Hey all, I haven't been on here or posted for a while. I was reading some of the other south island tour threads, but I don't want to hijack another thread, so this is a new one.
I'm planning to do a 1-2 week quick ride/tour around the south island in December or January, starting and ending in CHC.
I've always wanted to do a tour on a nice, large-engined, modern bike, something like a BMW R1200GS or similar.
I like all the fancy stuff on the brand new ones, but I can't afford to buy a new one, so I'm thinking of 3 possible options:
Option 1: I can do a self-guided tour, where the accommodation is all booked, route all planned, and the rental bike is included (2017 BMW R1200GS or R1200RS) (About $6-7K including air fares to/from CHC and food, petrol, rental/accommodation/itinerary/gps package). It's a crap-ton of money to spend on a one week holiday, I could buy a very good motorbike for that kind of spend...
https://goo.gl/ekwr5a
Option 2: Use the same bike rental outfit to rent the same 2017 R1200GS for 8 days, but plan the tour route and itinerary myself, and find places to stay with AirBnB (About $4K including air fares to CHC, Food, petrol, Accommodation, Bike Rental).
https://goo.gl/JS4LZd
Option 3: I could buy an older touring bike, like an old R1100RT or similar with reg/wof/luggage/panniers, anywhere in NZ, fly there to pick up the bike, ride to the south island, do the tour, ride back to AKL, and then try to sell the bike for as close to what I bought it for as possible. The final tour cost here be might be under $1-2K after selling the bike (depending on what, if anything, I lose through reselling the bike afterwards), but there is more hassle, and time spent, and upfront cost: Buying the bike, organising insurance, The long ride maybe from AKL to CHC and from CHC to AKL again afterwards, including ferry crossings, selling it again afterwards, etc. But maybe that's part of the fun?
https://goo.gl/FFe5nX
This is a rough idea of the tour route I had in mind:
Basically something like, CHC - Tekapo - Queenstown - Franz Josef - Punakaiki - Hanmer Springs - Kaikoura - CHC.
So, I'm open to ideas and suggestions: Important stuff to pack? Hints for making the plans? Ideas of places and roads not to miss in that area? I'm not very good at planning this sort of thing. I'll be touring solo too, by the way. Best of the three options I've mentioned above, and reasons why? Maybe a fourth option I hadn't considered? If I go the buy/tour/sell route, things to look for and avoid in older touring BMWs? I've been looking at 2001-2008 bikes between about $4-9K: R1200GS, R1200RT, R1150RT, R1100RT, Honda VFR800, Triumph Tiger 955i, etc. Which will be the most comfortable for touring, the most capable/safe/reliable, and will hold its value the best, and be the easiest to resell after the tour?
Cheers!
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