Eaglerider Canada and Yellowstone Motorcycle Tour - Guided Motorcycle Tour

[learnin4life]

Thinking about signing up for this tour next summer and had 2 questions. First, have any of you guys ever participated in an eaglerider sponsored guided tour, and if yes, did you feel it was a good experience? Second, my wife and I are thinking about shipping our gear, i.e., helmets, leathers, etc.to a motel at the starting location, rather than rent or try to take them on the plane. How have the experienced long distance riders, that have flown to the starting point handled their gear?

This tour is going to cost about $10K for us both, so I want to gather as much helpful info as possible before taking the plunge.

Oh, this will be my wife's first long distance ride so we wanted to be with a group, and have some greater structure to the ride than a self guided tour would offer.

 

[MCRIDER007]

I looked at the tour you are interested in and it is a very nice route that I have done several times but am surprised at how many really short riding days are involved, a few in some pretty remote areas. I think you will find most of your riding partners will be from Europe and you either are going to spend a lot of time at stops or break out on your own and meet the group at the hotel. You could easily rent a bike and do the trip on your own for half the cost.

 

[Fontanaman]

Before doing this take you wife on a 3 or 4 day ride locally. There are some great roads in the Blue Ridge Mountains and wonderful sights to see in North Carolina and Tennessee. Look up ride reports on this forum posted by forum member Georgiaroller. He has great ride reports that provide inspiration.

The idea is make sure riding for 7 to 10 days at 250 miles per day is something your wife wants to do. This maybe your cup of tea but not hers.

Being in a group maybe detrimental for you and your wife. For instance you'd have to keep up with the group and you may get stuck with people you may or may not get along with. You could find place along the way you want to stay yet the next day you must be another 250 miles down the road.

I have never been riding with a touring company in the US or Canada. Discovery is part of the fun and there is plenty of information on this forum for ride ideas and good times. Most folks on this forum would ride from the east coast to Yellowstone in about 4 days.

I rented a BMW in Arizona for a couple days in Nov 2008 and shipped my gear to the rental place. That worked fine.

If you fly SWA you can pack your gear as 4 bags will fly free. Take you helmets on board. I did last month when I road with forum member Beemberdons.

At 10k for a week or so I presume you are renting a bike. Shipping a bike back and forth would be about $1600 then you could ride your own bike, a bonus indeed. It takes time to learn a new bike and ride it well.

If time is tight rent a bike in Montana. You could get a BMW R1200RT for about $300/day say in Missoula or rent the bike from EagleRider then go for a ride. Forum members will give you routes and ride ideas and you will have a ball.

Let's see 7 days at $300 a day is $2100 - heck ship your bike to a forum member and save some dough.

By the way I would not go near Yellowstone after the 3rd week in June. It is flipping zoo. Instead go to Glacier National park about the first week of July and ride the Going to the Sun Highway. Then ride to Lake Louise in Canada, then on over to Jasper. Along the way you will ride along Icefield Parkway and have a ball. Also check out riding to the Hotsprings in BC Canada. Just ride to the different Hotsprings. You can't go wrong.

If you want or need advice on routes I am full if ideas as I have been to many of the good roads in BC.

 

[learnin4life]

You guys have provided great feedback, and serious food for thought. I showed your replies to my wife, and she agreed that even though she had been enthusiastic about the idea, the prospect of riding several hundred miles on back to back days for a couple of weeks gave her pause. I had reservations myself about her endurance, so this helped very much bring the point home.

The new short term plan is to take a few multiple day rides closer to home to determine endurance levels. In fact we may spend this summer touring around the east to evaluate how multiple days of travel work for her.

Interestingly, the prospect of having Europeans on the trip would be very interesting. My wife is much more social than me, so I'm sure we could find common ground for discussions over the course of the trip. Me, I just like to ride, eat, and sleep. and if I run into interesting folks along the way so much the better.

Anyway, thanks for the ideas and suggestions. I'll take the advice to look through the past posts for some good trips.

 

[FastSpy]

By the way I would not go near Yellowstone after the 3rd week in June. It is flipping zoo. Instead go to Glacier National park about the first week of July and ride the Going to the Sun Highway. Then ride to Lake Louise in Canada, then on over to Jasper. Along the way you will ride along Icefield Parkway and have a ball.

Having had the opportunity to visit every national park in the USA including those mentioned in Alberta I would also highly recommend following the above suggestion. Days in late fall might be entertaining in Yellowstone but July and August are going to leave you with a "never again" result.

 

[canucklehead-biker]

Nice route. Seems a bit on the pricey side though. I agree with Mcride... some short days, so lotsa rubber-necking seems to be on the agenda.

I would pack the riding gear and bring it with you on the plane. Bring your helmet as a carry-on. I've done that before, no issues at all.

How big are the groups? I'm not a fan of parades - 2 or 3 other bikes is as much as I can stand. You may want to see if they have a self-guided option where they do some of the logistics but you do the navigating. Afterall, it's North America... not like you'll need a guide to translate for you.

Griff

 

[Willie]

I think if you ship your bike to someplace like Salt Lake City, you will save yourself some bucks. I have done that twice from Mass. I found renting a bike from Eagle rather pricey, they would not guarantee that I would get a bike of my choice, so I shipped ours.

I used these guys and was happy with the results. https://www.funtransport.com/

Just a thought

Willie

 

[Fontanaman]

And if Seattle is on your radar you can ship your bike to my house, stay the night or so, then head out on your adventure. Jasper and the Canadian Rockies is a 2 day ride from Seattle and along the way you will see some wonderful places and ride great roads.

 

[Spud]

I guess I'll disagree about not going into Yellowstone in the summer. Yes, it's a zoo, literally. But it's actually fantastic on a motorcycle if you aren't in a hurry. Incredible scenery, wild bufallo walking down the roads right past you, etc. Yeah, it's slow going, but enjoyable. I rode through the park probably 10x last summer (it's in my "backyard") and you just get used to going 35mph and chill.

As for the big picture, my opinion would be to self-guide a trip. With some planning and practice runs, as suggested, you could get the plan together pretty easily. Plenty of riders on here could give you suggestions for lodging, etc.

 

[learnin4life]

Thanks guys I appreciate your feedback. Stepping up with your ideas and experience is what this site is about.

 

[NightShine]

... Incredible scenery, wild bufallo walking down the roads right past you, etc. ...

You mean like this? (North Rim of the Grand Canyon - and no traffic to speak of mid-summer):