true dat!!

 

BC canada, roads, mountains the lakes the ocean are awesome, never mind the hot woman, great beer and friend folks. O yes Pamlea Anderson born on Vancouver island BC. She is another canadian that says" EH." never mind other sexy woman in hollywood from BC Canada. USA rocks too but the beer and woman are better here.

 

I can't believe nobody told him to bring the chains for his tires, since we have snow year round....and to watch for the "Eskimos Crossing" signs .

But seriously, I think the guys covered about all of it. Yes, helmet laws apply in all Provinces. And yes, the 401 from Windsor to just west of Toronto is a real boring stretch of highway, but there are a couple nice alternate routes, depending where you are heading to....for example, since you are crossing through Detroit, when you get into Windsor, just go south down Highway 20, then east on Highway 3- not a bad secondary highway, runs along Lake Erie, and waaay better than the 401, so long as your not in a hurry.

Let us know where you plan on travelling, and I and others can suggest some nice roads, and probably meet up and buy you one of those great Canadian beers you've heard about

 

Oh ya, and like most States, watch for deer at night time, but there are no Moose in Southern Ontario.

 

They don't in the US either. But they will want to kiss you after you pay them for their overpriced t-shirts and labor and don't even complain.

 

Yeah when you stand in line at the border crossing you will find out how hot a Harley gets just standing there. I found out that at Buffalo this past summer

 

Don't know how your or your buddies bikes are setup, but law enforcement seemed to be sticklers on handlebar height when we went through. 15" off the seat is the regulation. the have the right not to let you go until you fix the issue so they said. And wouldn't you know it, after following us for 10 miles, lights came on to pull us over once we drove into a downpoor. 3 bikes with 16" apes and one with 12" no tickets were issued but...

Adam

 

OK pay attention , cause this is real important. I can't believe one of my fellow Ontarians hasn't mentioned this yet.
Up here in Ontario, we have a law against racing and stunting.
If they clock you at 50kms over the posted limit (30 miles an hour) they will impound your bike for two weeks and issue you a mandatory $2,000 fine. No ifs, no buts, no maybes, this law is zero tolerance, period!
If they catch you doing a burnout on a public road way, same thing.
Stunting, wheelies etc.
It sucks, but it is what it is.

 

Hey you will have a great time but remember no guns! Only the criminals are allowed guns up there.

 

Great advice. Sorry if I repeat some of it here.

Don't drink and ride. The impaired limit is 0.08, but if they catch you at 0.05 they can impound your bike and possibly detain you. Our beer tends to have more alcohol than your's so drink accordingly.

The advice about Toronto is good. Its always "rush hour" in Toronto and most of the suburbs too. The weekends are you best bet for sight-seeing, but expect many of the roads to be jammed in the morning and again in the late afternoon even on the weekend.

Chances are you won't see any RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). The Mounties do not have a large presence in Southern Ontario and don't patrol the highways. You will see OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) on the 401 highway and most "400 class" highways. The 400 class are multi-lane, controlled access highways that are all numbered in the 400's (think interstate). In larger towns and citys you will mostly see municipal police - OPP in smaller towns.

If you are in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) watch out for the 407 highway. Its an electronic toll highway so there's no toll boths. There are cameras that will shoot your plate as you enter and exit and they send you a bill in the mail. Your State may have an agreement to support the bill so you probably can't just ignore it. The 407 is the most expensive toll road in the world - you may not want to pay that much. The problem is that its the best way to get across the top of the city. When everything else is bunged up the 407 is still moving. The good news is that if you have a tourpak on your bike the camera won't be able to read your plate and that's perfectly legal.

As mentioned, the cops don't bother bikes here unless you do something to draw attention (lots of them ride too). Don't wear colors unless you want attention from them (HOG doesn't count). Don't make eccessive noise. At least one "touristy" area frequented by bikes has passed a noise by-law. If you are street-legal you are probably OK. If you are running straight pipes you may get pulled over and fined. Don't ride next to each other in the same lane (only cops can do that). Ride staggered. Technically its illegal to use earphones for music while on a bike here. You are allowed to use one earphone and for communication purposed only. I've never heard of someone getting pulled over for that, but why tempt fate? Your bike has to have a light illuminating the plate. If you are riding a custom, make sure you have an illuminated plate.

Make sure you don't have red lights for turn signals on the front of your bike. On the back is OK, but only approved emergency vehicles like police and fire trucks can have red lights on the front.

Helmets are required everywhere.

Change your money to CDN before you get here or use ATMs to get CDN while you are here. You could also use your credit cards. Most businesses will give you exchange for your USD but most of them will rip you off because they don't want to be bothered to do the math.

Toronto is an expensive city. You can pay a fortune for a hotel downtown, but there are some deals to be found. Do your homework. There are some neighborhoods that are dangerous at night. Ya we're all happy furry little creatures of the North, but trust me, we have thugs too.

Windsor is a fun city at night. We call it Sin City (North). But the 401 highway between Windsor and Toronto is, as others have pointed out, very boring. Its a lousy 4-hour ride of straight highway and lousy drivers. Did I mention, drivers in Southern Ontario and the GTA suck? Don't assume that they see you or will stay our of your lane. Drive defensively.

Before you get near the Niagara region look up Port Dover (Lake Erie). Its the home of a huge bike event called "Friday the 13th" and a bike-friendly town at any time. I recommend you follow the lake from Port Dover to Niagara Falls and then on to Niagara By The Lake. Nice little ride with great views of the Niagara river and gorge.

There are lots of bike-friendly towns, restaurants and hangouts in Southern Ontario. Do your research before coming up and you will have lots to do. Tell the forum where you are going to be and when you are going to be there and you will get lots of good advice about things to do (or things to avoid).

The second bit of advice about French was right. Chances are that unless you go to Quebec, you will not hear French spoken. You will see French and English on all packaging (and highway signs), but that's because its the law. If you go to Quebec and don't speak French you will be OK. Most Quebecers you will meet speak at least some English. Some of them resent anglo-Canadians who go there and make no effort to learn the French language, but they are generally very friendly people and always welcome non-Canadians who don't speak French. I've got some great French-speaking friends and between us we don't know how to have a converstaion together.

Our favorite coffee shop is Tim Horton's. Ribaldmanikin mentioned them. They are everywhere. Everywhere! You will find Starbucks and other shops too, but not as many. If you want to fit in, don't call Tim Horton's "Tim Horton's", call it "Timmie's".

Southern Ontario during the summer is hot and humid - especially near the lakes. It often gets into the high 30's, which is well over 100, so be prepared. When it is a hot and humid day, it will probably develop into a thunderstorm in the late afternoon. It will pass in about an hour and be nice again.

You don't have to say "eh" at the end of every sentence, but we get a kick out of it if you think you do, so go ahead eh.

Have fun. Enjoy your stay eh.