Road Trips, whats the largest number of bikes you traveled with?

[Popeye]

Our summer trip started out as 4 bikes, soon became 8 bikes and now has a possibility of becoming 12 to 14 bikes. I have done several trips with only 4 bikes and everything has always worked out well.

Not sure about a larger number of bikes. Talked to a friend in town and he told me that years ago, he
had 15 bikes for a trip.  By the day of the trip, only him and one other guy went.

I am sure not all will make it, a couple of guys have been invited numerous time, say yes then back
out the week before the trip.

Just looking for your experiences with a large number of bikes and how things worked out.

Thanks,

Popeye

[Misfit]

It is not the # of bikes that count but the quality of the people on the ride that count. I have traveled in groups of 15-20 without any trouble. I have also traveled with just me and one other and the ride couldn't have ended soon enough. I was out with one guy one time for only a couple of hours and at one point he turned right and I made a hard left. Never saw him again and don't care to. What a cry baby. It only takes one whinner or loud mouth to ruin it for everyone. If you ride with the right folks I don't think it matters how many there are. I will tell you that the more bikes and people you have the slower you are going to get anywhere. That's not to say it won't be fun and enjoyable . It will just be slower. One thing you can do is split the group up into smaller groups and meet up at night. Good luck.

[pekardo]

We made a tour in 2005 with 12 Valks to the North West 200 Bikeweek
in North Ireland. 850mls one way.
Nice people up there. Here are some Pictures

[..]

I will only take trip rides with a small core of riders that I have known for quite a few years.

Good luck with that many. I would have to do a Britman and split off from the group after a day or 2.

That many takes too darn long gassing up, peeing, having a snack, having a drink, having a ciggie, making a cell phone call, wanting to talk at length about the previous 100 miles, having to stop for gas again early cause some moron thought they didn't need gas at the last stop, finding lunch that suits everyone. The list goes on and on and on.

[MP]

The best is to just tell everyone where all the stops are.  That you HAVE to be together.  Maybe noon meal.  Maybe just evening motel.  I certainly would not do every gas stop,etc.  Let each get where you going on their own or with a few others.  Otherwise, chaos.

[R J]

I will only take trip rides with a small core of riders that I have known for quite a few years.

Good luck with that many. I would have to do a Britman and split off from the group after a day or 2.

That many takes too darn long gassing up, peeing, having a snack, having a drink, having a ciggie, making a cell phone call, wanting to talk at length about the previous 100 miles, having to stop for gas again early cause some moron thought they didn't need gas at the last stop, finding lunch that suits everyone. The list goes on and on and on.

Exactly what Britman says......

I have been in rides with 20 people, and usually after day 2 or 3, I take off on my own.........    I have set a stop so long my feet and legs got tired of standing, then when they finally do decide to go, someone is no where to be found.

After I retired, and started doing these long road trips, most of them was single bike, me and a passenger, passenger was either my SO, our youngest daughter or our youngest son, and the last trip solo was with my youngest son's little lad.  He was 12 at the time and one 7734 of a traveler.  If he wanted to stop and see something he opened his mouth and said so.  My other kids used to not say anything and then cry all night cause they didn't get to stop for something.  Finally broke em of that and we had some 7734ish trips in the process......

My long time riding partner succumbed to Cancer when I was at the last InZane in TN.  Got the call during the Sat dinner and couldn't hear.    Told em I'd call em later.  Later was Sunday morning.     That was a heart breaker as we had rode together approx a qtr of a million miles together and in all the lower 48 and 3/4 of the Canadian providences.   He rode a Yama Hopper, and his son worked for Hardley Diversion....   LOL.

He had shirts made up that said, "My son works for Harley Davidson and I ride a Yamaha."

The son had shirts made up that read. "My dad works for Bruskie Products and we use Fuller at HD".

[fudgie]

Depends on how you like to ride and if the others are a good match. If you like to ride fast and the others are slow then that makes for a bad day. Find out how they like to ride and if your head road dogg set some guildlines like gas stop limits, sppeds, etc. But it depends on where your going. If you have no agenda or have to be at a certain place at a certain time then no rules. I myself like to ride in groups locally. I usually will ride with about 5 or more HD's at a time. But we just hit the local stuff.  When Kit and I travel we like to go alone or we have a few guys we would ride with. But like you said. We always have people back out. Which is nice cause we can stop when we want or ride another 200 miles. But there is nothing better then seeing a pack of HD's going down the road. Except for Valks of coarse! 

[Gilligan]

to the Wall." On I-64 from Louisville through West Virginnia, we had a staggered formation over 2 1/2 miles long. Suffice it to say that it was very unsafe and several people and bikes were damaged.

Most of our trips on the Valk have been alone, and it works well for us. It allows us to "cruise at our speed" and stop and start whenever and wherever we want. We have ridden with one other couple on some long trips, and that worked well. Larger numbers have not worked well for us.

We have made a private "rule" to stay away from group rides. That said, the only group ride in which we participated and felt comfortable was the Covered Bridge Ride here in Indiana. That's probably because almost all of us were riding Valks. 

[Dogg]

2 years ago during bike week here on delmarva, a bunch of friends came over my house, about 18 bikes lined my driveway, pretty picture. Yami's, harley's, suzukis, my wife ridley and my valk. well, all we were doing was riding the long way around to this great little bar for lunch (best burgers around). we road 45 miles or so and pulled into the island oasis for lunch. seemed to go well just took us about an hour and a half. some of the women are a lil slower than the rest of us. No worries. we made it, we ate. we left for the islands to go to mr whippies for ice cream after lunch.
  Big packs are slow, 4 or 5 is great for anything longer that the bar hop...but WHO you ride with is more important because of the way they ride, tempermant, whatever. I have yet to ride with anyone other than my best friend for more than 400 miles. it seems that most of the ppl I know just dont wanna go that far...

[Casper96]

the most i ever traveled with at least thru one state was about 2500 riders....we left out of chicago with about 75 or so met up with a bunch tru the ride...then left out or New Jersey into Mannhattan to ground zero in the 2004 9/11 memorrial ride. What an awesome ride it was.....I think we ended the ride in New York with over 6000 bikes.....We met up with another group that came from elsewhere and we melded together in lower Mannhattan. It took us over 4 hours to ride across New Jersey due to the amount we had when we left out of there. What a moving ride for me and it was the ride that made me decide I was buying the Valk, rode an 85 Wing and thought I need me my Big Girl to get me places...Also ridden with about 32000 in the chicago toys for tots one year a few years back.

[RP#62]

Regardless of group size, riding styles and to some degree, personalities have to be compatible.  This is especially true on multi-day trips.  Beyond that, if the group get much bigger than 6 or 7 bikes, you start having logistical problems with time to fuel, time (and where) to eat, and finding lodging.
-RP

[Master Blaster]

you were asking how many bikes have you ever taken on a road trip for your personal use.   With me that would be 3, but usually its me and my Bud and we take 2 each.

[Tonysax]

I split a house at Myrtle Beach year before last with 7 other guys (all HD and my Valk). It was nice riding with a group of 8 for a while but it got old real fast. There was one guy who wouldn't leave a bar until someone was angry at him. Two guys who couldn't do a formation ride, always side by side chatting. One guy who had all this motor work done on his Dyna and kept baiting me to run him. Thing is there is no helmet law and I don't act like a fool without one. Well, I had enough coming out of the Broken Spoke he got into it blew past me, and next thing I knew I was walking the guy at 100+mph right past a trooper. There were so many bikes around the trooper never bothered.
 I rode solo the rest of the time.
And I met Robby Knievel while getting a tattoo. Pretty cool.

[Big IV]

We can travel together for about 3-4 days pretty well. After that we start getting on each others nerves.
Most of the time I travel with my wife on the back making our own decisions, planning our own trips, and side trips. Group rides take that part of the trip away, temporarily. On the bigger group trips I usually hang back and let someone else take the lead. I'd rather let someone else lead and plan (no responsibility of my own). I  like to stand back and watch the rest in front of me not sneaking around behind me.
15 people is a lot of riding styles to match up and bladders to wait on.

[solo1]

I rather go it alone or with my family of additional three bikes.   The only large group that I enjoyed was the CBR.

Solo1 suits me because that's the way I like to ride. I don't like to hold anyone back because of my age related stops and piss calls.  I do my own thing .  I don't like to be told what, where, when, etc.  Rides with many riders must, by neccesity be regimented, but I don't go on them.

Besides, I have found that people will stop and talk about motorcycles if I'm alone.  This almost never happens in groups.

[srbarclay]

 I've organized an eight bike ride. All went very well. I enjoyed the larger number of bikes and the time spent together off of the bikes was a blast too.

[threevalks]

What Britman said.

[Rowdy]

Prefer less than 5 for a long trips.

Have ridden with with 10 & 12 was ok for a day trip, and they where expereinced riders (Pre-planned signals and destination ect)

Have had some scarry rides with more than 20 riders (bunch of strangers) skill level varried 

Valk march to Marysville  of course all Valk riders & short ride 

Prefer small group - more freedom 

[Big Rig]

Popeye,

I have a group of 20 that ride to DC every Memorial Day for Rolling Thunder. About a week prior we all meet and discuss logistics. We ride staggered formation and alternate point man and tail gunner, we run point for 25 to 30 miles and the drop from lead to tail and the group shifts forward. We have found that this works best for us. We also use Google at our meeting, lets us get an over view our route and alts incase of traffic. All I can offer, is plan plan plan.

That being said, I am currently in the process of organizing a charity ride the end of April and are expecting between 200 and 300 bikes. My group of twnety will be heavily involved in logistics...we all love to ride, some have more saddle time than others, but all are safe and smart riders. The others that will be joining us??? Should be intersting.

As for larger rides I have been involved in, For the Children in Philadelphia, on average, between 50000 to 60000 bikes, supposed to be the biggest one day event in the nation...I am sure I will get some heat for that statement...from someone some where. They call it a ride, but it is more of a crawl...and most are single day riders...that is the day they ride...not ideal, but it is a great cause.

Again, best of luck with your group ride. Meet and greet a week before have worked well for me/us. Hope it works well for you...enjoy, take pics and have fun

Ride Smart, and Ride Safe.

Dave

[laserpat]

we were just talking about this tonight. Good info

[REELAY]

The Trail of Tears Ride.....September 15, 2001 that morning, Rolled out of Chattanooga, TN with approx. 40,000 bikes. Rolled into Waterloo, AL that evening with approx. 85-90, 000 bikes.  Was estimated to be 53 1/2 miles of bikes, Police escorted All the Way....Talk about a LONG Day......... TOO Much like WORK......Actually Worse than Work......Have done it 2 times since.........

[santa]

Trail of Tears in Alabama 120,000 bikes of all kinds. Yes 120,000 bike miles and miles of bike. When the first bikes stopped it was 3 hours later when the last bike came in.

Santa

[ChromeDome]

From 1986 until 2006 I use to ride the Midnight Tour here in Chicago (now discontinued) until I ended up surrounded by crotch rockets that really didn't understand riding in a large group. After that experience I would show up, pay my entry fee, kick tires and at some point pull off and watch them go by.

The only other group I would ride with consisted of about 5 to 7 other bikes but we had been riding together for years. We would get together in February, talk about a couple of regular rides (Time Trials and Round Lake Michigan) and then there was the week on the road. By the time the trip began everyone had a copy of the route and motels.We knew one of the bikes would only go around 120 miles between gas stop and everyone would gas up. Each ride was a learning experience that we would apply to the next trip. Where to go and what to do if you got separated from the group, exchange cell phone numbers, break downs, etc. We haven't ridden together for a few years due to retirements, job changes, etc.

But like someone has already said, with the exception of the big charity rides, it all comes down to the people you ride with.

[RTaz]

...show up at any one of our weekend rides....some of our more popular rides like St. Ignace weekend, Lumberman's Monument picnic or the Fall Color ride we have had 70+ bikes...




The largest ride I think I've been on is the Biken For Burn's Ride here in Michigan... I don't know how many bikes where there but the line 15miles long riding ....

[98 T]

Back in the early 1990's in Wisconsin, there was a push for mandatory helmet laws. As a result around 1992, ABATE sponsored a ride from Milwaukee to Madison (the state capitol) - about 65 miles.  I rode with them  sort of by accident. One Saturday morning, I stumbled on to about 5,000- 6,000 bikes gathered at Brookfield Square Mall parking lot and with a State police escort we headed to a stop about 15 miles outside Madison where more bikes gathered.   With 6 state troopers on bikes (and a limo up front with the publisher of "Easy Rider" - yeah, he was in a limo, not on a bike), we all followed them and rode the last 15 miles up to the capitol building.  The papers said we had 25,000-30,000 bikes.   It was a unique experience, but I don't think I'd ride like that very often. It was pretty chaotic - no one knew what to do. We just followed the line of bikes. At one point at a little hill top, I could see about 4 miles ahead and 4 miles back and all I could see was a line of bikes in each direction.  I was about 5-6 miles back from the lead and the "yo-yo" effect was nuts.  Plus there were lots of in-experienced riders around.    Including the stop to collect more bikes, that ride took around 4-5 hours to go 65 miles.  It was a strange experience with that many bikes all trying to stay together.


If I have anywhere to really go, I would prefer solo or a small group of up to 4-5 bikes.