Route 66 - Who's done it and what would you recommend?

[Navy Boy]

Hi All

My wife and I are looking at doing Route 66 sometime during the second half of next year and I'm after some information from those who've done it please.

1. Guided or self-guided?

2. Do it yourself or use a company? If a company who'd you recommend?

3. Which way? East to West or vice versa?

4. How long to do the whole thing? Would it be better to do certain sections of it rather than the whole thing? I'd be looking at using 2 weeks leave for it.

My wife wants to ride a bike of her own rather than simply sit on the back this time so that means using a Harley 883 Superlow (The modern-day equivalent of her 2007-model 883 Low) as her legs won't allow anything taller than that. That means that I'll probably end up riding the machine that carries the luggage, something like a Street Glide or even a full-blown Electra Glide. I'd be happy with either if I'm honest. :cool:

Thanks in advance.

[pritch]

Hi All

My wife and I are looking at doing Route 66 sometime during the second half of next year and I'm after some information from those who've done it please.


3. Which way? East to West or vice versa?



Thanks in advance.

I seem to recall there are KBers that have done it. The traditional way was East to West as people migrated west to California. Of course most of it is gone now replaced by motorways but parts do still exist.

There must be books and TV programmes galore. I found this from Henry Cole while looking for his "Worlds Greatest Motorcycle Rides" Route 66 edition, as I seem to recall there was one such.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiN_eXi-MtQ

[russd7]

billy Connelly has done it on a trike, good for a laugh as well

[Laava]

If you were to do route 66 as close as possible to the traditional road, would be a waste of time and energy IMO. There are some great waypoints such as Williams Arizona but personally, if I was on a bike, I would seek out some more spectacular roads and forget about the nostalgia trip.

[ducatijim]

Hey there, I did it east to west a few years ago. Since then I have done about 50,000km elsewhere in the US and can quite safely say, that from every aspect this ‘66’ trip is a waste of kiwi peso.
There is so much to see and do, great locals and stunning rides elsewhere in the states that unless you have a special interest in the great migration of the 30’s and motorcar memorabilia, save your coin for a better experience. Pm me if you want details ok.
Jamie.

[babysteps]

I've done 2 trips to the US on bikes and I would agree with Ducatijim, plenty of better rides and places to be had. PM me if you want to chat.

[Reckless]

Because of our itinerary we just did a day trip. Missus on the back.
Hired a Harley did the start of 66 - Kingman, Hoover dam, Cool springs, Oatman ( where the donkeys roam the main street) bull head city and back up the interstate.
We went with a guide so he new all the stops, cafes and place we could get stuff a little more original and better priced.
It was hot like riding into a blow dryer on full hot for 8 hours solid. I certainly know why all the Harleys over there have screens.

Most of 66 was next to the new main drag so you where travelling along side the interstate which we took on the loop back.
You can be cruising over there at over 70mph and people still passing.
The guide gave a bit of a warning on the way there but when he wanted to get home on the way back he was happy to be cruising at 80+.

With the trip we had planed 9 states in two weeks is all we had time for and at least we can say we rode 66.

Why the hell are the pics are up the right way on my computer and on there side on KB FFS ??

[Old Steve]

There's only two things I want to see on Rte 66, a corner in Winslow Arizona and Barringer Crater.

Luckily Barringer Crater is just a few miles out of Winslow Arizona, so it'd be two birds with one stone. And the old Rte 66 runs parallel to the freeway going west out of Winslow, so you can go from downtown Winslow to Barringer Crater on the original Rte 66, so that's a third bird with the same stone.

[Murray]

Maybe have a look at this series of youtube vids of a trip across America. Hes a bit of a tosser now but this series was good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK5GN7kuPyw

[Navy Boy]

Thanks all for the input.

We're still in the planning stage so I'm open to suggestions surrounding routes and so on. I may well PM those who've offered and ask for some more advice. Wifey and I are now at the stage where things on our bucket lists are what we want to achieve. We travelled to Victoria Falls back at Easter for example and Route 66 is one of my personal ones which I've been thinking about for some time - Years in fact.

:niceone:

[babysteps]

Don't get me wrong Mr Navy Boy, parts of Route 66 are cool, most of it is dead straight on concrete roads through the desert......I'm happy to have a chat if you want