West Coast tour: to ship or rent?

[winkeldc]

Hi all,

I live in the midwest and am thinking about touring the west coast for my vacation this year. The problem is my available time. I can't ride across country and still have enough time for touring. Has anyone shipped their bike to a destination to tour and then ship it home after? I have looked into rentals, but it's between 1000 and 1500 dollars to rent for the week or so that I have and thought I could ship it cheaper and have my beloved bike instead of a rental. I have started looking into the possibility and will call some dealers this week to see if they would accept delivery of the bike, but thought I would see if anyone has experience with this. Thanks in advance. I am just trying to broaden my bike's experiences. Chitown's has seen to much and my bike is a bit jealous.

Thanks again for any advice.
Dave

[sky_sailor]

If you ship, talk to "your" dealer about shipping it to a dealer near your destination. Probably your best bet. Or, if someone lives near you that you can trust, offer to buy him/her a ticket home if he wants to do a cross country tour on your bike. I know I'd do it for a ticket home! For that matter....where do you live??

[cswett]

You might check Eagle Rider one-way rentals (where you deliver a bike back to its home base) -- sometimes they have very good deals ($50 a day) to deliver a bike from say Seattle to San Diego. I went from Redmond, Ore., to Billings Montana, 5 days for about $350. It was a hoot.
BMW's are not all the common as one-way rentals, but if you can put up with a Harley...
Their web site starts to get many more listings in the spring as customers began making summer plans.
Here's their Web site

http://www.eaglerider.com/hot-deals/one ... cials.aspx

[spoonyfork]

+1 on Eaglerider, had a positive experience with them out of Las Vegas for a Route 66 ride.

[Lost Rider]

I have used www.uship.com numerous times to ship my bikes across the USA with excellent results and good value.
I'm also available to hire to transport your bike by riding... but most wouldn't let me ride their bike for some strange reason.

The there's something about camping next to YOUR bike far from home that is most satisfying...

IMO, renting a Harley for a long ride is no option, that is unless you want to look "cool" in chaps on a loud, poor handling, antique bike.... and don't forget the tassels.

I rented one once in a period of insanity and boredom while on tour working.

Once.

Seriously though, out West there's so many beautiful twisty roads completely waisted riding a chrome cruiser-poseur-mobile.



If you'd like any route suggestions or GPS tracks let me know.

cheers

[LumpyCam]

Timely thread as I'm thinking of doing the same thing but shipping from Vancouver (think: Seattle) to Halifax (think: Boston) and riding back. I only have 1 week for riding and I think i could just make this 6,000km jaunt in 9 days. I was wondering what my shipping options would be.

If you ship, talk to "your" dealer about shipping it to a dealer near your destination.

Hadn't thought of that one - thanks!

[sweatmark]

Seriously though, out West there's so many beautiful twisty roads...

Ditto that. If there's any way you can ship your own bike (trusted, tested, tweaked for twisties to your liking), then do it.

You'll want to ride Hwy1 along the coast. You'll want to ride CA36 across the state. You'll want to ride these roads (and/or similar routes in Oregon, Washington, or BC) on your own bike or something very similar in the Sport Touring vein.

[LumpyCam]

I'll drop in a plug for the Destination Highways series for BC, WA, and northern CA. Excellent for travel planning and making the most of your miles. At $30 the value-for-money is priceless, especially considering the short time you'll have to make the most of.

http://www.destinationhighways.com/

[Jed]

I'm Looking to cross the US from west to east sometime this summer. TIming is flexible, also planning to ship the bike west and ride back to NH. Primarily interested in back roads. I've got a couple of weeks to complete the traverse. Looking for others interested in a similar plan.

cheers,

[cswett]

Again, if you don't mind a Harley, check out Eagle Rider one-way rentals - ideal and very affordable for your trip. Occasionally, an R1200RT is available for that kind of duty.

[Jed]

Again, if you don't mind a Harley, check out Eagle Rider one-way rentals - ideal and very affordable for your trip. Occasionally, an R1200RT is available for that kind of duty.

It's about $150 per day, it's cheaper to ship my bike - plus - I'll have my bike.
Thanks for the suggestion but it doesn't fit for me. I don't want to ride anything other than my bike.

cheers,

[winkeldc]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have looked into the eaglerider for the ferrying duty, but they seem to be limited in time and what's available. At least it seems you can't plan all that far ahead and my wife and I need to have definite plans in place. She teaches and we are fitting our trip in between the end of the school year and when she has to go to "summer" school for her doctorate. As to renting a Harley, I am not opposed per se, but I would much rather have my bike, plus its looking to be like shipping is much cheaper than renting anyway. Win/win.

I would love some tips on roads. I am planning to take the coastal highway for sure, if for no other reason to say I have done it. As to suggestions, as soon as I get a plan together, I would love some tips. Part of the trade off in convincing the Mrs. to spend her vacation on a bike is that I have to put bigger cities on the itinerary and I have been too busy with work to plan the trip out.

[Lost Rider]

If you must include big cities - San Fran, Portland, Seattle, Denver, and Boise are places worth visiting, and everything in between is nice if you stay off the interstates.

How long do you have and how many miles are you going to ride per day on average?


A way to get the dealer to accept the bike would be to make an appointment to get the oil changed, maybe buy some tires if it needs it.... and ship the bike there to "make" the appointment. Like a bike coming in on a tow truck, it shouldn't be a problem.


If you'd like a list of the specific shippers I used on uShip.com PM me.
It uses the same rating system as eBay it's easy to see who your shipper is and how good they are.


cheers

[LumpyCam]

I noticed that WebBikeWorld has a shipping section too with lists of North American shippers and other resources:

• http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle- ... transport/

[cswett]

Winkeldc, here is a great resources for West Coast riding info, Get yourself a West Coast map so you can match geography with Highway names, and then scroll down to the trip planning section. Pashnit members are always happy to share advice, too. They will even plan your entire route, if you let them.

http://www.pashnit.com/forum/index.php?

I hear that Highway 25 going south from Hollister in Central California is just a treat. But of course that means you will miss Highway 1 down the coast. So many choices.

[winkeldc]

Thanks guys. By the way, I'm Dave. So far the plan is that we will have six riding days. We are planning a walking day in seattle before we get the bike and another in San Fransisco (right now) before we fly home. I really wanted to try and hit a portion of the coastal highway, but right now the plan is to drop south through portland (there is a place we want to eat lunch at there, sounds crazy, but supposed to be worth it and I have ridden much farther for much less anyway). The next big hits are Lake Tahoe and then wander back across to san fransisco. We ride about 300-400 miles a day depending on the type of roads and I avoid the interstate. My GPS doesn't even know to look for it. Unfortunately the mrs. HATES unpaved, so I only take those when I have made a "mistake." If the GPS says turn left, I turn left.

With my time frame, I figure I have 4 days to get to tahoe, and two days to make the four hour across california trip to san fransisco. I wish I had more time, but am starting a new job next month and am not sure my new boss would appreciate too much time off right away. Plus I need to keep him happy, I am hoping the raise will pay for a bike trip around ireland next year.

My wife is not a big camper, so we tend to look for nice b&b's. Last year we "roughed" it by renting a leanto outside lake placid on our way to Quebec City and that might have been the extent of our camping adventures. She wasn't a fan of the outdoor "plumbing." Compared to the camping I have done, the leanto was a hyatt.

ChiTown: great tip on the dealer. THANK YOU. I never would have thought of that. I actually will probably need something anyway, at least a new front tire.

[cswett]

If I may be so bold, from South Tahoe, take Highway 89 South to Highway 395. Head south on 395, then take Highway 120 West over Tioga Pass into Yosemite. Tent cabins in Curry Village in Yosemite Valley are rustic but better than a lean-to. Get your reservations soon. Spend the night in Yosemite, then head over to SF on 120 West the next day. It's a breathtaking ride and you won't be sorry.

[xprof]

+1 on 395, Tioga Pass, Yosemite and sleeping in Curry Village. It is truly spectacular, while Tahoe straight to SF is just another freeway drone. Getting up in the morning under Half Dome, then making a circuit of Yosemite Valley on the R is not to be missed (I did it last summer, so I know)!

[psycle.vt]

Re shipping, +1 on using your dealer to arrange it. That is what I did last year to send my R out to Portland, OR for the rally. The BMW dealer there is right outside the airport. You can take the Thrifty(I think it is) shuttle right to the dealer. They did a reasonable job although they did charge a $40 fee on their end. My dealer (Lester at Frank's in Essex Ctr, VT) charged nothing other than the cost of the shipping via the same service that brings bikes to him. Cost was around $500, which if you consider gas, lodging, tires etc it a bargain. I used frequent flyer miles to get out there.

I fortunately had the time to ride back home to VT from the rally via SF (where I dropped off my son) and then east on US-50 to St Louis and then interstates on home - great ride, but I didn't really budget enough time to really enjoy it fully.

I have also done the rental thing (Dubbleju in SF is really good), but it is slightly more expensive than shipping both ways. However, riding the rental bike (and taking it some places I might not take my own bike) convinced me that the oilheads were a good next step up for this old airhead (in all senses of the word

[xprof]

PS: If your wife isn't turned on by the idea of a tent cabin in Curry village (quite nice, really, but you have to walk to the john and the shower), book a first-class room in the Ahwanee Hotel. After your stay in Yosemite Valley, backtrack a few miles on Big Oak Flat Road (the route you entered the valley) to Crane Flat, then proceed west on Hwy 120 to Manteca. This'll give you more scenic mountain riding and better twisties than descending through Mariposa. When you hit the hot, flat stuff, don't accelerate to 85mph, 'cause they have in-car radar. Cost me $385 and one point on the insurance...