Best place to live / ride?

[Skeptisk]

U.K. - probably anywhere away from where I’ve lived (South East) would be better

NZ was amazing. Generally good weather and half an hour north of south of Auckland there were quiet, wide roads and loads of corners and hills too.

[trickywoo]

Skeptisk said:

U.K. - probably anywhere away from where I’ve lived (South East) would be better

NZ was amazing. Generally good weather and half an hour north of south of Auckland there were quiet, wide roads and loads of corners and hills too.

Isn’t the NZ policing a bit enthusiastic?

I know it’s a case of not being caught but my perception is that it’s no lube and throwing away the key for even mild infringement.

[Skeptisk]

trickywoo said:

Skeptisk said:

U.K. - probably anywhere away from where I’ve lived (South East) would be better

NZ was amazing. Generally good weather and half an hour north of south of Auckland there were quiet, wide roads and loads of corners and hills too.

Isn’t the NZ policing a bit enthusiastic?

I know it’s a case of not being caught but my perception is that it’s no lube and throwing away the key for even mild infringement.

Maybe you are thinking of Australia? Decent roads 100 kph and I think just fines up to 30 kph over. You do have to be a bit careful but lots of the best roads you would struggle to reach 130 kph because of all the corners. Away from the few big cities and main roads it is very quiet. I did 70-80 km at pace once and I didn’t come across one vehicle in my direction and only a dozen on coming.

[Biker's Nemesis]

I'd move to Cornwall or somewhere in the south. It rains too much here in the far north and there are no jobs. It's grim, cold, wet and full of whippet owning flat capped northerners

[Marquezs Stabilisers]

I live in Glasgow. At the end of my street is a NSL that takes you up into the Highlands. In an hour I can be on a selection of superb roads. You hardly see a cop car or speed camera. Then I ride home and park my bike in my huge garage.

When I lived in London my bike lived on the road outside a ground floor flat in an ex local block in Brixton. I had to ride an hour to get to a potholed 50 flooded with MAMILs holding up all the traffic and speed restrictions everywhere.

Glasgow isn't London, but it's an international city where I can get most foods (yet to find a decent jerk chicken but otherwise fine), Scottish Opera and Ballet are based here - we do go - and you're an hour away from the biggest arts festival in the world.

So far the educational provision for my daughter has been well ahead of what could be managed in London.

[SAS Tom]

Moulder said:

Purely location in the UK; Bradford. Surrounded by Peak District, Yorkshire Dales/Moors, Lake District, and The Borders. To add a quality of life element Harrogate or York.

In the world, similar to Bradford; Florence. Italy, Sardinia, Corsica easy(ish), lots of other bits of Europe comparatively not far away.

Can’t agree on Bradford for the most part. Any decent place to live is in the north of Bradford which means if you want to go anywhere other than north then you’ve got a load of messing about in Bradford traffic any other direction. That’s usually an hour on its own.

I’ve always been really happy where I am in Leeds because you can head out in any direction and be on decent roads quickly. Wales is less than 2 hours away, the dales less than an hour, North York moors the same etc etc.

[Steve Bass]

UK, don't really know

Europe... Somewhere central like Lyon with easy access to most locations
RoW.. South Africa. Amazing rides and easy access to East Africa like Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania.. True African adventures.

[nismocat]

Krikkit said:

Two that spring to mind are IoM first and foremost.

Have you even been to IOM when it's not sunny?

It is a miserable, wet, cold and windy hole.

Your second choice is not much better, 20mph limits?!

[srob]

East Anglia's good. Statistically it's the driest place in the UK (although it's not felt like it the last couple of weeks ), plus it's quiet. I had a mate come up who lives on the south west coast for a bike event and he couldn't believe how quiet the back roads are round here.

Nice coast to head to as well

[John D.]

Killboy said:

Folkstone, quick and easy access to the Eurotunnel

I was going to make that gag.

[slime bomb]

Meiringen, Switzerland. Right at the start of some of the best passes in the world!

[Bodo]

Passes are great for a couple of months



Best to have them in reach, but still access to lower uplands. Looking at the Alps and at population/work, there's plenty of regions. Pretty much depends on which language to speak Italian/French/German - where I'd rule out Switzerland for the latter and prefer South Tyrol for a low degree of dialect

[Biker's Nemesis]

When I was young we lived in a small Village called Garthorpe. We lived in a ex School house right on the Fockerby/Garthorpe boarder.

I have been back many times since we left in the late 1970's, the last being 2 years ago to see the last person I knew.

I would move back there in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the Grandson. The roads are quiet and pothole free and there are plenty of race tracks not that far from there.

We only moved because of the wicked witch (my Mother) when she fell pregnant with my youngest Sister.

I would have still been saying (hey up lad, shut gate) instead of (why I man)

[danashby]

My vote is for northern Spain, somewhere around Santander or south France, near Lyon, Nice. Great roads and good weather.
In the UK I'm quite happy in east Midlands. I'm probably 30-40min from Ashbourne/Matlock area so plenty of nice roads if the weather is nice.

[mrtomsv]

I lived in the IOM for about 3 years just over a decade ago. I really miss living there for the riding, but it becomes easy to take it for granted and get a touch of island fever and want to ride further afield.

Now living in Cheshire on the edge of the Peaks, it’s a close 2nd to the IOM, with North Wales and the Lakes accessible for longer rides. I probably do 99% of my riding in a smaller area than the IOM, but know I could ride further if I wanted.

I often see people complaining on here that the Peaks is busy. Maybe it’s because I only really ride in the week, but I usually find the roads deserted when I’m out.

[Sigmamark7]

A recent trip up to the Moray Firth near Inverness demonstrated what roads should be like all over the UK. Pothole free and well surfaced, so my vote would be Scotland for excellent riding roads. Even away from the main roads, the condition of side roads and single tracks was perfect. We even had decent weather. Coming back down through the Lakes, it was very obvious once south of Gretna, that the roads in England are an absolute disgrace.

[the cueball]

Central Scotland / Bormio

[KTMsm]

Bodo said:

Best to have them in reach, but still access to lower uplands. Looking at the Alps and at population/work, there's plenty of regions.

Pretty much depends on which language to speak Italian/French/German - where I'd rule out Switzerland for the latter and prefer South Tyrol for a low degree of dialect

I'd rule out Switerland (and Oz and NZ) because of their horrific speeding fines

Those saying they're only a problem if you go 30+km over - do you even ride a bike ?

Just back from France, they're ok until you go 50km over - which is still harsh when you look around and see there's no one to hit on 99% of the roads you'd want to speed on

[scunnylad]

Biker's Nemesis said:

When I was young we lived in a small Village called Garthorpe. We lived in a ex School house right on the Fockerby/Garthorpe boarder.

I have been back many times since we left in the late 1970's, the last being 2 years ago to see the last person I knew.

I would move back there in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the Grandson. The roads are quiet and pothole free and there are plenty of race tracks not that far from there.

We only moved because of the wicked witch (my Mother) when she fell pregnant with my youngest Sister.

I would have still been saying (hey up lad, shut gate) instead of (why I man)

Forgot you lived round here,was in Amcotts yesterday at a mate's who collects Garelli's

[Ken_Code]

I’m fortunate in that we have a home in Northumberland and one near Pau, so I get the good roads in both.

I still possibly think that Northern Scotland has better riding roads, although not for as many days each year as Northumberland does.