New York City to Los Angeles

[someotherguy]

I'm considering a trip from NYC to LA at some point next year. Has anyone on here done it before?

I'm planning to rent a Harley () with the mis'ess.

Circa 3,000 miles, or around 40 hours riding.

I think 3 weeks sounds about right - averaging 3 hours riding or so a day, plus some additional time for staying extra time in places if we want to.

Any thoughts?

[Enduro Numpty]

Me and the wife considered doing 2 months in the States on a hired bike. The cost got ridiculous so we bought a bike here and toured Europe for 2 months. Maybe 3 weeks will be a bit more manageable with regard to cost?

[someotherguy]

[ferrisio]

Haven't done NYC-LA but have done lots of driving in the US. The long stretches of interstate get boring VERY quickly (i.e. look down at your satnav and see 'In 187 miles take a left turn'), and there isn't a great deal to look at. Most towns of size are just long strip malls that all look the same after a while and this will take the edge of the exciting part of the trip.

Many Harley dealers do rental, so it would be less 'romantic' but probably more enjoyable to do targetted rides around interesting areas whilst also getting chance to try a few different bikes.

Getting up from a motel, driving 2-300 miles on interstates then eating fast food from a strip mall before crashing in a motel isn't great fun.

TL;DR do 1000 interesting miles rather than 3000 boring ones!
____________________
BMW R1100R

[G]

A bit different, but when I was 8 we drove from LA to NY. (The USA was 'my choice' for half the holiday; we also went across various islands in the pacific for six weeks berore that.)
We took 4 weeks after first spending 2 weeks around LA and got to see a fair bit, including a trip up to Canada for a day and down to Florida.
No way I'd choose a Harley, but that's not really my 'lifestyle' anyway. Car does everything a Harley does much better.

[someotherguy]

[G]

You could always choose a car for yourself and let your fa... partner ride whatever they like!

[Enduro Numpty]

[someotherguy]

So would I. But she's just up for doing it on a Harley.

I don't really mind either way. I'll probably rent an Electra Glide.

[doggone]

I suspect you'd get more from touring a more defined smaller area rather than choosing what amounts to points on a map and covering huge distances through rather boring nothingness to join the dots.

Three weeks is enough but still rather punishing, you get more from touring by staying in a place you like for a day or two.

[spnorm]

I did 3500 miles in 17 days on a rental BMW RT in 2012 and the same in a Mustang convertible last year. It's very easy to covers 3-400 miles without it feeling like a trial by endurance as there's f-all traffic

I stayed west of the Rockies though (well, except for a couple of days in the Black Hills last year) and barely touched an Interstate

The scenery is mind blowing e.g. Grand Canyon, Zion, Yellowstone, Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, Death Valley

[someotherguy]

That's so cool! Any tips?

[spnorm]

I wrote a trip report on UKGSer

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/305523-California-amp-South-West-USA

There's several other US trip reports on there too