I've planned a couple of multi person trips....so far I've only completed trips with the Ol' Lady & I.....

Well I guess 1 trip with her, her brother, & I. Only bad thing about that trip is he was on a Honda.

 

you can try the democratic route, with everyone having a say... (usually fails miserably, with most of the talkers not showing up)
or you can just go ahead and make the plas yourself, and then send a EMAIL with planned motel stops and dates, and let everyone scramble for their own room

We have had great success on our multi-rider bike-cations.... but as noted above, most bail, as the date gets closer... it isn't you.... plan on yourself going, maybe one other person... if more come - great..... but don't hold your hand on your ***. waiting for the herd

 

Nah screw that..... Gotta treat it like a Dictatorship!!! Can’t have a bunch of chiefs and no Indians. If it’s your trip then you call the shots. Can’t have someone else back seat driving or trying to steer the group elsewhere

 

One of the best bike trips I ever took was to Reno .... I had no idea how we where getting there, or how long we where going to be there, where we were staying when we got there, how we where coming back, or how long we where taking.... I just followed at the back..... even when we went out to eat, I just waited until everyone one else ordered and got what sounded best.

 

Maybe I got the right group of riding buddies. We have 6-10 of us on a long trip every year and it has worked well for nearly 10 years in a row. Everyone is a go with the flow type guy and I send out a group text a few months before we leave and we agree on destinations as well as dates and we go. We never make reservation and figure it out in the fly which is always and adventure.
Only once or twice has someone backed out and it was for good reason.
Plan your group wisely is all I can say.

 

Sturgis 1990 trip, Just me and my ex who had flown from KC to Cali to go with me. We stopped to say by to another couple who leaving were several days later. While there here comes another couple who promptly announced they are going to Sturgis also and want to ride with me... crap. While we are debating this up pulls another buddy on a very questionable shovel with his stuff jammed in a garbage bag with 2 bungies barely holding it on the bike , he wants in to. Lovely....

Aside from my youngest brother I don't do group trips and they were determined so I laid out my plan's as I was not going direct to Sturgis from the bay area and had figured on 5 to 7 days travel wandering to get there. if they wanted to go this was what I was doing and had no plans to vary it.

1/2 a day in they are already pushing to hit a highway and haul *** direct to the Black hills and I'm on my second repair on the shovel after we redid his stuff in bag he bummed from the first couple we stopped at.

Joe the Indian and his wife ( second couple that showed up )had decided to get her preggers during the trip and we couldn't get them out of a tent till after 9 am at the earliest on a good day, she had to stop and pee about every 45 minutes while Joe got stoned.

So I got to the point I'd tell them where I was headed load up and leave, after the second time they played chase it got better. Once we hit the big country scenery like Crater Lake, Hells Canyon and the Snake River, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier and all the wandering to get to them everybody gelled up fairly well, 7 days later we pull into Sturgis and after 2 days there and they understood why I wasn't in a hurry. Even the old shovel settled down and made it. .

Left them all in Sturgis to find their own way home and I went to KC to see my kid while I was out that way.

Was my last group ride, if I do another it'll be short hops with people I've met in here. I don't do committees or drama, you wanna go with me this is what I'm doing, isn't up to debate unless you really do have a better idea.

 

I don't think I'd give the daily directions out, except to the alpha in the caboose. The others just have to be in it for the ride. Delegate one for restaurants one for bars one for hotels etc.. I've never been on one that large, could be fantastic........ Could be a train wreck.....
I'm just spitballing here.... A great trip!

 

We have had as many as 12 twice on long trip. Most of the time it is 4or 5 of us that go and no real issues. Two of us or in our 60’s and the rest early 50’s and late 40’s so when we are worn out we just stop and if they still want to ride they do a short trip in the area we stop.
We do one or two long rides every year, always 5 to 7 days

 

Me and a friend planned a ride from Western North Carolina to Buffalo NY a little over 1500 miles round trip. Several people wanted to go until morning we were to leave. Only 3 people did the ride and I enjoyed it tremendously. I had never been to Pittsburgh let alone Buffalo NY. The lead biker was an 67 year old retired Marine who had rode the route numerous times. Rules were simple, keep up and stop when I do, great trip.