Bike tour companies.

[Scotsrich]

Yeah or nay?

Has anybody done one or more?

This https://www.bigdogmotorcycletours.com/ ... cycle-tour came up on my Facebook.

Is it just as easy/cost effective to organise something yourself or have the companies got it right in that you basically just turn up with your bike.

From being on here a few years most of you just seem to do your own thing with mates which seems more fun but is this a viable alternative?

Not particularly this tour but in general.

[weeksy]

Not done one, but Mrs Weeksy and others on here use/used Flash tours and loved it...

I think the thing with tours is, they're all good days out, we've had a few days where the roads have been a bit rubbish on trips, but that's just how it is. But with an organised trip you should remove that.

One of our quite low posting members runs tours too.

[gremlin]

I've looked at organised tours of Italy, just out of curiosity, and I've always been shocked at how expensive they are compared to simply renting a bike and doing the same tour. Granted, you get the local knowledge, the best routes, and, of course, the company of other like-minded bikers.

The downside is the strict regime of it all, the lack of spontaneity and, of course, the company of other like-minded bikers.

On the whole, with the info that's available online, and real time, to your mobile device, I can't see any practical benefit to a 'sheep tour'. I'd rather be my own tour guide as I'm a font of knowledge, witty and very interesting to talk to.

[Rockburner]

I've done tours organised for free by others (eg the VD tours, and organised/led one or two myself), and have done FLASH tours, but not done any of the others.

I like the fact that the FLASH tours are based out of 1 location, so your daily riding is free of luggage and deadline concerns, and the part I like about being led by someone who knows the roads is that you simply don't care whether or not you're on the right road, you can just enjoy the riding for hours and hours.

That being said - I also like the freedom to explore if you're on your own, although I don't like the aspect of deadlines for getting places on longer touring journeys.


That Greece tour looks to be taking a fair bit of the hassle out of the planning/booking process, and it probably would be cheaper if you did it all yourself, but then you'd need to spend the time to arrange all the hotels etc which is part of what you're paying for. After a 30 second glimpse at it, I'd be tempted - but would depend a lot on the riding regime in place, (is it all big roads and riding in formation?), and the personality types involved.

Hmm - the daily trips through france aren't huge (just looking at the first 3 days), I'd be much happier doing longer days to get down to Greece quicker, personally.

[Cousin Jack]

I have been on 5 tours organiszed by 2 different companies (MSL Tours, and Magellan).

Each one good, but a slightly different approach. MSL was a while ago so may have changed, Magellan was last year.

Both booked decent hotels, some brilliant, but always acceptable. Neither expected or encouraged you to all ride together. Buggering off on a side jaunt with a mate or by yourself was more or less expected. Both had a guide, and you could just tag along with them if you wished.

MSL included some dinners together in the price, usually the first and last nights. Magellan included most dinners.

MSL gave you all info on hotels, and a broad brush outline of how to get from A to B. Magellan gave very detailed sat-nav routes that had been seriously researched. We still found that no 2 sat-navs would ever agree 100% on how to get from A to B. With both firms getting lost and found again was part of the experience.

One year I costed out what extra it cost me to use MSL, the answer was about fourpence. Booking the same hotels, ferries, etc as an individual would have cast me almost the same money, obviously they got a discount for block bookings that balanced their slice. I haven't done it with Magellan, but given that trip (Norway and Sweden) the likelihood is that I may even have saved money. Either way it saved a great deal of time and effort.

All of the tours had a mix of people , old/young, fast/slow, blokes/ladies, experienced and relative newbies. Most of us rubbed along quite well without any real issues, sometimes we rode in a big group, but more often we split into groups of 2-4 with similar riding styles. Sometimes I just buggered off for the day, I might meet some of the others along the way, or I might not. Some came with partners, some with mates, and a fair few like me just came alone.

My advice to anyone is just research the company, most give a pretty fair idea of what sort of hotels and what sort of mileage they do. Pick one that matches what you want and you will be fine.

[Bigyin]

Always done my own thing mainly organised/led by that ginger ex squaddie from local rides, to IOM, Wales, Lakes, Scotland and then Norway as well. Other trips i have done on my own into Europe as my idea of daily mileage doesnt seem to coincide with the organised tour companies as i only stop for food and fuel

I know there is a company who use BMW's that McSatans missus (ex traffic Inspector) is a guide for and it was suggested that i did some work for them but unlike my ex missus, who didnt care if i was at home or not, the current missus would rather me at home more regularly rather than me fucking off on the bike for weeks at a time as a job so that was a non starter

I looked at Eagle tours in the US for a possible trip along the west coast but the costs were high for a small period of time

[Whysub]

Have done Flash a few times now, including once with Visordown (resultant mayhem ensued!) and once where I organised a group to go.

Tony's a nice guy, great rider, and at the three accidents that occurred on the trips I went on, dealt with the emergency services. The routes are very good, as are the coffee stops and lunch stops.

When I first went, the £ was worth €1.55, but now it is €1.09, it has become expensive.

[Cousin Jack]

I looked at Eagle tours in the US for a possible trip along the west coast but the costs were high for a small period of time

I looked at them too, but looked away quickly when I saw the price. IIRC they also wanted everyone to ride in a group, and obey the rules set by the 'road captain'. That made it a no-no for me.

[MikeInTaiwan2]

For those of you who were looking at EagleRider, I've got a deal for you!

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High end choice:

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[Slenver]

Horses for courses really - I guess it depends what you want to get out of it.

I'd say the main factors are risk, time spent planning, cost, sociability, amount of freedom/control. If you want to fit the most in without things likely to go wrong and don't mind an obvious increase in cost and reduction in control then I imagine an organised tour could be great, especially if meeting other people is something you'd like to get out of it.

But clearly for some, doing your own thing and being in complete control is the only way of getting a proper adventure. There's more planning to be done, things are more likely to go wrong in some way and it's almost certainly going to be much more challenging, but maybe that's what it's all about?

That said, things are so much easier these days. It wasn't all that long ago that a big trip involved asking around any of your mates for advice, buying a map and heading off in the rough direction. You could pretty much plan any route via street view and then follow GPS these days. AND you'll probably get 3G reception if you fall off

[MikeInTaiwan2]

Any takers foe the EagleRider rental days?