Motorcycle rallies have come roaring back to life, and if you’re a rider who took a couple of years off during the pandemic, you may find your throttle hand twisting in anticipation of hitting the road. In your excitement, you may be forgetting all the toil and preparation that comes with getting to the rally. The good news is you have three ways to get your bike to the rally, and like everything in life, there are pros and cons to each.
Ride Your Bike
Granted, riding it there is the most direct way. But that also means a lot of wear and tear on your body if the rally you have in mind is halfway across the country. So be prepared for saddle sores and achy muscles. You also have to take the weather into account. Riding in the rain is downright dangerous, not to mention uncomfortable.
Then there’s the wear and tear on the bike. Of course, you’d get the bike serviced before setting out, but a long-distance ride also requires constant maintenance – fluid levels, tires, parts that loosen up. They all have to be checked constantly. You can do all these each morning, but there’s no preventing a flat tire. A flat tire that can be merely annoying when driving your car takes on a whole different level of difficulty when you’re on two wheels. Yes, there’s nothing like a multi-day riding adventure, but in the words of an experienced rider/writer: “The most reliable thing about a motorcycle is its unreliability. It’s always wise to hope for the best while preparing for the worst.”
So maybe you’re thinking about hitching up a trailer to your car and towing the bike.
Tow Your Bike
As you get closer to the rally, you’ll see lots of cars towing bikes on trailers and tows of all sorts. It looks easy but a lot of time and effort went into the endeavor. Buying or renting a trailer is not the same as driving to an electronics store and buying a new TV. There’s a lot of research involved. You have to
- Calculate your car’s towing capacity
- Install the right type and size hitch
- Find the right trailer
- Research the traffic laws as they apply to tows in each state you’ll be riding through.
And mind you this is all before you tune up your car….and your bike. If all this deciding whether to ride your bike or tow it is making you re-think the wisdom of going to Sturgis or Laconia or whichever rally you were looking forward to, there is another alternative. You can have an auto transport service pick up and deliver the bike. How you get there is up to you.
Hire An Auto Transport Service To Take Your Bike
An auto transport service will come to your door and pick up your bike and take it to their terminal where they will load it on one of their enclosed transport trucks. Then, whether you fly to the rally, rent a car, or drive your own vehicle, they will deliver your bike to the hotel where you’re staying.
Then they’ll take it back home when the rally is over. Or if you decide to spend more time touring after the rally is over, they can pick it up wherever you end up and meet you when you get home. But remember that although sending your bike by auto transport doesn’t require the amount of preparation that goes into a DIY tow or cross-country ride, most auto transport companies do require three days to schedule a pickup and most destinations take five-to-eight days for delivery.
So there you have it. Enjoy the rally and, no matter how your bike gets there, ride safely while you’re there.
