Motorcycle or scooter tour selection is an important first step in enjoying a successful two-wheeled trip.Two-Wheeled Touring Selection
What influences your tour selection approach?
Motorcycle or scooter tour selection is an important first step in enjoying a successful two-wheeled trip.
Touring itself should be relatively stress free and fun. But when you are first getting started selecting the best touring options can be a little confusing.
So, how do you go about selecting the right trip? Here is a list of some of the touring selection criteria to evaluate, since a lot depends on:
Touring Goals
Your touring goals will guide all your selections, of course.
Riding to eat
Are you like so many of us who love to ride-to-eat? Many groups we have ridden with do precisely that.
This is all meant in fun, as we have been on many such rides. Simply riding to eat is a great way to go. It builds camaraderie among group members, but on the downside, it can have an adverse impact on your waistline if you are not careful!
To take this concept on step further, there are groups of riders that will use the excuse to travel long distances, sometimes hundreds of miles, to periodically meet and share a meal at a centralized location, then return home.
Destination riding
Lone riders or couples who prefer riding two-up, ride to eat as well. These folks may also be destination tourers. That is heading to the distant designated destination such as Indian casino for a few hours and a show maybe. Or running up the coast to taking the sea air and get some sun. Or riding to visit friends or family. There are hundreds of adventures that justify a day on a motorcycle. The sentiment here is, "any day on a motorcycle is a good day!"
Longer weekend rides - Folks with a little more time often plan overnighters. They pack up and head out on Saturday morning and spend the day riding toward a great overnight location.
Whether camping, staying in a motel or with friends, an early afternoon arrival allows them to take in some of the sites, have a great dinner and get some sleep before winding their way back home on Sunday, or maybe even the day after.
Local rallies and poker runs
Many riders belong to motorcycle clubs (MC) that schedule regular events. Many MCs select to sponsor a charity or cause, and spend a good deal of time riding, meeting, and touring for the cause. This gives the members a purpose to ride to enjoy themselves and being with others will supporting a worthy cause.
Weekend rallies, poker runs, bike shows, and all manner of other events give the MC folks plenty to keep them in the saddle on weekends.
Multi-day tours
Lots of riders prefer to save up a little time or take time off from work to make a longer trip. Maybe they head to Vegas, or to a national park to spend a few days. Visiting friends and relatives, or just taking in the scenery provide all the justification they need to put miles behind them, arriving home refreshed and ready to rejoin family and co-workers.
Riding Experience, Mental and Physical Condition
Riding long distances has to be worked up to.
Novice riders normally start off on short weekend rides or simply start using the bike to commute. Anytime a rider puts less than about 3,000 miles per year on a motorcycle or scooter, venturing off on a long ride without building endurance would be very challenging, if not down right dangerous.
What long distance riders say - A study of long distance motorcycle riders, like those that compete in endurance contests such as the Iron Butt folks, will show that most of them work to get themselves in physical shape for rides that cover hundreds of miles per day, day after day, for a number of contiguous days. The main reason for keeping physically fit, is to support the mental awareness necessary to maintain focus on long rides.
Less experienced riders should work up to longer distances over time. Riding with more experienced bikers and groups on weekend rides is a good beginning. Working up to the 200 to 300 mile per day mark is a worthy goal and one that will give most riders the ability to stay in the saddle for longer periods over greater distances. Riding Preferences
When on multi-day or extended tours, riders have a number of options when planning:
Camping
There are groups of riders who live to ride and camp. In fact there is an international organization called, surprisingly so, The International Brotherhood of Motorcycle Campers who are, in their own words..."a family-oriented, non-brand-specific club composed of a very diverse group of people who have one thing in common: we like to ride and camp." 
The IBMC has a very reasonable household membership fee of about $15 for the first year. They sponsor and organize motorcycle and scooter camping events all over the world. If you are a joiner, then this is the organization for you if you like to camp.
Other folks like to camp with local camping oriented MCs. Many of the BMW Clubs are active campers and sponsor camping oriented rallies during good weather months.
We will be talking a lot more about two-wheeled camping on another page. Click here for more on motorcycle and scooter camping.
Motel camping
A few of us older fellows have camped with our family and friends for a number of years and have grown to enjoy a soft mattress, indoor plumbing and HBO. Sit down meals in a real restaurant have replaced eating on a park picnic table under the stars.
Sometimes referred to as Credit Card Camping, these groups and individuals prefer the convenience that staying in a motel/hotel each night brings.
Staying in motels or hotels also saves a little time when touring where limited time is available. Checking in and out is usually much faster than setting up and striking camp. We are sure there are those that would argue with this statement, but we stand by it.
Use of trailers
Yet other individuals like to pull a trailer. However, for the type of touring that we do on standard motorcycles or scooters, pulling a trailer is often not an option. We have seen some maxi-scooters (Honda Silver Wing or Suzuki Burgman) that can pull a trailer if it isn't loaded too heavily.
Nevertheless, there are folks out there who would not leave home without their trailers. Trailers can be used to haul camping and other equipment and supplies. Some specifically designed camp-trailers covert into a camper/tent, much like the pop-up camper trailers we see being towed behind smaller cars.
Friends and family
The budget minded tourer often take the opportunity to look up out of town family members or friends to visit. This type of touring is a great way to stay in touch with those people who mean the most to you, and a way to save a little money to boot.
Owner and motorcycle club membership organizations
Several of the motorcycle brands have international clubs that publish membership lists of members, sometimes worldwide.
Motorcycle and scooter owner associations like those that ride BMW, Honda Gold Wing, Harley, Ducati, Vepsa and Lambretta motorcycyles and scooters, and a great many more, put out membership directories with the names and contact information of owners that have expressed an interest in assisting other owners of like bikes.
Also, independent associations and motorcycle clubs similarly publish membership lists or sponsor web sites where member resources can be contacted for a variety of purposes.
Elks, American Legion, Moose, VFW
Don't forget other types of social club memberships you may already have paid for and enjoy.
For instance, fraternal organizations like the Elks, American Legion, Moose, and VFW just to name a few, regularly welcome out-of-town visitors and offer inexpensive and pleasant restaurants, lounges, gaming and health-room facilities and in some cases, campsites, at little or no cost to members from out of the area.
In smaller and/or out of the way towns, many local members of these organizations look forward to visiting with out-of-towners and enjoy offering their hospitality to friendly tourers who have a story to tell.
Remember to take advantage of these little recognized sources for camping and other types of support. They can really come in handy should you need a little assistance with a mechanical or electrical problem, or just need a place to hole up for the night.
Time and Budget
Time
Unless retired or independently wealthy, most motorcycle and scooter folks we know must budget both their time and finances so they can invest in their favorite past time.
There are couple of time related issues to be concerned. The first obviously is finding the time to ride longer distances, but another time issues is riding enough time to build up your daily mileage capacity so you will be prepared for that longer ride when you do get the time to make it. But, first things first.
What are the best ways to build up to longer rides?
There are a number of ways to build up time on the bike, even when you are not out on the open road.
Where do I get the time to go touring?
Okay, now that you have built up your ability to stay in the saddle for longer periods and for more miles, where do you get the actual time to go touring?
Weekend rides are just fine, but getting out on the road for extended periods allows us to clear our minds, connect with nature and/or each other, or to enjoy a simpler life for awhile.
However, efficiencies can be gained in little ways when planning a longer ride or tour.
For instance, if you are anticipating an extended trip, it is easy to begin the planning and preparations well in advance of the date of departure.
Time savings is in the preparation
It is a good idea to break down preparations into bite size chunks. You know that you will have to deal with a number of issues, so categorize them and knock them off one at a time.
While a more detailed discussion of all these topics is explored in other pages, here is a brief list of the types of preparations you can attend to long before 'kickstand up' time. They might include:
Getting your act together before you leave will save you a bunch of time and ease your mind so you can concentrate on the truck that is tailgating you and enjoy yourself.
Budget
A more detailed discussion on budgeting finances for all the costs associated with touring is covered elsewhere in these pages. Suffice to say that if money is an object, there are ways to efficiently and effectively plan your budget so you can maximize your time on the road. Click here to see the pages on touring money management. * * *Return from Tour Selection Back to Touring Overview
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