Have Bike, Will Loan

[ktmrider]

I just spent a month in the Highlands of Scotland missing my motorcycle every time a BMW or Triumph went past. I would love to go back and tour and I know that many of the inmates here ride as well.

So here is my proposal. I live in El Paso and own a BMW1200 GSA and a Kawasaki KLX250. I would be interested in swapping time on my bikes for time on yours. So if you would like to come tour the American West and live somewhere other then North America, let me know. How about it, Roger?

I am also going to post something like this on Adventure Rider. In fact, a friend in Las Cruces swapped bikes with an Aussie riding from Perth to Sydney for the cost of petrol. The Aussie later showed up and toured the American West. By the way, Harleys and BMW's are renting about $150 per day where I live.

Leaving Lisbon tomorrow for 100 km on the Camino de Santiago followed by Granada, Istanbul, Venice and Rome. Home in mid November.

 

[Lauffray]

...for the cost of petrol.

A Briton in Texas ? 🙂

 

[tsiklonaut]

It's a brilliant idea! There's similar one in HU as well, the biggest motorcycle traveller's forum, but it's not as highly popular as one would expect. The trick is to find somebody not too "connected" with their bike and the one who'd take them as simply "things", a hardware that has it's pricetag, something you can always replace.

I guess too many of us motorcyclist love our bikes too much, many of us don't see them as things, but rather something much more - making it hard to share them with a stranger.

I.e. I have an old used abused BMW R1100GS, with nearly 300 000 klicks on it's odometer - it's absolutely worthless in financial terms, looks like crap and every other biker laughts at it - it costs literally peanuts in the market if I was to sell it ...but it's priceless for me! With the very same bike I've been on all continents except Antarctica, counterd over 80 countries under it's wheels, most are Third World, through dirt, ice, fire, sand and water. Both me and my wife are thinking about putting it to our livingroom someday. So logically I would be extremely hesitant to share our beloved bike.

I've been thinking to run the "swap" idea on my wife's DRZ 400 though - we haven't got too much "connection" with this bike yet since she just got her licence... Got to think about and discuss this with my wife though! 😀

We're in Estonia, place little discovered by bikers, with access to all Baltic States and islands on the Baltic sea and it's an hour dash to the Russian border.

 

[ktmrider]

Cost of Fuel!!!

Cost of Fuel!!!

Boy, I have to say that I was shocked at the cost of fuel in the UK. It is almost three times the cost in the US. Right now, we are paying a out $3.29/gallon or $1.17/liter. Cost in Scotland was £1.40/liter. With the dollar weak against the pound, touring in the US would be a great deal.

Spring might be a good time to tour Europe. My daughter and I are here u til mid November. Flying to Istanbul at the end of Sept and taking a train through Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia back to Rome. Next summer is ascheduled ride to Alaska. And late winter, I may head to Vietnam or somewhere where it is warm to ride (Laos this past March).

 

[Paulbe]

ktmrider--you ride a Beemer and a Kaw? What happened to the KTM? 🙂
Paul

 

[Lauffray]

Flying to Istanbul at the end of Sept and taking a train through Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia back to Rome. Next summer is ascheduled ride to Alaska. And late winter, I may head to Vietnam or somewhere where it is warm to ride (Laos this past March).

Damn, I'm a little jealous, I must say 😀

 

[ktmrider]

Love enduros but ktm's have real lack of dealer support where I live. Had two when I came up with email.
Thinking that new 1190 Adventure may replaced GSA next year but maintenance is a lot easier on bmw

 

[lawrence]

Happy to loan out my 12 year old Suzuki GS500 to anyone who wants to ride round London, for which it's perfect. Only issue would be insurance, which I'd investigate if anyone's interested. You'd need to collect it from Greenwich SE18.

 

[Phantomas]

Wow, you guys are crazy! 🙂 I'm not greedy, but I would have a serious problem lending my R80/7 to anyone.
Although I do get where you're coming from. When I did a roadtrip around the US last year, driving on Blue Ridge parkway I was biting my lip every time a bike would pass our car. It's just such a beautiful place to ride through on a bike, almost seemed wasteful being there in a car.

By the way, classic BMW rider myself, carefully thinking of getting KTM (390 Duke) as a second bike for around the city and just fun and games.

 

[drewbarb]

I'm not a motorcyclist, but I have to say I think this kind of swap is a fantastic idea; bravo. I hope to see photos of some great ride swapper's adventures one of these days.

 

[ktmrider]

I am almost finished with this European trip as we fly home from Rome 12 Nov and I will work a bit more on this idea from US (post on Horizons Unlimited and Adventure Rider).

Sure have missed my bikes. It was fun to see which coutries were the most bike friendly, ratio of scooters to motorcycles, etc. I think I may have to put touring Europe by motorcycle on my bucket list.

We wanted to rent a bike on the Greek island of Santorini but my wallet and license were stolen in Lisbon so we used my daughter's license to rent a quad. I rode on the back. It was a blast but did miss two wheels.

And have had a great time with the M9.