What kind of roads you like to ride?

[JJ]

"What kind of roads do you like to ride?"

Scenic rural roads...in the country....in middle of nowhere....and where there are no cars or trucks!! 

A few past examples here...

[actwin]

Depends on my mood. Some times I love the twisty bits and other times just get on the super slab and run it at 80-90. I do like 2 lane roads in the middle of nowhere such as Kansas and Nebraska too.

[pebra]

Arctic Fox,
your roads look absolutely wonderful, I think a visit to Finland is in my future. Maybe next year? 
Three important things though:
1. How is the food?
2. What about


3. And of course what about

[Green1000S]

Obviously Finland, eastern part.

Terveiset Pennsylvaniasta.

Lauri

[voncrump]

This is one of my favourite rides.
The Takaka hill Road , top of the South Island New Zealand.
Lots of twists and turns, a lot of elevation changes, different road surfaces , and not too much traffic.
The traffic is generally motorcycle friendly.
It’s hard to find good pictures but this is my favourite type of road.







Cheers, voncrump

[Arctic Fox]

Arctic Fox,
your roads look absolutely wonderful, I think a visit to Finland is in my future. Maybe next year? 
Three important things though:
1. How is the food?
2. What about


3. And of course what about

1.) Food? Melting point of Scandinavian (Sweden) cuisine (more) and Eastern (Russian/slavic) cuisine (less). Hygiene is one of the best in the whole World, so that is not a problem/question. Opposite variations of cheeses etc. can be bit limited vs real food countries like France or Italy. So food can look bit boring to some. I do not drink alcohol/beers (I have trained sport seriously, figure skater), but some says that beers are pretty good in Finland, but again all might taste pretty similar (different brands). Naturally lots of fast food places here (as everywhere) ... burgers, pizzas, kebabs. Yes, many US / global companies are here like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger Kings, Subways and of course few local players. Personally I do not eat that kind of food. Food is not strongly spiced. Coffee is opposite great, even top notch (Finns drinks most of coffee/per heads), opposite tea options are pretty limited in many places.

2.)  Yes. Here are traffic polices, women polices and polices with speed cameras (hand models). BUT most of speed controls are done with fixed cameras like this.
... new type.

... old type

New type is much more ''clever/developed one'' (=''nasty''  ) ... for example two of those can calculate your average speed between of them ... and give you penalty even if you would slower down your speed as you face them. 

But most of fixed cameras are in wide/main/big roads... not in those narrow roads I prefer to ride. On the other hand, I do not ride over speed. Nevada is much funnier in speed of 80 - 90km than much over 100km/h (and I have wind screen). 


3.) Mooses? Unfortunately yes. One older motorcycle man (I met in one gas station) said that I should learn control/handling of bike ... ''zig'' (someway push the bike one side and body another ... but get bike turn more quickly if ever needed?). Or did I understand that correctly?



And these:



And these (if you go Lapland):

[pebra]

Well I'm sure the food is good!    

Regarding speed controls:
Everywhere I've been, motorcyclists are safe from fixed (automatic) speed cameras because they do not photograph the licence plate, which is on the back of the motorcycle! I hope that is the case in Finland, too?
But if you are caught speeding in Finland, how big are the fines?   

Hitting deer, reindeer or moose is one of my great worries. So far, so good, but it seems in America in particular it is a big problem.
Moose in particular I'm worried about, they are huge and don't appear to heed vehicles at all  -  they are simply the king of the forest, not afraid of anything!

Reindeer is wonderful to eat, though!
I hope that is frequently found on the menu in Finland?   

You wrote "One older motorcycle man (I met in one gas station) said that I should learn control/handling of bike ... ''zig'' (someway push the bike one side and body another ... but get bike turn more quickly if ever needed?). Or did I understand that correctly?"

I believe it's difficult to steer away from wildlife coming onto the road, because things happen so quickly.
Some even say you should try to aim for the animal, as that will jump away so you won't hit it - - - -
Maybe the man you met was thinking of countersteering - are you familiar with that? You push the left handlebar forward when you want to turn left (and vice versa).

[Arctic Fox]

Well I'm sure the food is good!    

Regarding speed controls:
Everywhere I've been, motorcyclists are safe from fixed (automatic) speed cameras because they do not photograph the licence plate, which is on the back of the motorcycle! I hope that is the case in Finland, too?

Right. Keep in mind, I'm blonde .

Yes, you're fully right. At least that is situation now.

But if you are caught speeding in Finland, how big are the fines?   

Honestly I have no idea (what comes to foreigners). In some countries you're forced to pay those directly (on roads). I do not know how that works in Finland today. Will you need to pay those before you are able to leave from country ... or before you will next time try to come in. In Finland (for Finnish citizens) penalties are opposite linked to our earnings/salaries. What a more you earn, the more you pay for same crime (idea is that penalty should ''hurt'' you some ways ... to stop you doing that another time). Thank's to that the rich people have paid World records via over speed penalties. For example some NHL professional hockey players or business owners have gotten 50 000 - 120 000euros over speed penalties.

Hitting deer, reindeer or moose is one of my great worries.

How about brown/grizzy bears?

Reindeer is wonderful to eat, though!
I hope that is frequently found on the menu in Finland?   

You can find that. For Samis people (North) reindeer herding is main living.

You wrote "One older motorcycle man (I met in one gas station) said that I should learn control/handling of bike ... ''zig'' (someway push the bike one side and body another ... but get bike turn more quickly if ever needed?). Or did I understand that correctly?"

I believe it's difficult to steer away from wildlife coming onto the road, because things happen so quickly.

Moose can run on the road just front of you (you have no time to do anything) or 100m front of you. One thing to keep in minds. Those rarely comes/walks alone. Even more true with deers or reindeers.
 

Maybe the man you met was thinking of countersteering - are you familiar with that? You push the left handlebar forward when you want to turn left (and vice versa).

Oh yes (sorry, did not know right words). And nope, we did not talk moose particularly, just if you are forced to react quickly/suddenly to avoid something.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

I love back country roads, twisty mountain roads, and long sweeping curvy rural state highways -- I'm lucky to live in WNC, I probably wouldn't own a motorcycle if I lived somewhere else.

I hate long divided highways lined with endless strip malls and peppered with stop lights

Worst of all are the interstates, terrible droning on at 80mph with the wind, 18wheelers, guardrails, every exit looks the same with 8 mega-chains (Cracker Barrel, McD's, Subway, Walmart, Target, and five gas stations), plus the distracted drivers

[Tusayan]

My main attraction to riding motorcycles is doing so on twisty roads.  The best conglomeration of twisty roads in the world is the area around the alps from Croatia to France.  I keep a bike there, but US registered to avoid draconian fines in some areas, for some minor offenses recorded mainly by camera.  They certainly do fine motorcycles with cameras in Austria, Switzerland and France to my certain, verified knowledge.  I haven’t been to Finland.  But regardless, those cameras don’t recognize my license plate and they certainty don’t have access to my tax returns.

[pebra]

My main attraction to riding motorcycles is doing so on twisty roads.  The best conglomeration of twisty roads in the world is the area around the alps from Croatia to France.  I keep a bike there, but US registered to avoid draconian fines in some areas, for some minor offenses recorded mainly by camera.  They certainly do fine motorcycles with cameras in Austria, Switzerland and France to my certain, verified knowledge.  I haven’t been to Finland.  But regardless, those cameras don’t recognize my license plate and they certainty don’t have access to my tax returns.

Sorry about some thread drift here  -  I wouldn't think there's sufficient interest to start a thread of its own:

I didn't know there were places in Europe that caught speeding bikers on fixed cameras, so that's useful information for me.
In Scandinavia I believe we're safe. In Germany I don't think they photograph the rear, only the front (personal experience, but quite some time ago).
In the UK there seems to be some cameras that photograph the rear.