Is a Tiger Meet USA 201x7 worth doing?

[Mustang]

Erm, unless you are in the Pacific north west of the US, or British Columbia, of course.... :icon_wink: :icon_wink:

Been there done that ..............
I'll correct my statement
If you don't have time to hit the entire country ( it's a big one )
The MAJORITY of the absolute best Riding motorcycle roads are in Arkansas and the rest are EAST of the Mississippi River

[Spud]

Would it not be cheaper to ship to east coast vs west from UK ?

and the best motorcycle roads are east of the mississippi river .............................

yes it is cheaper to ship to the East coast.  What sort of dates are people looking at ?

cheers Spud 

[Spud]

right just spoken to a very nice guy called Roddy at Motofreight, he has stated the following

Air freight out bound to make sure the bikes are there.....

New York £950 per bike one way

Halifax £1150 per bike  which he recommended as it easy to get through customs.

L.A. £1350 per bike one way

Anchorage £1450

shipping back from LA by sea approx 40 days £875

so your looking in the region of 2 to 2.5k for shipping

EPA forms would need doing and customs clearance would have to be done by ourselves, he did not recommend New York as it is very busy and it would take time to clear everything (unless you want an adventure)

cheers Spud 

[blacktiger]

Erm, unless you are in the Pacific north west of the US, or British Columbia, of course.... :icon_wink: :icon_wink:

Or all of the Rockies................

[Spud]

got to speak to someone else next week when he is back from the states with a container full of bikes might be an opportunity to ship with him using his containers

cheers Spud 

[eurobykz]

I don't know about to the US, but you can fly your bikes with Air Canada - with you on the same flight.      Prices are pretty reasonable I think.  Check out the link below.   Based on this, it looks like London-Montreal would be only $C 700.   which is about 400 UKP I think.    It doesn't show a price to Europe from Calgary or Vancouver, but I expect you could find out...   

here's the link. 

http://canadamotoguide.com/2015/03/03/air-canadas-new-motorcycle-cargo-options/

[mat-tiger1]

got to speak to someone else next week when he is back from the states with a container full of bikes might be an opportunity to ship with him using his containers

cheers Spud 

Great stuff Spud 

Let us know how you get on! 

[mat-tiger1]

I don't know about to the US, but you can fly your bikes with Air Canada - with you on the same flight.      Prices are pretty reasonable I think.  Check out the link below.   Based on this, it looks like London-Montreal would be only $C 700.   which is about 400 UKP I think.    It doesn't show a price to Europe from Calgary or Vancouver, but I expect you could find out...   

here's the link. 

http://canadamotoguide.com/2015/03/03/air-canadas-new-motorcycle-cargo-options/

Liking the sound of this eurobykz, 

At this rate we'll be spoiled for choice! 

[eurobykz]

I think that since AC and WestJet copied the yank airlines and started charging for checked luggage, the cargo holds are empty so they're looking for ways to fill them...   

According to this, C$700 to Montreal and then C$650 from Vancouver or Calgary back to Montreal and then $700 back to London.  that's $2050 Cdn which is only 1040 UKP at today's rate!   I think that's quite a bit cheaper than your other options? 

Makes me want to go ride in Britain!!   On the other hand, for me to put my tigger on a plane in cowtown and go to UK would be $2700 return.  Exchange rate's a bitch...

Be warned, Air Canada will probably find a bazillion extra fees and surcharges to drive the price up...

Of course you could fly to and from Toronto, but Montreal is a way better city, and there are fabulous paved and unpaved roads through the laurentian mountains north and east of montreal

And as an added bonus, you would get to miss out on the wonderful "welcome" from our neighbours' inimitable "dep't of homeland scrutiny"      Our border security guys are too busy watching the hockey playoffs and just wave at the jihadi's as they walk past carrying bombs and AK47's.  The worst they might do is hassle the tourist who brought back an extra bottle of duty-free rum from their all-inclusive beach trip to cuba...    The thing to avoid is try to bring in meat (ask me how I got my haggis past them coming back from Edinburgh last year).   

[blacktiger]

According to this, C$700 to Montreal and then C$650 from Vancouver or Calgary back to Montreal and then $700 back to London.  that's $2050 Cdn which is only 1040 UKP at today's rate!   I think that's quite a bit cheaper than your other options? 

We don't neded the Fly back option do we? We're supposed to be riding around the USA and Canada so it'll be a round trip won't it? Start and finish in Montreal. No?

[Sin_Tiger]

The thing to avoid is try to bring in meat (ask me how I got my haggis past them coming back from Edinburgh last year).

I'm not sure I want to know how you managed that, might put me off my breakfast  Heathens, they'll be trying to sell us Jocks smoked salmon next.

Some good ideas and tips there, thanks 

[eurobykz]

We don't neded the Fly back option do we? We're supposed to be riding around the USA and Canada so it'll be a round trip won't it? Start and finish in Montreal. No?

Depends on how long you have.   A few years ago, I lived in the UK for a bit during a sabbatical leave from the university.  We had a flat in Edinburgh and the sole wheels for my wife & I was a triumph - we chose the sprint GT not a tigger since it had the biggest luggage.   My point is - the UK - hell, even Europe, is SMALL.  I got up early one morning in Edinburgh and rode my bike >300 km to Yorkshire to meet my colleagues - they were quite surprised that I would have done that...   When I was a kid, we had to drive >100km just to go to a bigger town that had a movie theatre...   

Imagine you live in Milton Keynes and decided to do a huge loop around Europe and visit Amsterdam, Berlin, Warsaw, Budapest, Florence, Madrid, Paris, and back to Milton Keynes (notice I left out Athens).   According to Google Maps, you would have ridden something over 7,000 km.  Your rear tire (tyre) is a bit bald, but still rideable...   

Now imagine I leave Saskatoon for Montreal, Halifax, Atlanta, Austin, El-Paso, Phoenix, LA, Vancouver and back to Saskatoon.     I would have ridden well over 15,000 km.   And still would have missed half of the continent.   If I add in Guadalajara and the lake-Chapala district of Jalisco, ferry to Baja and up to California that way and then add in Whitehorse, the Yukon and a taste of Alaska via the top-of-the-world highway, I would have put about 22,000 km on the bike and would definitely need a couple of new rear tire/tyres... 


Calgary to Montreal is over a week of committed straight-up pavement riding for most sane people, with little sight-seeing.   I've done it as fast as I possibly could and it was 5 days and really no fun.  I've heard about people who did it quicker, but they were on goldwings or the like and just stuck to the trans-canada and went as fast as possible.  from Vancouver add another day or 2.   


A trip that started in Montreal - might loop east and south a bit and then cross the continent ending in Vancouver or Calgary.  Such a trip could even loop north to the Yukon and Alaska and end in Calgary... 

Having ridden much of the continent (my guzzi breva-V11 is currently in Halifax where it's about as close to Britain as it is to Saskatoon) my suggestion would be a really big loop - start in montreal and let your preferences, schedule and dirt/asphalt preferences guide you...     perhaps east through the laurentians to the maritimes, across the border into new-england (change the km into miles on your speedometer and odometer and change the spelling on your computer to lite nite check color meter etc) - then wander southwest through the Appalachians and into the ozarks and into texas (east texas didn't inspire me during two m/c trips there but west texas was really pretty cool - Big Bend National Park in west texas is a great place for great dirt roads through amazing desert scenery - perfect for tiggers (check out Motorcycle Mojo Magazine - may 2014,  "Tigger's Excellent Adventure").   

Then from west-texas one has so many choices - one might head north through new-mexico & Utah and into Yellowstone NP, the Black hills (avoid when the Harley-dudes are there in their thousands - all those rugged individualists wearing identical and rather juvenile pirate costumes) - and then from the black hills head north into the US "Glacier" National Park (it doesn't have any glaciers unlike Glacier Nat Park in BC.  US Glacier abuts Waterton National Park and there's a great mostly dirt road that goes north along the east flank of the rockies from just north of the border up past Banff and Jasper and then connects to the Alaska Highway (paved) or the "highway" up to the Mackenzie River....   

Or alternatively  leave texas and head southwest into Mexico - there are 3 countries in North America after all...   

or go west into Arizona, California and then north along the coast...

And for those who want thousands of km of bad gravel road, along with trillions of blackflies (our answer to the Scottish midges but way worse) - there's always the Trans-Labrador.  And Newfoundland...


So... it would really depend on where you wanted to go, how long you had, and what's the desired mix of pavement (asphalt, tarmac) to gravel roads/dirt roads/prairie trails/goat paths  etc....

Sorry to go on so long - really just trying to help...  Just thinking about it, I'm getting keen to join up for at least a bit

Ian

[nickjtc]

What euro says, +1. Unless you guys have a LOT of time (and $$) it will be impossible for you to see much over here. My suggestion would be to choose a specific area and focus on it alone. From a cost viewpoint that would mean the east side of the continent, and as euro and Mustang have both commented there is a lot of excellent riding to be done.I've lived here in BC for 28 years and have barely touched all of the riding that is available. Admittedly it is four times the size of England, but..................

As a side comment. I bought a R1100RS in Montreal, flew over (with the wife) to pick it up and rode it back to BC. Foolishly I did not allow enough time, so we left Montreal on the Monday pm and were back in Kamloops by Saturday at noon. Both knackered (one day of over a thousand kms) and a very strained marital relationship!!

Do not try to see too much!!

[motoOzarks]

Go Ozarks

You won't scratch the surface no matter where you go

For your money you could make multiple meet ups closer to home, maybe even buy another bike.  Don't let that stop ya thou.

Pick a place and time the weather is nice.

Mexico is a country?

Practice driving on the right side of the road before ya get here

[eurobykz]

Go Ozarks

...Mexico is a country?

Yeah, Mexico is one of the 2 North-American countries that suffer from horrible and rampant gun violence...       But unless one is really really cautious, that's no reason to skip both Mexico & USA and stick to the safe part where there's great scenery and wilderness, more dirt roads than we can count, plus a familiar old picture of the queen on the currency...   

Actually Guadalajara and Jalisco in general is pretty safe, and you can take  ferry to Los Cabos and ride up through Baja!!!    Easily as safe as Chicago/LA/Atlanta and certainly safer, friendlier and more picturesque than Detroit or some others one wouldn't want to name given recent events...

Hmmm isn't the Ozarks where the Dukes of Hazzard used to do their thing??    I've read about the Ozarks as a paved-road destination for the croozer-dudes...   Is there also a lot of really good dirt??   Arkansas is one of only about a half-dozen American states I haven't got to yet... 

I wouldn't worry about riding a m/c on the rhs / lhs.  Much harder with a manual transmission car.   Shifting with left hand took some practice...

For amazing dirt roads, interesting paved roads, good scenery and reasonable summer temperatures (like not >36 every day) I would recommend the general area extending north from and including Colorado.  Utah, Montana, Wyo and Idaho, eastern BC, Alta and western Sask.  And extend it up to the Yukon and Alaska time (and rear tyre wear) permitting.  Farther south there's great riding, but it will be 36 or 38 or 40 every day...   

If the west is just too far, Montreal does put you in touch with amazing rides in the laurentians - and heading east, Gaspésie and the Maritimes are full of good dirt and paved roads, and then you funnel down into new England, the appalachians and all the famous paved twisties in the blue ridge parkway and tail-of-the-dragon and all that.  Been there, done that.  On a tiger with TKC's!!  And I would never go that far again to ride what really are fairly ho-hum roads in comparison to what exists across the pond.   

But....    I would offer this thought to those that boost those eastern roads.    Good as they are (and they are), those "famous" twisty roads are -perhaps- only remarkable in contrast with the rest of north America where the highway engineers straightened everything out in the name of speed and safety! (Thus the cruisers everywhere, it doesn't matter if your bike can't turn as the road's straight!!).    Our british friends (aspecially the Scots) will be used to roads like Duke's pass near stirling and hardknott pass in Cumbria.   Those both are at least as twisty as "the Dragon", much longer, and in the case of the Hardknott - many times steeper and more difficult.   And when our british friends go to visit france, Italy, Bavaria, Austria, spain, they find ubiquitous roads that are far more challenging than even those rare and fmous "destination highways" in north America.     

So in the east, there is interesting dirt riding to be found, but it won't be as epic as the west.   The problem is that if you want to start in the east and go to the west, you either have to go through 2000 km less interesting terrain through Ontario, Manitoba and eastern Sask, or south of the line it's just as dull for 1200 miles in Nebraska, kansas, Indiana,  misery (sp?) etc     Of course there are hidden gems in all of those places, but it really boils down to time and preferences...   

Knowing the UK fairly well, if I were going to map out a trip for Brits on Tiggers, I would look for a combo of paved and dirt through country that would be completely different than anything they  would find closer to home.    I would start in Calgary, head south across the border,  through the rockies, deserts etc of Wyo, Colo, Utah and Idaho, on to the black hills etc and then loop back across the border, north through Banff and jasper and on into the boreal forest and past, to the tundra of the northern Yukon, into Alaska, take a ferry and back down the BC coast to vancouver.   Yes, you'd miss the Ozarks.  And California.  And the US south, la Belle province du Quebec and the Maritimes.   Unless you have 2 years, you can't see it all. 

Maybe I should quit my job and become a travel agent?