Motorcycle Destinations

Evans Off Camber - Sturgis 2016 Wrap-up

Anyone who has attended a large-scale rally will tell you that there is a certain point, after the front wheel has turned for home, that a feeling of emptiness can set in, a sensation, as the events of the past few days pass out of sight in your mirrors, that can call into question your very reason for being. OK, not really, but I’ve spent hours reminiscing about a rally as the miles rolled by underneath me on my way home. So, grab your gear and take a virtual ride home with me.

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Riding The Edge Of Ontario

These days, every tourism board and region under the sun seems to have a route designed for motorcycle riders. That’s a good thing – but do all of them really go the extra mile for the rider? Or are they just taking a shortcut to get motorcyclists to plop down their hard-earned cash at motels, restaurants and gas stations?

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28 Days on the Road Around Lake Superior

In 2004 the TV miniseries Long Way Round was released and totally changed the world’s perceptions about motorcycle trips. Were people doing insanely long trips before Long Way Round? Of course. But Long Way Round brought this idea to the whole world, not just motorcycle nuts.

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Touring Ontario's Highlands

If I were given free reign to design the perfect motorcycle route to suit my riding style and personal travel tastes, it would include wide-open roads free from traffic and stop lights, with each unique route connecting distinctive small towns with local charm and friendly people with a total lack of pretension. Well, lo and behold, I recently discovered that such a place actually exists – less than three hours from my home in the mind-numbing colonial grid of southern Ontario that often proves to be a frustrating experience for a motorcyclist.

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Out and About on the Isle of Man 2015: Part 2

The 2015 Isle of Man TT festival has been a corker. McGuinness, Hutchinson, Anstey and a host of up and coming riders set lap records and made history. And to cap it, the island has bathed in near-perfect weather. Save for a few days in practice week where the a storm and the misty ‘Cloak of Mannanan’ descended upon the island, wreaking havoc with riders, campers and race organizers, we have been blessed with sunny, warm Northern California-esque conditions for virtually the entire meet.

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Out and About on the Isle of Man

It takes a few days to settle in after landing on the Isle of Man for the TT races. This is the result of jet lag, the overwhelming assault on the senses that the races provide, and of course, late evenings in the pubs. The best way to clear the head is to get on a motorbike and tour this magical island. I wrote about it last year, and after eight IOM visits and many miles, the absolute pleasure of riding here is undiminished.

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Touring South Africa By Motorcycle

Neale Bayly is one of the most laudable motorcyclists we know. He’s not only a talented rider, an accomplished journalist and a TV personality, he’s also an admirable philanthropist who donates much of his time and efforts into helping needy and disadvantaged people. His philanthropic endeavors began in South America and were highlighted in Neale Bayly Rides: Peru in 2013.

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Great Places to Ride: Healdsburg, California

Well it looks like I drew the short straw again. Most of the other MOites have young kids and/or needful spouses which all provide convenient excuses, so I was the guy who’d have to ride the BMW R1200RT (MO’s Sport-Tourer of 2014) up to Healdsburg, an hour north of San Francisco, for a chamber of commerce-sponsored junket where I’d have to spend several days riding around sampling the area’s finest wines and haute cuisine with a bunch of foodies and wine snobs. Why me, Lord?

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Vroom: The Art of the Motorcycle

Okay, we gotta admit it’s a tiny bit macabre to find a stellar group of antique, vintage and high-performance motorcycles on display at a cemetery, literally the last place a bike fan wants to visit. But, there was lively reasoning behind the appearance of 13 “celebrity” two-wheelers at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, the 1906 historic landmark located in Glendale, CA. The museum, part of the 300 acre property since 1957, has previously offered a wide variety of exhibits as they are “committed to enriching the community through the educational and entertaining presentation of artwork that focuses on history, culture or religion.”

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A Honda Runs Through It

This original Motorcycle.com editorial content was sponsored by American Honda.

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Great Places to Ride: Nebraska Sandhills

Nebraska probably isn’t the first place you think about when it’s time for a nice motorcycle ride. Maybe that’s what makes it such a cool destination: Neither does anybody else.

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Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum

If you didn’t already know it was there, you’d never know it was there. The brick retail/office courtyard suggests maybe a cheese shop, an insurance agency or a jewelry store. Or a Brooks Brothers clothing store, which it once was.

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The Wings Tour 2014: Leg Two

This original Motorcycle.com editorial content was sponsored by American Honda.

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The Wings Tour 2014: Leg One

This original Motorcycle.com editorial content was sponsored by American Honda.

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Isle of Man TT: Cool and Unusual Motorcycles

The Isle of Man TT has seen great growth over the last several years, and visitor figures suggest TT 2014 is the most successful since the centenary festival in 2007. Steam Packet boats will have carried more than 12,000 motorbikes and about 40,000 passengers to the island during the past two and a half weeks.

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Off The Grid on the Isle of Man

Not five miles away from where I sit on a small bench overlooking the beautiful, fly fishing-friendly Injebreck Reservoir in the village of Baldwin on the Isle of Man, tens of thousands of visitors are here for the TT. They fill the pubs, crowd the stores, and rip around the Mountain Course at up to 150 mph on their motorbikes. Yet, all I can hear is the bleating of sheep.

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Cruising to Key West

There predictably comes a time each and every year when my feelings toward the cold greyness of the winter season transition from mere apathy and disdain to pure, unadulterated loathing. The timing may vary from year to year, but the record-breaking plethora of snow and sub-zero temperatures this particular winter had me climbing the walls and looking to escape Mother Nature’s icy wrath before I went postal.

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Great Places to Ride: Washington County, Texas

My favorite thing to do on motorcycles used to be see how fast I could fly through places like Texas. Lately the theme seems to have shifted to understanding that the motorcycle is the perfect vehicle for getting from one interesting place to the next within a given geographic area. Maybe the cruiser crowd has always known that? As it turns out, there are a lot of interesting places in Texas within an hour or two of Houston’s George Bush International Airport.

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A Motorcycle Adventure for the Uninitiated + Video

Just because the likes of Ferdinand Magellan and Christopher Columbus helped map the world and make this big blue marble feel so much smaller and accessible than it did hundreds of years ago doesn’t mean the age of the explorer is over. But the job description has changed. It’s no longer about exploring completely unknown regions. Rather, it’s about simply sharing experiences that may seem unattainable for the masses and making them feel very much within reach for the motivated.

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Glamorous Glamis

Among the many things I still didn’t know about riding motorcycles is that you can get stuck riding downhill.

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Motorcycling in Vietnam

Strolling into the scorching day market in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam there was a vendor selling old American G.I. Zippo lighters from the war. I picked up a rusty one and had a look at its engraving, “Vietnam is the land that God forgot, but we were there, and we remember.” It was a small moment, but it would ring in my head throughout my ride in Vietnam.

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The Unforgettable Beauty of Ontario's Algoma Country

My adventure into Ontario‘s Algoma Country began very close to the spot where Rock legend Neil Young’s journey once ended – near Blind River off of the epic Highway 17.

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Four Moto Journalists Ride the Edge in Ontario – Video

This fall I was invited to ride a newly created motorcycle route in the Explorers’ Edge region of Ontario, Canada, with three other riders.

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Lake Superior Circle Tour 2.0

Faithful readers of Motorcycle.com may recall reading how much I enjoyed completing the Lake Superior Circle Tour last summer aboard the BMW K1600GTL. After deciding to take a much needed vacation and ride rather than fly to Harley-Davidson’s recent 110th birthday celebrations in Milwaukee, I figured there would be no better way to decompress than to revisit the greatest of the Great Lakes – this time on a 2013 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Limited.

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Motorcycle Riding in Toronto

This fall, I borrowed a Street Triple from Triumph Canada to ride the streets of Toronto, Ontario in a desperate bid to figure out how to enjoy this city on two wheels. (And yes, as the photos attest it rained on me the whole time. I’m that dedicated.)

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Escape The Apple: Part 12 – Video

The Northwestern United States has made it abundantly clear that its motorcycling culture is dominated by the adventure segment. Every BMW F800 and KTM 690 Enduro rider has bestowed upon us their wisdom of riding without a chase vehicle and letting the excitement of the ride dictate the adventure.

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Northwestern Ontario: The Motorcycle Valhalla

The Vikings believed Valhalla was a warrior Heaven where only the greatest and noblest of fallen warriors went. It was a place where the most honorable became immortal and sat with the God Odin. Well, if there was a motorcycle Valhalla full of only the greatest and noblest of rides, worthy of Odin himself, who probably rides a chopper with ram horns, then I feel confident in saying several of the roads in Northwestern Ontario reside there.

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Escape the Apple: Part 11 – Video

While the triumph of Idaho may have been unexpected, Oregon is truly the best kept secret in sport riding. If it wasn’t the riders in surrounding states warning us of jail time for speeding, it was the lack of route information that almost had us slabbing straight to Northern California. It wasn’t until we started talking to some local sport riders at the gas stations, situated few and far between, that we realized the benefit of having some insider knowledge.

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Escape The Apple: Part 10 - Video

If someone told me that the best sport riding in the West was going to be in Idaho, I would have laughed, called them crazy, and booked my ticket to Colorado. Yes, the scenery in some of the other states will attract attention with Facebook posts showing pictures of incredible twisting roads scaling epic mountains, but this trip is for true riders, not just bragging rights between friends. This is for the kind of riders who would rather get after it on a racetrack with a blurred desert than look over a cliff on a weather-beaten switchback while the bike strains for air at 12,000 feet.

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More Important Than the Destination: A Return Journey From Sturgis

Within Wyoming lies some of America’s finest roads and scenery. As home to both the first National Park in our system as well as the landmark made famous as a hidden spaceport in the 1970’s classic Close Encounter, Devil’s Tower. Mountain peaks to grassy plains, cowboys to Indians, this state is quite remarkable and worthy of a circumnavigation tour before heading South to home.

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Escape The Apple: Part 9 – Video

If you are looking to experience all types of America’s riding in one state, Utah is your destination. We started at Utah Lake State Park, which is centrally located three hours from the barren red desert of Moab and an hour from the green forest-covered mountains of the Nebo and Alpine Loops. In between the two extreme environments lie classic desert plains, which lead to the fascinating flats of Bonneville. Just north is the city of Salt Lake. If you are traveling from outside of the States and want to see the entire American backdrop in one week, nothing compares to the diversity of Utah.

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Escape The Apple: Part 8 – Video

One week in Colorado just wasn’t enough, and if I have to blame it on the average 19 mph uphill speed of our truck and a long detour through Wyoming’s Route 80 to avoid the mountain passes of I-70, then so be it. But ask anyone riding a motorcycle here, and they’ll agree we made the right decision. With the idea that some of us might decide to call this place our post-adventure home, a second week gave us a chance to experience everything that Colorado has to offer. No flukes or honeymoon effects here, just real, raw Colorado.

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More Important Than the Destination: A Journey to Sturgis

The Black Hills Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD, is the only place I want to be each August. The ride there, however, should not be overlooked. So load your saddlebags with gear, your smartphone with a few helpful apps and clear your camera’s memory cards, there’s a ton of America to see along the way. Kickstands up boys and girls, lets ride!

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Experience Pocahontas County – West Virginia's Best Treasure

Waking from a restful night’s sleep, I could have been in the Garden of Eden. There was a sense of complete peace. The fresh, crisp air carried delightful bird serenades. A mist hung over the serene valley as the sun began to peak over the ancient mountains. Everything was green, lush and bursting with life. All was well. I had to bring myself back to the present and remember I was at The Inn at Mountain Quest, in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, with my motorcycle parked outside my door.

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Escape the Apple: Part 1 – Video


This is the first installment of “Escape the Apple,” an idea hatched by Eric Guidice who, at 28, decided he needed to take an epic motorcycle road trip to disengage from the drudgery of normal life. Click this link to read the setup to this nine-part series that will be seen on
Motorcycle.com.

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"Escape The Apple" Road Trip
Neale Bayly Rides: Peru
Visiting The Harley-Davidson Museum

Every year since 1915, Harley-Davidson has put aside one example of each of its models. Call it foresight on behalf of the founders, but today we’re glad they did. It may be hard to believe, but prior to 2008, all of these bikes, along with other historical remnants of the company’s past, had been spread out between H-D’s corporate office, dealerships, private collections and even sheds tucked away in rural America. Sadly, but inevitably, some pieces have also been lost to father time.

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Visiting The Harley-Davidson Museum
Trail Bike Riding in Ontario
Ride the Wild Side in Northwest Ontario

Northwest Ontario stretches from the north shore of Lake Superior in the east to the Manitoba border in the west; from the Rainy River in the south to Hudson’s Bay in the North. As you’d imagine, the geography changes drastically from place to place. And so many of these places are just a joy to ride.

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Top Five Motorcycle Roads in Ontario's Highlands
Weekend Bucket List: Explorer's Edge, Temiskaming Loop, and Algoma Country

Explorer’s Edge

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Deus Ex Machina - Video

“It’s more of an idea rather than one specific thing,” says Julian Heppekausen, General Manager for Deus North America.

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Off-Road Riding In Toronto's Backyard - Video

Fortunately, I finally became acquainted with the Ganaraska Forest and its surprisingly vast network of trails when Honda Canada invited Motorcycle.com to ride its new CRF250L dual-sport motorcycle in the fall.

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Inside Deus Ex Machina

When not riding his 1973 Triumph T120V, General Manager Julian Heppekausen says Deus “Is all based around creating a family and community around the business, and everyone having a good time while sharing that culture.” One way Deus creates this culture is frequently orchestrating a variety of bike-oriented/pop culture events. This particular one, the “Sound and Vision Vintage Swapmeet,” focused on bringing together fans and vendors of vintage music and photography.

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Lake Superior Circle Tour

Lake Superior is the subject of perhaps the most famous Canadian ballad of all time, Gordon Lightfoot’s song about an ill-fated ship named the Edmund Fitzgerald and its 29 crew members warns of the peril such a treacherous body of water can hold. Measuring 82,103 square kilometres, it is the largest fresh water lake in the world and reaches 1,333 feet at its deepest point. While she can be vengeful when angry, she is also the source of unparalleled beauty. Spanning thousands of kilometres through three states and one hell of a big province, I was most certainly interested but it would take some planning and most of all, time.  After booking a week’s vacation and a BMW K1600GTL a month in advance, I finally set off during the first week of July to enjoy some long days on the open road and warm nights by the water.

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Exploring Northeastern Ontario and Watching a World Record Fall - Video

But take a second look at the location of the drag-race, on the Elk Lake loop of the Lake Temiskaming motorcycle tour, and it suddenly becomes clear that this event, like so many in Northern Ontario, is another great reason to ride out. The Temiskaming Loop, and it’s little sister, the Elk Lake Loop, make up one of my favorite rides in the province, maybe the whole world. The loop treats riders to the boreal forest, dotted with lakes and rivers on the Ontario side, and spectacular vistas of rolling farmland on the Quebec side framed by Lake Temiskaming.

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The Georgian Bay Circle Tour

Whether your first excursion of the season, or possibly ever, there are certain essentials that one should aim to achieve. The ideal first roadtrip shouldn’t be too ambitious but should still involve travelling a decent enough distance to get outside of your area code and comfort zone – the weekly ride to Starbucks doesn’t count.

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Ride Manitoulin - A Road for Every Rider

Our voyage began in earnest in Espanola, on Highway Six, which is one of the regions great roads and makes the ride over all that much nicer. On our way to the swing bridge to Little Current, we passed the legendary Willisville Mountain Road, which we declined to ride this time around. If you’re into some really technical riding, try this short ride before heading over to the island – it follows the contours of the mountain, around to the tiny town of Willisville and is quite an adventure.

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2012 Bikers Reunion Report - Video

Determined to attend the Bikers Reunion again, I braved 500+ miles to get from the Soo to New Liskeard just to sample a bit of this monster biker event in the North, and I couldn’t be happier that I did. I had a great riding partner in Roger Parsons from Motorcycle Mojo magazine, and we even re-discovered a great shortcut that Roger claims could rival another one of Ontario’s legendary motorcycle roads, Elephant Lake road. The route we found also shaved 60 miles off our trip from the Soo to New Liskeard making me doubly happy to announce Highway 64 from Field to Marten River as one of my new favorite roads in the province.

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Dirt Biking in the Shadow of the Laurentian Mountains - Video

Ontario is a dirt biker’s paradise, with a range of great opportunities for off-road goodness – everything from gravel roads outside the cities centers, to complex wooded trails systems maintained by local clubs.

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Riding West Virginia's Pocahontas County

There’s an endless list of reasons why it’s becoming a magnet for bikers of all kinds – from sport to dual-sport to cruisers and touring bikes.

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In Living Color: Exploring Ontario's Grey Bruce Region

Due to the fact that the climate can be somewhat unpredictable, I decided not to venture too far away from home and kept an eye on the weather forecast. Thankfully Ontario has no shortage of motorcycle-friendly roads to explore so there were plenty of options right in my own backyard. Having heard many stories about the beauty of Tobermory but never having the opportunity to see it in person, I decided to head northbound to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula and experience it for myself. Upon referencing http://www.greybruceescape.ca/, I planned my accommodations and used the Bruce Adventure Passport stops, Waterfall and lighthouse tours as vague destinations to stop, stretch my legs and learn a little about the areas I was visiting.

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Ontario's Motorcycle Trip Planner a Cut Above [Video]

While there are dozens of motorcycle trip planners all over the internet, Ontario's taken plenty of steps to make sure they're doing it right.

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Bikers Reunion 2011

This kind of hospitality was not limited to our hosts at the hotel, but pretty much everywhere we went while we were in town for the Bikers Reunion. Now in its 13th year, the Bikers Reunion is a unique event that attracts a different kind of rider. For starters, it takes place in New Liskeard which is a long way off the beaten path which immediately excludes your custom cruisers, sportbikes and fair-weather Nancies from making the trek. Located more than 300 miles North of Toronto, the lion’s share of attendees rode into town on two-wheelers that were no stranger to long hauls like Gold Wings and Electra Glides, myself included.

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Ottawa Valley Motorcycle Adventure [Video]

This June, Ottawa Valley Tourism Association worked with Go Ride Ontario and Trillium Motorcycle Tours and Events to organize a five-day women’s tour through the Ottawa Valley and Algonquin Park. I had the good fortune to play in the Ottawa Valley with seven friends, each on brand new motorcycles generously provided by Deeley Harley-Davidson, BMW Motorrad Canada and Honda Canada.

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Following the Champlain Route - North Bay to Ottawa

Mayor Al MacDonald, an avid rider and Harley-Davidson aficionado, warmly welcomed us as we rolled into the parking lot. Although the restaurant’s exterior is non-descript, crossing the threshold takes you into another time. Set on the shore of Trout Lake, the view is gorgeous, peaceful and relaxing – and they serve delicious food as well. The welcome mat is out for bikers and it’s a perfect place to unwind from a morning – or day of riding.

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Women Riders Tour in Northern Ontario [Video]

This June, Ottawa Valley Tourism Association worked with Go Ride Ontario and Trillium Motorcycle Tours and Events to organize a five-day women’s tour through the Ottawa Valley and Algonquin Park. Motorcycles were generously provided by Deeley Harley-Davidson, BMW Motorrad Canada and Honda Canada.

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Quebec Maritime: An Unforgettable Motorcycle Destination

The American Southwest is loaded with picturesque riding spots, but if you happen to live in the Northeast you could be looking at a 3,000-mile ride just to get there. If you’re searching for a unique and thrilling destination, consider Québec maritime – it’s closer than you think.

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