Tips For Planning A Motorcycle Trip

One of the most freeing ways to travel is via motorcycle. If you’ve never taken a Harley-Davidson® bike on a long-distance journey, you’re in for a treat! A long motorcycle trip gives you the freedom to see the country on your terms, at your own pace, while enjoying the wind in your face and the scenery around you unencumbered. However, if you don’t take the time to plan your motorcycle trip, you could run into disaster if you’re unprepared. That’s why the folks at St. Charles Harley-Davidson® have built this list of tips for planning a motorcycle trip, to ensure that you have a great time while staying safe on your next long-distance ride!

Choose Your Destination

While an aimless motorcycle trip can be fun, it’s best if you set a destination and have a loose route in mind, even if you deviate from it a bit. Figure out how much ground you’ll be able to cover in a day -- if you’re a new rider, this may be a lot less, and you might want to schedule more breaks to keep yourself from getting too fatigued. Spending your whole day riding is exhausting, so if your body isn’t accustomed to it, you could lose focus on the road ahead, which means you’re far more susceptible to getting into an accident. Having a destination allows you to plan the rest of your journey around how to get there and budget your time wisely.

Make Arrangements

You’ll want to determine where you’ll stop along your route so you can plan each day’s driving and stops. Make reservations if you need them so you aren’t roaming around in the dark when you’re tired, trying to find a place to sleep in a strange city. Remember that your stops should also include chances to eat, drink water and fuel up your motorcycle. Long stretches of road without any stops could be particularly brutal and dangerous if you allow yourself to get low on gas or run out of water in hot conditions, so plan ahead to reduce this risk.

Pack Smartly

Packing for your motorcycle trip can be challenging because not only do you not have a great deal of cargo space, you also don’t want to unbalance your bike with too much weight. Pack all the basic necessities and try to reduce weight wherever you can. Wearing a riding suit over your clothes every day can protect them from the elements and road dust, ensuring that you don’t have to bring as many changes of clothes with you. Do laundry at laundromats along your route instead of bringing too many clothes.

Get a refillable water bottle and fill it at every stop instead of packing multiple bottles. Make sure you have a first aid kit and emergency supplies like a repair kit, flashlight, radio and your phone with a charger. If you’re camping, go for lightweight and compact supplies. While you can add panniers or other forms of storage, you don’t want to unbalance your ride too much, so try to keep weight down as much as you can.

Maintain Your Motorcycle

You’ll want to keep your motorcycle in good condition before a long trip, which requires regular maintenance. You can perform plenty of minor maintenance tasks on your own with the right tools, which you’ll want to carry along with you in case of a roadside emergency. Check your tire pressure before you ride and air up your tires as necessary while looking for embedded objects, worn treads or bald spots that could necessitate tire replacement.

Make sure your lights and signals all function, test your clutch and your brakes and look over the chassis for any glaring issues. Top up fluids and get an oil change before a long journey. If you find any maintenance issues you can’t address yourself, contact the St. Charles Harley-Davidson® service department so our mechanics can get you fixed up before your next motorcycle trip!

If you’re in need of a great new or used H-D bike, come down to our showroom in St. Charles to see our wide selection of Harley-Davidson® motorcycles, both new and used. St. Charles Harley-Davidson® serves the greater St. Louis metro area as well as neighboring St. Peters, Missouri.