Further reading
This page used to be a blog roll, back when those things were in vogue. Now very few people still blog and I am slowly deleting sites that have not been updated for a long time but will keep a few that I am still referring to for some upcoming rides and from time to time might add a site that I find helpful.
Moto touring guides
Motorcycle Diaries – a fantastic resource for best roads in Europe.
Vietnam Coracle – best guide for riding Vietnam, an amazing resource.
Ride Magazine – You can find a collection of well researched riding routes for UK, Portugal, Spain, France and Germany here
Motorcyclist Map – Amazing resource for motorcycle touring USA.
Ride the Highlands – A good site about riding Ontario.
Motorrad Strassen – German official motorcycle touring route and a lot more here (needs Google Translate).
Bucket List Norway – Perhaps the best guide about motorcycle riding roads in Norway.
Moto Route – Excellent guide to the best motorcycle routes in Romania which I found very helpful for my tour there.
WikiLoc – huge collection of routes with photos that can help you understand why some roads are recommended.
Motorcycle Colorado – There are many best road sites for USA but I found this one very helpful for my Colorado ride.
Penticton Motorcycle guide – A guide for part of British Columbia which I hope to revisit in future.
Forums
Most motorcycle forums were sadly abandoned when Facebook Groups arrived however the ones that remain are superb libraries of information compared to groups where information is not indexed and soon lost.
ADV Rider – this forum is so big many of the best ride reports are buried under the more contrived. Here are a couple I found inspiring.
- Ride for Smiles – From a horrific car accident the author sets off in his second life to see how far he can ride a bike that turns into a 5 year journey.
- Around the world in 800 days – Another 5 year RTW ride that ran same time as above but is different in every way. Inspired me to ride Oman.
- Angola, its not like they said – the best ride report I have ever read. If you only read one, choose this.
- Pakistan on a GS 150 – incredible scenery and a great ride report. Inspired me to ride Pakistan.
- Solo trip to Mongolia on a 125 – amazing adventure on the Mongol Rally.
Ride Asia – a motorcycle forum that has inspired some of my early rides in SE Asia. Friendly with no attitude or pay wall unlike the better known GT Rider forum which should be avoided.
Moto Bloggers
I’m slowly deleting inactive rider blogs from my Blog Roll. Some are still listed because they offer unique information about a region but once that info becomes too out of date then I’ll remove the blog. Note a couple of these seem to be geo fenced.
Reviews
99% of YouTube review channels are merely ‘content creation’ channels. They don’t review items, they quote press release material supplied to them careful to not say anything negative to upset distributors – but here is an Australian independent motorcycle gear test site that really tests and tells it like it is.
Video
I don’t watch much on YouTube other than 80’s music video clips. I find most ‘on bike’ riding videos boring, particularly the 360 panning video that has become popular of late. I also dislike how ultra wide lens action cams flatten the landscape.
I recall looking at the footage from the Missenden Flyer’s tour of Japan which traversed many roads I used to ride but was borderline unwatchable thanks to flattened landscape with all the highlights blown out and shadows near total black. It made beautiful places look quite ordinary.
However there are a few channels I think are higher quality.
High production values help lift this channel. Host Ryan can be very witty and clever but he also says some stuff with no evidence to back it up so realise it’s just for entertainment not factual.
MC test ride videos with just engine sound. I like how there is no talking and then Schaff will share some meaningful insight via text. Actually a couple of sentences from this rider sometimes can reveal the real weakness (or worth) of a model that none of the other vlogger bike reviewers will mention.
If you want to know good places to ride in Australia then check this channel out.
Touring of Japan with just engine sound. Shows nearly all the places I posted about when I lived there. (Tip – with non English channels turn on CC and set to auto translate) Consistently well paced with higher quality footage albeit still with the unavoidable flattening of the landscape that GoPro’s do.
