best cities to live for motorcycling

[wmailhos]

I grew up in Knoxville, TN and left in 1991 for DFW, TX.  Year round riding in Texas but it was 250ish miles to get to any good roads in the Texas Hill Country.  Roads there were good.

Got a job offer back in Knoxville and moved back in 2014.  This is motorcycle mecca IMO.  East TN, SW VA, Western NC, NW SC and north GA are all great riding and the weather is relatively mild.  I don't ride a lot in the winter but you can with the right gear.  Appalachians are not majestic like the Rockies but are nice and enough elevation change for me.

 

[britelitebob]

A friend of mine has a farm in Weaverville NC and I have stayed there on many riding trips over the years, the biggest problem we have riding out of that location is deciding witch way to go every day because the riding is great in every direction.

[Bimbim18]

On 6/29/2019 at 12:34 AM, wanderer said:

1. lane splitting OK (plus for California)
2. weather - not too hot, but especially not too cold (frozen water kills the whole venture). Sunny days for riding.
3. the law is not ridiculously harsh (Virginia - 20mph over could mean a year in jail!?)
4. day trips: <1 hour, access to nearby rural areas for scenic rides, including some twisty enough for fun.
5. multi-day trips: close to multiple mountainous and wilderness destinations for longer rides, twisties, camping, hiking, destinations like national parks. Ideally the fun (back roads, scenery) starts almost immediately as you leave town. 

 

LOL Not Florida.

 

1. No lane splits.

2. HAWT.

3. the law.... meh they'll be quick to pull you over for speed traps or if you do something to a cager. Cager tries to intentionally run you over and the cop didn't physically see it, they won't do anything, and video doesn't count (ask how I know)

4. Day trips. Not really much scenery. all the roads tend to be flat and straight. Everglades is boring. I will however say I've been to Key west literally hundreds of times growing up (and  all the times I've been it was a nice on a bike, scenic ride into the keys). Last year was my first time going on a bike. The keys are extremely bike friendly. In a car you pay an arm and leg for parking if you can find it. There are TONS of free bike/moped/motorcycle parking spots!

just beware of traffic here, locals dont give a crap and the non-locals don't know how to drive lol

[fddriver2]

On 7/14/2019 at 11:56 PM, Bimbim18 said:

LOL Not Florida.

just beware of traffic here, locals dont give a crap and the non-locals don't know how to drive lol

At least there is always Alabama Jack's 😃

[rustyshackles]

Area roads are massively important but what cities rate high for bike culture?  San Francisco comes to mind.  I’ve never lived there but have visited many times for business and pleasure during the last 22 years.

The number of bikes parked in the Financial District on work days always made an impression on me.  Also there are (or sadly were in some cases e.g. Helimot and CityBike magazine, RIP) lots of locally owned mom & pop businesses catering to the rider community.

[keithu]

I think San Francisco is the only dense American city with year-round riding weather, so it makes sense. Motorcycles pay carpool tolls on the bridges, and you can usually find free parking in the city. And of course the streets themselves can be challenging to navigate in a car.

I used to work one day per week in San Francisco back in the mid-90s, and being on a motorcycle sure made it easier. It's not the sort of place I'd want to retire though! And who can afford it anymore?

[bigorangecntry07]

I'd find a spot in east Tennessee over western NC, you know for tax reasons... 

[koth442]

5 hours ago, keithu said:

I think San Francisco is the only dense American city with year-round riding weather, so it makes sense. Motorcycles pay carpool tolls on the bridges, and you can usually find free parking in the city. And of course the streets themselves can be challenging to navigate in a car.

I used to work one day per week in San Francisco back in the mid-90s, and being on a motorcycle sure made it easier. It's not the sort of place I'd want to retire though! And who can afford it anymore?

SF can get mighty chilly and rainy. 

San Diego on the other hand... that's beautiful year 'round!

[keithu]

3 minutes ago, koth442 said:

SF can get mighty chilly and rainy. 

San Diego on the other hand... that's beautiful year 'round!

Chilly and rainy is relative. Compared to San Diego? Yes. Compared to, say, Oregon or Tennessee? Not really. 

San Diego weather is almost always nice (except when I'm there, grrr), but the OP already lives there and is looking for somewhere else to retire. SF has a great moto culture, but it's not what I would call a great retirement spot!

[Bimbim18]

Theres also London lol. I was there about a month ago. I didn't have a bike but it seemed bike friendly. Drivers there for the most part were pretty nice. but it was cold. And lane splitting/filtering is allowed.

Edited July 20, 2019 by Bimbim18

[wanderer]

On 6/29/2019 at 6:11 AM, koth442 said:

I'm sorry the Dragon's 313 corners in 11 miles doesn't have shit on Hwy 36 out of Red Bluff. 

 

 

36, you bet! Here approaching from the west on my pre-T900GT bike (Honda CB500X, still in the stable, getting less and less attention).

 

NorCal is nice. Maybe Red Bluff or Shasta Redding is a good home base, if they don't get too ridiculously hot.

My parents live outside of Auburn CA. I don't really like that part of the Hwy 49 corridor, it actually somehow feels sort of crowded. While obviously less dense than a place like San Diego, the population has perhaps exceeded what a "no urban planning" philosophy can appealingly support.

I actually didn't mean the discussion to be all about my preferences, just cool to know what everyone thinks.

Personally, I love the west and I'd like access to the west (from the Rockies to the left coast). To me, a weakness of San Diego in the corner here is it is so darned far from so many cool places. From a centrality (within the west) standpoint, Utah may be best. Shasta / Red Bluff would be better than SD.

Another recent thought is Grand Junction CO. It has relative centrality-within-the-west going for it. I think you'd lose the winter riding, but that is very difficult to maintain outside of the coast or deserts in the west.

 

Edited July 20, 2019 by wanderer
typo

[fr8dog]

49 north out of Auburn has too much traffic. Only venture that way if going to Crooked Lane Brewery. 49 south is where all the good stuff is. Leave early and might have it to yourself all the way to Jackson. Lots of good roads off of 49.

I only take 49 out of Auburn if going to Wentworth Springs road. I can zig zag the back way through Folsom and catch 49 south off of Salmon Falls or Shingle Springs Road.

This year I'll venture up th Red Bluff and east and west. Dread the slab. I can head up through Quincy and go west. Maybe a 2 day trip.

Lots of good riding . Oh and Tahoe. One of the guys in the Bay area was talking about riding on the Eastern side of the Sierras. That looked fun too.

Lake Berryessa is fun. An hour of slab to get there.

[betoney]

@fr8dog - Since the end of May, I have taken 2 trips into Northern California and have been through all of the areas you mentioned.  Great riding indeed! 

We rode SE of Tahoe, hwy 89 through Markleeville, over Monitor Pass and then West on 108 over Sonora Pass - AMAZING!

Lake Berryessa through Calistoga up to Clear lake is awesome as well. 

Like you mentioned, East and West of Redding/Red Bluff cant be beat, one of my favorite loops up in that area is Weaverville up to Yreka on 3, then 96 through Happy Camp into Willow Creek and 299 back to Weaverville.

One area we can never get enough of is Grass Valley through Downieville into Sierraville on 49 - Love it!

[crempel]

Nothin to see here in Western NC. Keep moving. Nothin to see at all. 

[fddriver2]

10 hours ago, crempel said:

Nothin to see here in Western NC. Keep moving. Nothin to see at all. 

🤣

 

North Georgia doesn't suck either....