5. The Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains offer a great escape for motorcycle riders who want to get away from the hectic lifestyle of the city and enjoy the best mountain terrain in the southern U.S. Riding through the Appalachian Mountains offers a wide array of roads to check out. While the Tail of the Dragon is located nearby, you can also travel to the Blue Ridge Parkway and though states like Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and even Ohio where you can find lush forests, old mills and natural springs in the woods, waterfalls and plenty of places to hike, camp and even catch a few fish during your road trip.

When you’re considering hopping on your motorcycle and taking a road trip to a place you’ve never visited, be sure to check out some of the excellent road trips above. As a rider, you already know that no matter where the road leads, adventure is just a quick trip down the road.

Author Bio: Chris Ward

Chris is a Harley rider and a big Sturgis fan. He owns the vehicle transport company A-1 auto transport. And yes, they also transport motorcycles 🙂 

When most people think of motorcycle camping gear they think of the obvious, such as a sleeping bag and tent, but there are some not so obvious things that can prove invaluable. We are going to take a look at a few things you may not have thought of that are great to bring when you are traveling any type of long distance on a motorcycle. These are just a few convenience and repair items that can really make things easier on a rider when they are on a trip.

Stock Your Bar

Most of the time I like to keep my handlebars clear for a nice, clean look, but on long trips I always have a couple of extra accessories on my bars. The first thing I always make sure to bring is a charger for my phone. There are chargers available online that will connect directly to your battery with an inline fuse or connect to your bikes accessory power. Personally, I prefer to use the kind that connects to the battery. This keeps your accessory power free if you need it for something else.

The downside here is that you will have to install a quick connect if you want to remove it when you don’t need it. You can just disconnect it from the battery, but depending on your bike this may be way more trouble than it’s worth. On my Iron you have to remove the seat and a side panel to get to the battery box, then one of the terminals is covered by the wiring harness. Definitely not worth taking apart every time I want to swap it. If you wire in a quick connect, however, you can just tuck the wiring out of the way and disconnect it when you don’t need it. This will greatly simplify the process.

If you choose to use one of these try to find one that has a 12V outlet as well as a 5V USB for charging your phone and anything else you may need. Be careful not to leave anything plugged up if your wires right to the battery. Because there is no shutoff if you leave anything plugged in it will keep draining the battery. Keep in mind these batteries are not like car batteries. These are made solely to start the bike, not power any accessories like a radio or lights for any length of time, so you can drain your battery completely faster than you realize. I don’t know about you, but being stuck in the middle of nowhere on a bike with a dead battery does not sound fun to me, so be careful.

The next thing I always take on long trips is a motorcycle phone mount. I am not advocating using your cell phone while riding, though I won’t lie and say I haven’t done it, but these are great for using your phones GPS while you are riding. Yeah, you could just listen to it and that is what I do most of the time in the car, but in the car you can look at it if you need it, not the case on a bike. This is where a cell phone holder comes in to play. You strap your phone in and you can plug up your headphones and keep you GPS up on your phone. I will admit I was very nervous the first time I used mine. I was so afraid my phone would fly out and be destroyed, but it has held up perfectly.

Keeping Your Tires Aired Up

It’s generally accepted that you should never plug a motorcycle tire. I can personally tell you no one will want to plug a bike tire. You may find a small shop in the middle of nowhere that will, but most big shops will refuse. The idea here is that the integrity of the tire has been compromised. Because of the dangerous nature of motorcycles it becomes a liability for them should anything happen. That being said, stuff happens. You can be riding down the road, thousands of miles from home and run over a nail. Now you are in the middle of nowhere with nothing around, no cell phone coverage, and you haven’t seen a car for hours. What are you going to do?

Well, hopefully you are going to get out a motorcycle tire repair kit. Every rule has an exception. While I would not advocate riding on a plugged tire for long, it will get you to a shop where you can get it changed. While I don’t recommend it, I have ridden thousands of miles on a plugged tire. I ran over a screw in Dallas and had to get to Birmingham, but didn’t have the money for a new tire. So, I did what anyone would do, I plugged the tire with the kit I always keep in my tool bag and aired it up with my little bargain basement air pump. It got me home in one piece and hasn’t let me down yet. I will admit I was a bit nervous on the ride home because everyone was so against it, but we quickly realized it was holding up well and were riding 80+mph again. Again, I am not advocating riding on a patched or plugged tire, but you should keep a kit in your bag in case of emergencies.

Conclusion

Hopefully this has given some of you an idea of a few extra things to bring along next time you go for a long distance ride. I know I would have been lost without these. Imagine riding cross country with no way to charge your phone. Also, never being able to look at a map while you are riding will make things more difficult for some riders. Always be safe and plan ahead. Make sure you have everything you could need while out riding.

Author:  Aaron

Aaron is one of the writers for www.TheRevver.com, a website dedicated to providing all sorts of motorcycle related information. He has owned more vehicles than most, and loves getting his hands dirty. Aaron is our number one gearhead, and all techy questions get answered by him.