Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Hi all. I want to do a tour through Morocco sometime next year and after that more tours around Europe and further afield. Would you recommend simply planning tours yourself and heading off or using a tour company. I understand that there will be extra costs using a tour company but is it worth it for the support etc.

It depends on what you want, and the quality of the guide. I've recently taken people on tours of Catalunya, some who have lived in the area for years, and i've shown them places and roads they didn't know existed and they can't wait to go out with me again. Anyone could look at a map and create a route, but a special route takes a lot of research and planning and that costs time and money.

I’ve always sorted my own plans and organised trips with mates. That covers Europe, Africa and the USA (29 countries so far by bike). There is so much information out there you are not going to miss the gems if you really do your homework.

For me its therefore about a) do you want to spend the time planning or pay the money and buy it off the shelf and b) do you want to travel alone or with a ready made group (for good or bad)?

Probably not that different to whether you want to sort your own summer holiday or buy a package from whomever replaces the gap left by Thomas Cook.

Morocco in particular, there is a huge amount of info on line, try here https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthrea ... wledgebase for example. This can be a bit unhelpful but if you enjoy the planning side of things there is no shortage of routes and opinions on them available. There are also a number of experienced guides offering one to one or small group tours and, of course, there are the bigger tour companies. You pays your money and takes your choice.

For me it’s 2 bikes, slightly chaotic plan and avoid the cities. If it’s all planned to the n’th degree there will be no excuse for a second visit!

At home, trail riding definitely a group for safety. Even a minor incident can be exacerbated by not having someone to assist.
I like road riding at home on my own so I can be my own boss. If I was away on a trip, maybe 3 or 4 bikes max, 6 at a pinch.

My India trip was 16 bikes including two leaders and a tail gunner, with junction drop offs by the next rider, but still people got lost and one fell off the edge of a drop and he wasn’t noticed as missing until a chai stop as everyone gets too spread out. He and bike survived to continue but a stark message.

Self guiding can be great fun but the last three weeks in Canada (in a car) was improved massively by local knowledge, despite months of route prep.

Whilst looking for something else I came across this just now:

https://www.adventureridertraining.org. ... ember-2020

No idea how good they are.

Tom

Three of us did a five day group tour of the Italian Dolomites in 2015. We met up with another 10 riders at the eurotunnel and we had two guides, so there were 15 bikes in total. We rode through and saw scenery that we would probably never have seen on our own. One thing that we hadn’t anticipated was the pace of the trip which was fast with a capital F but that suited us as we do like to crack on, however one or two of the other riders complained that it was just too fast and too many miles. So, it’s worth checking the daily schedule of any group tour to see if it broadly fits in with your expectations.

Thanks for all the advice and links, seems to be 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. I think ill plan and do the Morocco trip alone and see how that goes. Ive been on a few self guided trips through Spain and they went well.

I did something in between a few years back in Andalucia, Spain with Travelmoto.
Hire a bike and accomadation is included. The bike comes with preprogrammed routes.
The bloke picked me up from the airport, dropped me off at the hotel, explained all
the routes on a marked up map, and gave me a guide book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Just follow the GPS, or pick a different trail along the way using the map...

For your first trip you could join in on the trips organised by WIBO to get a feel for it. They are always fun and give you a great insight as to adventure bike travel. If not the planning info provides useful tips on planning your own trips. viewtopic.php?f=20&t=47949