How many miles per day when touring?
Thread Starter
|
Tourer
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 368
Likes: 22
From: southwest Iowa
How many miles per day when touring?
Wife and I are planning our first long ride. Probably week or so. Always had metric cruisers before our Ultra so we didn't do anything more than overnight trips. Trying to plan a little; so how many miles do you seasoned tourers ride per day? What would be a good number to shoot for per day for a first multi-day ride? We are going to stay off interstates as well. Thanks for everyone's thoughts.
Advanced
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 74
Likes: 0
From: Bay Area, CA
You should comfortably be able to put together 300-400 a day. I do 250 a day on my Street Glide 2-up, without a passenger (or rider) backrest and with the stock seat (fine for me, miserable for passenger).
I stepped onto an Ultra for about 5 minutes and was amazed at how comfortable it was in comparison to my Street Glide.
I stepped onto an Ultra for about 5 minutes and was amazed at how comfortable it was in comparison to my Street Glide.
Tourer
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 447
Likes: 3
From: North TX
If you are doing lots of sight seeing I would stay under 300 miles per day. The group I ride with all of the women start complaining over that. They would prefer to keep it to 250 but that never works out.
When we are just going point to point I know my wife's limit is about 375. She starts complaining at 350 and gets really grumpy at 400.
When we are just going point to point I know my wife's limit is about 375. She starts complaining at 350 and gets really grumpy at 400.
Tourer
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 491
Likes: 1
From: Northern VT
This is a tough question because you're talking about taking back roads. 300 miles of riding each day on back roads would be a lot to me. You should do whatever is most comfortable for you and your wife. I plan my routes in advance (each night) and I pretty much know how far we have to go. There's a lot of variables when traveling 2 up...how often does you or wife need to stop? Try to plan on stopping sometime mid afternoon (4-5pm)...this gives you time to unwind before dinner. I don't always plan my riding by miles either....whatever time you feel like stopping should be a good amount of miles. Don't get caught up in distances. We generally priceline our hotels each night..so that's the reason for planning our routes and gaging our distances. 1 more suggestion....I always slab (interstate) to get where I'm going..then generally ride the back roads once we get to where we are going...but this all depends on the time you have. Have fun and be safe
Advanced
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 63
Likes: 0
From: oregon
hey jjkrueg....
the the time it takes to drive the same amount of miles in different states is.... well different. in the state of Oregon on the back hwy roads with lots of winding twisting roads is about 350 a day.... but you aint even trying to go anywhere if you aint putting on 500 miles a day in the state of Nevada with roads that are stright and flat and have a speed limit of 70mph.... but of course the biggest factor is ur wifes pee breaks or my *** hurts breaks... hahaha all that equals more stops and less miles and dont forget p.p.p.p.p. proper planing prevents poor performance... so knowing ur wifes stopping needs will be very important.... along with the type of roads youll be driving... hint.... shooting for 300 or less a day with lots of stopping time and a motel with a pool ...... haha living is good
the the time it takes to drive the same amount of miles in different states is.... well different. in the state of Oregon on the back hwy roads with lots of winding twisting roads is about 350 a day.... but you aint even trying to go anywhere if you aint putting on 500 miles a day in the state of Nevada with roads that are stright and flat and have a speed limit of 70mph.... but of course the biggest factor is ur wifes pee breaks or my *** hurts breaks... hahaha all that equals more stops and less miles and dont forget p.p.p.p.p. proper planing prevents poor performance... so knowing ur wifes stopping needs will be very important.... along with the type of roads youll be driving... hint.... shooting for 300 or less a day with lots of stopping time and a motel with a pool ...... haha living is good
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 10,788
Likes: 2,222
From: Texas
In the past year I have done as little as 250 miles in a day to as much 860 miles in a single day. It just depends on how far your butt will hold out on any given day!
Trending Topics
Club Member
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,678
Likes: 3
What is your purpose - to ride all day long or to ride and stop and enjoy the sights? If it is to see a few things 250 - 300 miles a day is reasonable. When I plan my trips I baseline at 250 a day throughout the number of days I will be gone. If I will be gone for 7 days then 250 x 7 = 1750. Now saying that I end up doing more like 2500-2600 total. This is because i look at my round trip at the 1750 miles and understand that place I want to see/stay I will likely do a bit more while I ride around the place.
If you want to haul a$$ and just ride then interstate (65-70mph avg) - how many hours can you go? And then if you do back roads consider (40 mph avg) - how many hours can you go?
Also when we tour, we never reserve any rooms. We just ride until we either find a place we want to hang out or until we get tired and look for a place with vacancies. The GPS has been a godsend to help this process because we can stop for lunch, plan on how much longer we want to ride, plug in the tentative destination into the GPS, look for some places with lodging and call for vacancies.
If you want to haul a$$ and just ride then interstate (65-70mph avg) - how many hours can you go? And then if you do back roads consider (40 mph avg) - how many hours can you go?
Also when we tour, we never reserve any rooms. We just ride until we either find a place we want to hang out or until we get tired and look for a place with vacancies. The GPS has been a godsend to help this process because we can stop for lunch, plan on how much longer we want to ride, plug in the tentative destination into the GPS, look for some places with lodging and call for vacancies.
HD Forum Stories
The Best of Harley-Davidson for Lifelong Riders
7 Surprising Harley-Davidson Products that Are Not Motorcycles
Verdad Gallardo
8 Best Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Ever
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Worst Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Ever
Pouria Savadkouei
Killer Custom's Jail Break Is The Breakout That Refused to Blend In
Verdad Gallardo
Crazy Bunderbike Build Looks Amazing, But Is It Impossible to Ride?
Verdad Gallardo
Harley-Davidson Reveals Super Cool Cafe Racer Concept
Verdad Gallardo
Engraved Rebellion: Inside Bundnerbike's Glam Rock II
Verdad Gallardo
10 Motorcycles You Should Never Buy
Joe Kucinski
10 Things Harley-Davidson Needs to Fix in 2026
Verdad Gallardo
Road Master
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,086
Likes: 2
From: MKE, WI
I will say as others stated 300 miles per day would keep everyone happy. I did cram in near 600 miles on a very HOT summer day through South Dakota and Minnesota and my wife nor me was very happy about it. Keeping your passenger happy is the most important thing on a long trip IMO.
T
T