Road Trip on a Bike

Reckless

Hey Guys,

I have to figure out a road trip plan. Originally, my plan was to save a few thousand working full-time in the beginning of summer, then go to Ireland for 2 weeks. However, my parents are pretty dead-set against me going overseas alone as an 18-year old, and I can understand that. My college offers overseas programs in the country anyway, so I'll be sure to go when I get to Junior/Senior year.

However, before College starts, I have to do some kind of traveling. If I can't go abroad just yet, I want to do an extensive tour of the United States (I was thinking about following the old Route 66, but I'm open to suggestions. Anyway, the problem is finding a vehicle.

I really, really want to do this road trip on a bike. I've got my Motorcycle rating, but no bike, just a '91 Accord in fairly decent shape. Obviously there is an element of danger as far as traveling this distance in sparsely populated areas on a motorcycle, so I'm also looking for safety tips. However, my first concern is getting my hands on a cruiser to drive.

Now, as far as renting is concerned, it looks like I'd have to be 21 to do it and while I could probably sucker somebody into renting a bike for me...well I'd rather not, because in case anything went wrong they and I would, in all likelihood, be legally boned.

My other plan was to sell the Accord, which I'm really not sure how much that would get me, and get a used bike to do this road trip with. Of course I'd have it checked out by a mechanic...but obviously this idea has a lot of variables and seems like it could fall apart really quickly.

How am I going to pull this off?

Pheezer

Well, you're not going to be able to do this safely with tightly limited funds. Which isn't to say it can't be done, or that you're in any way likely to die from the trip, but you'll be lying when you tell your parents that there's no way you're going to end up completely screwed.

Reckless

What exactly do you mean? I figure I'll be able to save $2500 by the time I want to embark, and if I get a bike that has passenger space I don't see why I wouldn't be able to pull off the financial side of things.

Another idea I came up with was finding a bike for sale on Craigslist, and asking the owner if he would be willing to rent it to me, then sell it at a later date. I don't know if that's really a great idea though, as I'd be adding a shit-ton of miles to the ride.

Pheezer

Yeah I don't see you convincing someone to do that. You could always buy the bike, then re-sell it afterwards, and write off the difference as your rental costs. Odds are you'd probably find this to be cheaper than renting a bike, but you're going to need to be absolutely certain of its mechanical condition beforehand. If you don't have a lot of experience in that area, you're going to want to get it checked out thoroughly and tuned up before you go, because I could see you getting bent over pretty hard by a hillbilly mechanic in the middle of nowhere.

Possibly literally, if you don't have the funds necessary.

Reckless

Aye, that is definitely part of the plan regardless from where I rent from. I'm not going to be stupid about this trip.

I've been researching renting a car, even if I really, really don't want to drive a 4-wheel vehicle, and I can rent a car with added fees due to my age through Hertz for about $1500 for the 2 weeks, because god knows my Accord couldn't make the trip.

EDIT: I thought about the reselling idea, but the problem is I probably won't have enough cash in the first place to buy a bike outright.

Rankenphile

first of all, how much time have you actually spent on a bike doing highway travel?

Reckless

If I had to guess I'd say about 20 hours worth. My Uncle's got a bike he lets me borrow for local travel, but he would never let me take his baby for something like this.

The more I think about it the more it seems like the bike is not going to work out.

bigpanda

Can't speak from experience, but I had a friend who rode a crotch-rocket from Detroit to Minneapolis and he said he was sore by the time he got there and that's only about a 10-12 hour trip. I think you mentioned trying to find a touring bike which seems like a good plan.

crake

Have you talked to your parents about this, or do you plan to just go ahead and do it? I think I'd rather have my 18 year old son go to europe then on a motorcycle trip across america - if I had to choose.

Anyway, just be careful about this. Good chance of your parents responding negatively to it all.

Thanatos

FYI, I did over 2000 miles in two weeks in my 1990 Honda Civic, with no mechanical problems at all.

At the time, it had over 180,000 miles on it.

So, if your only concern is the age of the car, it would probably be fine.

Pheezer

The other thing is, it's hard to do extended driving shifts if you've got no real experience doing so, and you'll need to plan your trip carefully around checking into motels and taking breaks along the way. This sort of thing is also much safer with a wingman. Solo trips across country on a motorcycle are generally luxuries best reserved for people who've got the experience to know they can hack it.

If you can save up $2500, there's virtually nothing that could possibly happen to your car that $2500 couldn't fix. With that much money in a bank account, doing the trip in your car would probably be a much wiser idea. You're still going to need to budget rest breaks, naps, and motel stays though. You can't drive it straight through, not alone.