Route 66 - still any good or rubbish now?

[Pazuzu]

A friends 60th is coming up in '24 and his girlfriend wants us all to go and do Route 66 on Harley's.

Sounds like fun but I have heard anecdotally that Route 66 is no longer the trip it once was.

Any advice welcome as we could possibly persuade her to do Sturgis or Daytona instead.

Thanks!

[woodlands]

I rode Route66 some years ago, and have done quite a few rides in USA since.

It depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for amazing scenery, R66 is not for you, there are many better rides around Arizona and UTAH.

With R66, the first 1500 miles is featureless, so you have to consider that in your deliberations.

Have a look at some of the EagleRider routes, I'm sure you will find something amazing.

[coldel]

I also heard there are lots of stretches in disrepair, worth checking out first before committing!

[airsafari87]

As an alternative check out the thread that remaL posted on here a few days ago ‘Eagleriders Coast to Coast 2022’ or something along those lines.

[Pazuzu]

airsafari87 said:

As an alternative check out the thread that remaL posted on here a few days ago ‘Eagleriders Coast to Coast 2022’ or something along those lines.

Saw that - may suggest it to her.

Cheers!

[Ian Geary]

I always wanted to try the Oregon trail...dunno why, maybe that film with Kirk Douglas made me think of it.

By sheer coincidence, my brother now lives in Portland, Oregon.

But as I live in Surrey (and not the North Dakota one) it makes it kinda tricky to fit in.

[Panamax]

Oklahoma City to Las Vegas, via Santa Fe, is a great trip. In other words, those parts that have not been overtaken by more modern redevelopment.

[RDMcG]

Over the years I posted some fairly detailed stuff here - I know I well.,:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...

That is the introductory stuff, but if you scroll down you will find links to each state and the sights you can see there.

I will be running parts of it again December.

[gareth_r]

Me & the Mrs On Tour youtube channel has a series of videos documenting a Route 66 tour with Eagle Rider.

https://youtube.com/c/MeandtheMrsOnTour/videos

[Essarell]

RT66 is iconic more for its history and significance in American culture than as a motorcycling experience. As road trips go there are far better in the US but it still has a great deal to offer. Chicago is a stunning backdrop to start a trip and cities like St Louis, Oklahoma, Tulsa and Amarillo have a great deal to offer if you’ve never been that way before.
The final thousand miles or so towards LA can be a slog as it’s straight into the prevailing wind and the last 25 miles into LA towards Santa Monica aren’t really the best end to what will be a fascinating and hugely enjoyable journey.
The problem I find with planning trips towards California is a lot of the highlights are well off of RT66, either San Diego or San Francisco make a better end to a big road trip.
I’ve never been to the Sturgis Rally, but have explored the area, the mountain road headed towards Mt Rushmore is a real bucket list ride as you corkscrew round the mountain cutting through tunnels and rising up on tressles?
Daytona, especially for bike week can be pretty wild and riding A1A is cracking road if you have time or if it suits your itinerary.

Have you looked into the cost of bike rental? I’ve used Eaglrider many times and when I looked a couple of weeks back it was circa £2500 a week per bike……

Whatever you do end up doing I know you’ll have a great time, we’re doing Montauk to San Fran next year taking in some of the northern states.

[Pazuzu]

Thanks all.

We're having a sit down soon and she will reveal the plan.

I too am wondering at the costs!

[Drawweight]

I’m interested in peoples opinions who have done that (or similar)

I’ve considered it but the mileage is something I’m unsure of. Some of the days are 300 miles. The lowest is about 125.

Being in the UK a 300 mile run is a bloody long day in the saddle but of course the roads are a lot different as we tend to keep off straight roads.

Is it mostly just pottering along at 50-60 watching the scenery go by?

[Essarell]

Yes, once you’re out of the major cities the roads are pretty quiet. A good, comfortable average speed is easy to achieve. RT66 has been realigned many times over the years so it’s not always obvious if you’re on it or not, sometimes it’s a dirt track and other times it’s the Interstate.

For me my major concern would be the weather, they get some pretty major storms across the Midwest and it can go from completely benign to absolute zero visibility very quickly, luckily modern satnavs and weather apps do alert warnings which can give you a chance to get safely pulled over and let the storm pass through.

Edited by Essarell on Wednesday 19th October 18:57

[Bob_Defly]

Honestly, do the Pacific coast instead, the scenery is just stunning.