Yearly Mileage Poll

[twowheeladdict]

If this poll was done in 2016 or earlier I would have selected over 20k.  Now I am with the majority.

[mjptexas]

21,429 in 2018.  Only had 3 miles December after getting hit by a car.

[jcctx]

Unfortunately vision issues have restricted my miles severely (occasional trips to post office in the village and such) on my '83 CM450A; the only bike I have retained. Still try to keep up with the site and make close by rallies in the cage !!!

[jumpmaster]

12K miles/yr average on my Harley, and this includes 2 extended "vacations from riding" during prime riding weather, due to 1) an argument with a pickup truck over who "owned" the lane I was riding in (he won the argument but lost because he got the ticket and the bill for repairing my bike & replacing my helmet) & 2) a herniated lumbar disc that kept me off a bike for about 3 months.  Add to that: about 2K+ miles/year each on 2 older bikes I have.

I used to average over 15K/year on an earlier Harley, when I was commuting to work 70 miles round-trip 3-4 days a week, plus recreational and vacation riding.  Small potatoes in my circle of riding friends - I have 2 who average well over 30K miles/year.  Wish I could spend that much money on gas & tires!

[Guzzistajohn]

Rather disappointing year for riding, 2nd year in a new job. work work work 

[giusto]

21,429 in 2018.  Only had 3 miles December after getting hit by a car.

I hope you and your bike are back on the road soon!!!

[mjptexas]

I hope you and your bike are back on the road soon!!!

I am back on the road.  1,112 miles in January.

[Sheepdog]

I have three bikes running at the moment. I haven’t a clue about mileage...not enough, for sure. We’re still hitting infrastructure pretty hard here on the farm. The Piaggio gets most of the local miles...it’s my errand runner. The Vintage and the BMW are usually saved for recreational rides or trips. I typically do a couple of multi-day trips per year.

[rocker59]

If this poll was done in 2016 or earlier I would have selected over 20k.  Now I am with the majority.

Funny how everything in life is on a bell curve.  In my early days of riding, it was under 3,000 miles, as most of my riding was around town on the weekends on Harley Sportsters.  In the late '90s when I worked at a European Motorcycle Dealership and got into sport-touring, it became 12,000 to 20,000 miles for more than a decade.  Now, due to work and equestrian obligations, it's back down to under 3,000 miles. 

Interestingly, bike ownership has been on a similar bell curve.  For many years, one bike.  During my peak years riding, I always had two to four bikes.  Now, over the past year or two, it's back down to one.

[giusto]

I am back on the road.  1,112 miles in January.

Nice...glad to hear it

My January 0....but Ill make up for it come spring....got a fly and ride back from Fargo....and looking to knock off another ride around a great lake this summer Huron.

[oldbike54]

Funny how everything in life is on a bell curve.  In my early days of riding, it was under 3,000 miles, as most of my riding was around town on the weekends on Harley Sportsters.  In the late '90s when I worked at a European Motorcycle Dealership and got into sport-touring, it became 12,000 to 20,000 miles for more than a decade.  Now, due to work and equestrian obligations, it's back down to under 3,000 miles. 

Interestingly, bike ownership has been on a similar bell curve.  For many years, one bike.  During my peak years riding, I always had two to four bikes.  Now, over the past year or two, it's back down to one.

 There was a million miler some years back who turned his mill on the return leg of a long trip . He parked the bike and never rode again .

 OK memory just jogged , that was in a Clement Salvadori column .

 Dusty

[nick949]

An odd year for me with the Eldorado off the road and the Nuovo Falcone on my uninsured list.  The scary thing is the mileage on the big scooter - although most of it was on a single trip.

Nick

(click the thumbnail to make it visible)

[tris]

I claimed under 3k, but I could be wrong given that the LCD died about 18 months ago on my B11 and I've only just worked out how to fix it without spending a fortune!!!

[giusto]

still looking for the highest mileage rider?

[Luap McKeever]

I was able to muster up a little over 11,000 in 2018. That long 3200mile /7 day trip in September sure helped.

[Texas Turnip]

still looking for the highest mileage rider?

Your high mileage rider will be a non KERA member.

Tex

[Rod]

I ride my Ambassador daily for whatever I need to do around the Cape, and also just for fun. But there is limited touring-type riding out here and traffic is bad in the summer. There's plenty of good riding all over New England, but it mostly starts at least 100 miles from me. So I rigged up a trailer and a good ride-out includes at least 200 miles of round trip trailering to get to point A, usually taking the Eldorado, which is set up better for touring. Last year that included a trip to the Shenandoahs and the Adironacks. This year maybe the Blue Ridge or the Smokeys! Dream big!

[ratguzzi]

I put about 15K on the Norge, got paid 57 cents a mile for around 8k of it. About 8K on my 03 Ti. Around 3k on the loop and 5k on the '14 V7 which is now sold.
About 2K in Europe on my Jawa and Nevada.
Since 98, about 800k on Guzzis.
I have a ways to go yet to catch up with the Turnip Farmer!
JB

[j.r.r.]

I voted 3,000 - 8,000 because my last ride last year (1,100 km) should count triple toward my annual millage :). It was two days ride with my left ankle broken. Usually I ride about 10K between two bikes, not bad I think, if you consider I don't commute because I'm working from home. All riding is just weekend joy rides. Last year riding season was very short for me, hope will be able to do better this year since new bike will be welcome in my garage this coming May.

[giusto]

It looks like the results will hold....but I'm still looking for our highest mileage rider so I can send along a MI rally shirt

[ratguzzi]

It looks like the results will hold....but I'm still looking for our senior rider so I can send along a MI rally shirt

do you want a lifetime? A 2018? What exactly are you looking for?
On a Guzzi only?
JB

[giusto]

do you want a lifetime? A 2018? What exactly are you looking for?
On a Guzzi only?
JB

lets do highest mileage in 2018

[s1120]

I ride my Ambassador daily for whatever I need to do around the Cape, and also just for fun. But there is limited touring-type riding out here and traffic is bad in the summer. There's plenty of good riding all over New England, but it mostly starts at least 100 miles from me. So I rigged up a trailer and a good ride-out includes at least 200 miles of round trip trailering to get to point A, usually taking the Eldorado, which is set up better for touring. Last year that included a trip to the Shenandoahs and the Adironacks. This year maybe the Blue Ridge or the Smokeys! Dream big!

Off topic a bit, but we have a place out on the cape, and I was wondering about riding out there. I might be spending a extended time this summer there, and was thinking of bringing the bike. Agree traffic sucks...  but any good riding at all out there?  I've driven it for many years...  but never had the bike down there.

[Rod]

It depends where you'll be on the Cape, but there are a few nice routes. Mostly short runs, but you can connect them up to get a good day out between Chatham and Provincetown or Orleans and Woods Hole, for instance. As I was writing this I decided to include stuff you already know because I realize others may refer to it on their first trip out here and I've explored about every corner there is for riding. The Cape is bigger than it seems. It takes a good two hours plus in the summer to get from one end, Provincetown, to the other, Woods Hole. You can use the highway section of Rt 6 to make time on that route, but its just straight and boring. It's actually fastest to go over the bridges, off Cape and back, to make that traverse between Rt 6 from the east & Rt 28 south to Falmouth. That section of Rt 6 over the bridges and along the canal is actually a nice ride. Or take Exit 5 off Rt 6 and head south down Rt 149 (a quick bear right!), which has nice sections, and connect to 28 via 151. The main challenge is to avoid Rt 6 above Orleans (impossible in Wellfleet) and Rt. 28 west of Harwich Port.

I'm on the Outer Cape and there are some nice side roads if you know where to find them. Take Rock Harbor Road from Orleans (past Snows) to Rock Harbor (good lobster roll at Young's fish market) and then follow that north, turning left on Bridge Rd (if you hit the rotary you missed it) and then bearing left on Herring Brook Road all the way to Wellfleet Audubon Center - you have just bypassed the entire Eastham section of Rt 6. Yay! Left turn onto Rt 6 from there is tricky, but easier on a bike.

Heading north into Wellfleet I either take a right on LeCount Hollow Rd at P&B Boulangerie and follow that up Ocean View Drive past White Crest beach and the Beachcomber Pub, or I wait and take a right on Cahoon Hollow Road in Wellfleet Center, just before the light on Rt 6, and gun it up the hill to the Beachcomber (my favorite road on the Cape if no traffic). Then I head back down Long Pond Road down to Wellfleet Harbor where you can get a scallop quesadilla at Macs or a beer and oysters at the Bookstore pub.

From the Wellfleet Library take West Main St to Pole Dike Rd to Bound Brook Island Rd to Old County Road (just following your nose), very twisty (watch for sand on some of the hair pins!), all the way to Pamet Harbor in Truro (take left on Mill Pond Rd after you cross a marsh to head over to the harbor). Take Rt 6N from there and maybe get off at 6A north and after stopping in P-Town you can ride through the Province Lands up at the tip of the Cape, which is a unique landscape, or more like a moonscape. Another way into that ride is to catch Pamet Point Road off Rt 6, a really nice little road, and intersect Old County Road for the same ride to Truro.

On the way back south from Wellfleet, turn left off Rt 6 at the light at Nauset Rd (after Poits mini-golf) and take a left on Cable Rd past the high school to Nauset Light Beach. Then follow Ocean View Dr south to and Coast Guard Beach (they won't let you in, but a nice view). Head back into Eastham center and get lunch at the Superette and eat it at the Windmill Green across the street. Also if you get a chance take the very short ride up to Fort Hill in Eastham off Rt 6. Great view and walks there.

Heading south on Rt 28 from Orleans to Chatham (the section of 28 where 28N runs south and 28S runs north!) going along Pleasant Bay is a nice ride, but you can get behind a slow tourist and that pretty much spoils the twisty part of it. Stay straight at the small light in Chatham and head down to the Chatham Fish Pier to see them off load the fishing boats and then proceed down to the lighthouse and beach at the Coast Station. Continue south over the bridge to Stage Harbor then loop back up to Chatham center.

If you're heading west from there take Old Queen Anne Rd just west of the Chatham Rotary and follow to Queene Anne Rd west and good luck. It's tricky. With any luck you'll wind up on Great Western Rd in Dennis where you can pick up a growler of IPA at Devils Purse Brewery for later. Going E-W across the Mid Cape, the only good ride is Rt 6A - really all the way from the Sagamore bridge to Orleans. If you do it on a sunny weekday (when everyone is at the beach) maybe you'll be lucky with traffic, but you'll have to be patient. Stop at Nirvana for a coffee in Barnstable Village across from the county courthouse, site of the Cape Cod Vintage Motorcycle Show in September. Or, if your making time coming back East on Rt 6, a good ride is to take Exit 10, Rt 124 N to connect to Rt 6A in Brewster and then into Orleans. In Orleans stop at Jo Mammas bagels.

On the Upper Cape, going south along Buzzards Bay there's a great back route from the Bourne Rotary (west exit) down to Woods Hole that stays west of Rt 28 and has some great sections: Shore Rd - County Rd - 28A - Palmer Rd and especially Sippewissett Rd where you just follow your nose into Woods Hole where there's a good lunch spot or two. I sometimes schedule a ride to catch the lowering of the railroad bridge for the Cape Flyer at the rail trail parking lot in Bourne off Bell Rd.

Heading north out of Woods Hole, right after the ferry lot on the right catch Church Rd, which is probably the most scenic ride there is on the Cape as it rounds the point at Nobska Lighthouse. It follows the route of the Falmouth Road Race, but the problem is at the end you wind up in Falmouth and in traffic. Take 28 west, left on Rt 149 up to Rt 6 or 6A to get back. (I should mention that I have taken the bike on the ferry to Martha's Vineyard on a couple occasions. It's cheaper than a car, you can almost always get on, and its a great way to get around the Vineyard. Nice riding there.)

I think that's about it. Personally, I trade in my motorcycle for a bicycle most of the time during July & August and I trailer off Cape for a riding in CT or up north. But in September or October, it's much better riding out here and not so hot. In July on a Sunday, if you like a parade, there's Big Nick's Ride for the Fallen which raises money for the families. It's a huge ride, over 1,000 bikes, mostly Harleys of course, but also a real mix. It goes from Rt 28 in Bourne along Rt 6A to Dennis with a police escort. Everyone comes out and waves and it can be kind of fun if you're into that sort of thing. I have a siren on my '74 Police Eldorado and it's an opportunity to use it!

Have fun! Ride Safe!

[s1120]

Thanks for the tips Rod!!  Im in West Yarmouth, right off of 28. I know most of the roads you listed, but didnt think of them as good bike roads at the time. Back in the day before GPS those where all roads I would take in the summer to get away from the tourists. They all kept to the mains, and the back roads would be empty. Now with GPS everyone knows the back roads!!!! 

[SmithSwede]

Here are my totals from the records I have close to hand.    These are total motorcycle miles per year (on Moto Guzzi and various other bikes).

2018:  29,266 miles

2017: 22,255 miles

2016:  25,425 miles

2015: 19,808 miles

2014:  28,831 miles

2013:  14,817 miles

2012:  12,531 miles (BMW F800 mileage only).

I travel almost exclusively by two wheels.   There have been many years when I did not own a car, but did own several bikes. 

It pains me to do the arithmetic, but I’ve been riding for 40 years now.   

[Furbo]

When I was in Europe the last 18yrs, around 10K/yr and lot of that on business trips over the Alps.  Now I'm in a masters program that require a suit 4 days a week and its in PA where I just shoveled off my driveway for the 5th time, so.....I might make 100..... 

[Huzo]

Why are the 12,000-20,000 mob highlighted in dark black on the bar graph ?

[rocker59]

Why are the 12,000-20,000 mob highlighted in dark black on the bar graph ?

That must be the mob with which you identify.

[flat out]

5-8k every year since 1975.
looking forward to some serious riding when I retire.
t.