Biker camp site?

[apes]

just trying to canvass some opinion on an idea I'm having at present and want to see if it's worth me progressing any further.
Basically what I want to know is if there were a camp site that specialised in providing facilities for bikers would you be interested and if so what facilities would you want on site, such as secure gear drying facilities, showers, bar, bunk house etc.
On this theme for those coming from overseas and I know this is likely to be a subjective thing, what do you believe would make the best bike for touring the lower North Island and upper South Island regions?
By now you are probably realising the sort of venture I am thinking of, I believe I have found a wonderful location for a biker orientated camp site situated on a decent biking road, but need to find out if the opinions of someone new to NZ match those of true Kiwi bikers. If this is the case I would look at acquiring the land next year with opening the campsite before Xmas 2011, increasing the facilities every winter until we are at the point of having a biker camp site that could also accommodate one or two rallies per year

Thanks for your input, Apes

[Forum Ninja]

I think the idea's great, but you'd prob need to have lots of them scattered around the country unless you've got a prime spot in mind that'll attract a lot of bikers to that one area. I've travelled around the country touring on my bikes and I just used the normal campsites without any issues. That said, if there was somewhere that offered secure, covered parking for my bike (such as a biker friendly place might) then I'd have been more inclined to go there. I didn't like leaving my bike out in the rain over night and I had to strip all the bags and everything off my it every night and put them in the tent with me. Sounds a minor point, but having to do that every night and put them back on every morning got a bit of a pain after a couple of weeks!

One thing I found when travelling is that metal roads would appear with no warning, which was a bit of a pain on a cafe racer, so when I start doing some proper touring again, I'll probably look at buying/hiring something like an F650GS so I can get off the beaten track and not worry too much about ending up on rough roads, etc.

Sounds like a great idea in all, provided you can pick the right spot. Good luck with it!

Edit: By the way, are you thinking of along SH60, West of Nelson by any chance? I was in that area on my bike last year and I could only find the one campsite (at the end by Farewell Spit) which was very basic and eccesially(sp?) someones back garden. So I recon any campsite in that area would prob do well.

[onearmedbandit]

Edit: By the way, are you thinking of along SH60, West of Nelson by any chance? I was in that area on my bike last year and I could only find the one campsite (at the end by Farewell Spit) which was very basic and eccesially(sp?) someones back garden. So I recon any campsite in that area would prob do well.

Hmmm, wonder if that was our place lol. Nah wouldn't have been, but we have a holiday home up there on the beach front. Great spot and me and lads are planning on doing a ride up there again soon.

Back on topic, yeah it's something that interests me. All I want is a toilets/showers. That's it. Give me a square of land to put my tent up, go catch dinner and cook it up on a smoker. Don't need a bunk room or a bar. Camping isn't staying in a bunk room to me, but if some prefer it fine, just it would put costs up. I'm hpoing to sort a tent etc this year to be able to just pack up and leave on the bike and stop anywhere.

[spacemonkey]

To be honest I wouldn't really be tempted with a campsite for bikers, if I go camping its for a nice quiet relaxing time and my experience is your not going to get that around a bunch of bikers.
But each to their own.

[Forum Ninja]

Hmmm, wonder if that was our place lol. Nah wouldn't have been, but we have a holiday home up there on the beach front. Great spot and me and lads are planning on doing a ride up there again soon.

It was right up at the very top, just before the visitor center. I actually found it by chance as I was going to pitch my tent at the side of the road when I got up there. Not a bad spot by any means, but very little level ground, so balancing the bike on sloping grass was a bit tricky!

P.S. Very jealous that you have a holiday home up there!

[CookMySock]

While on the face of it, it sounds like a good idea to put it on some cool tucked-away route, watch out that you don't actually chop off 3/4 of your clientele. While the special events will be the cream, you still need plain ol' bread and butter to pay the bills, unless of course you have money and do it for fun.

Steve

[Banditbandit]

Sounds like a great idea - hope you can make it work.

I'm too old for tenting - and prefer to travel light ... I normally just carry a sleeping bag, soap and towel and a change of clothes (on the road you wear your riding gear ... the change is for the evening ...) a bunkhouse ... showers ... kitchen ... covered and secure bike parking ... somewhere to dry wet riding gear overnite (and it's still there in the morning) ... that would be what I would be looking for ...

A bar on-site or a pub across the road as an optional extra ... as well as several hundred ks to the nearest patrol car

Best bike to tour on? Are you thinking of setting up a hire company as well? Probably a BMW - I don't own one currently, so the BMW riders might be able to tell you which of the new models ... but they'd be the best all-round tourer - most riders could cope with one, comfortable, good panniers to hold enough gear ...

[Tank]

A great campsite with a couple of weekends dedicated to rallies will be far more successful than a biker focused campsite.

When I did my campsite tour of the south island - the VAST majority of campers were in motorhomes - they are the people I would be catering to first - then cabins. It would not be hard to make it bike friendly (which is a good thing) - but having bikers as a primary focus - I believe would be a huge mistake.

You could simply 'block out' a couple of weekends a year for 'bikes only' and make an event of it - but remember - that it can take years and years to build up a 'named' rally (cold kiwi etc etc) and to continually get lots of bikes coming.

Either way - I wish you all the best.

[Spearfish]

A great campsite with a couple of weekends dedicated to rallies will be far more successful than a biker focused campsite.

When I did my campsite tour of the south island - the VAST majority of campers were in motorhomes - they are the people I would be catering to first - then cabins. It would not be hard to make it bike friendly (which is a good thing) - but having bikers as a primary focus - I believe would be a huge mistake.

You could simply 'block out' a couple of weekends a year for 'bikes only' and make an event of it - but remember - that it can take years and years to build up a 'named' rally (cold kiwi etc etc) and to continually get lots of bikes coming.

Either way - I wish you all the best.

+1
cabins stop you having to take a tent and bedroll, just a fartsack. but then you miss on the DoC sites, with a proper camp ground every third night or so to clean up.

A small enclosure or carport off the side of a cabin to un/reload would be good.

A mate of mine and our wife/partners are planning a full NZ tour using a converted Toyota coaster bus as a base (long way south on 125's) so camper van facilities would be needed as well.

[CookMySock]

A mate of mine and our wife/partners are planning a full NZ tour using a converted Toyota coaster bus as a base (long way south on 125's) so camper van facilities would be needed as well.

That will be so much fun!

Quite a few DOC campgrounds completely ban motorcycles. I wonder if they would exempt tourers or adventure bikers on a case-by-case basis. I know they can be pretty flexible sometimes, so if a proper approach was made maybe they would allow it.

Steve

[Rosie]

That will be so much fun!

Quite a few DOC campgrounds completely ban motorcycles. I wonder if they would exempt tourers or adventure bikers on a case-by-case basis. I know they can be pretty flexible sometimes, so if a proper approach was made maybe they would allow it.

Steve

Which DoC campsites are these?

[NodMan:Me]

OR alongside a few biker friendly campsites also have "POPs"(park on property) similar to the motorhome/caravan association, ie KBers setting up POPs for other KBers, those of us in rural locations with a bit of land happy to have other bikers stay in their tents, with lock up for bikes, happy to share cooking and shower facilities and even a bit of local knowledge bout good roads/rides in our own areas! Just need to set up a network of friendly KBers so you can hop from one to another without having to pay to stay at unknown campsites
Just my two cents worth Nod (lost in Northland)

[Banditbandit]

happy to share cooking and shower facilities (lost in Northland)

Jeez .. I might be able to share the road with bikers ... but share showers?

[CookMySock]

Which DoC campsites are these?

Lake Tarawera is the one I was thinking of. The road to it is through private property on which bikes are banned, and the campground has a "no motorbikes" sign as well.

Steve

[duckonin]

Lake Tarawera is the one I was thinking of. The road to it is through private property on which bikes are banned, and the campground has a "no motorbikes" sign as well.

Steve

Any particular bikes Steve ?? Or only Dirt bikes?