USA West coast. Motorcycle Tour with Rus Moto Travel. October 2024. Trip Review, Part One

Hello everyone,

From October 7–18, 2024, we embarked on our first motorcycle tour along the West Coast of the USA, and today we’d like to share how it went. This is the first part of our report on this trip, and we’ll soon publish a second, more technical part covering bank cards, hotel deposits, and other details.

Let’s start with the group composition. We had six participants plus two guides from Rus Moto Travel. Unfortunately, two people couldn’t join us because they were unable to obtain visas—we’ll write a separate post about visas as well.

The route: Los Angeles – Sequoia National Park – Yosemite National Park – Lake Tahoe – Fort Bragg – San Francisco – Monterey – Morro Bay – Los Angeles.

Total distance: Approximately 2,500 km.

We rented motorcycles locally, choosing from Harley-Davidson and Indian models. Interestingly, every participant picked a different bike—some went for the Harley-Davidson Ultra Glide, others for the Road Glide, Indian Roadmaster, Indian Chieftain, and so on.

On the first day of the tour, we discovered that some participants wouldn’t get the exact bikes they had reserved. Even though we’d sent our motorcycle lists ahead of time and received confirmation, the rental companies in the U.S. consider it normal to swap models within the same class.

For example, Harley-Davidson Ultra Glide and Harley-Davidson Road Glide Ultra are considered equivalent, as are Harley-Davidson Street Glide Touring and Harley-Davidson Road Glide Touring. While the rental companies see no major difference, some participants were understandably disappointed if they had been excited to try a specific model. We resolved the issue on-site and learned how to avoid such situations in the future.

About nature. The landscapes left us awestruck. Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks, Lake Tahoe, Tioga Pass, Highway 1 along the Pacific Ocean, and even the secondary roads were breathtakingly beautiful.

American cuisine is all about meat: steaks, BBQ ribs, burgers, and fried chicken. These dishes are almost always delicious in restaurants. Our guides’ choice - BBQ spare ribs. California also felt like a little slice of Mexico, and the fajitas here were fantastic too.

California’s flag features a bear, and during our stay at Lake Tahoe, we understood why. One evening, just as we were heading out for dinner, a bear strolled through the hotel courtyard, walking past the rooms before exiting through the back gate. The next morning, we discovered that one of our motorcycle panniers had been opened, and a carelessly left pastry was missing. The bear had efficiently picked the lock—hence the term “safe-cracker”! Thankfully, the damage was covered by insurance, and we didn’t have to pay for the broken pannier.

A few words about road Traffic. In the U.S. we felt quite familiar - drivers are polite and predictable. However, we noted two unusual traffic rules:

There’s no "yield to the right" rule. At an intersection of equal roads, the first vehicle to arrive has the right of way.
Turning right at a red light is allowed after yielding to other vehicles. This rule doesn’t exist back home, though we’ve heard it was once considered.

Unfortunately, one participant had to leave the tour early due to personal reasons. In San Francisco, he asked us to arrange transport for his motorcycle to Los Angeles, the tour’s endpoint. Shipping the bike via a transport company was prohibitively expensive, and it didn’t fit in a van, so we decided to ride it ourselves.

One guide stayed with the group in San Francisco (it was a rest day), while the other embarked on an impromptu express tour from San Francisco to Los Angeles on an Indian Chief. He returned the same day by plane, and the group resumed the journey through California the next morning.

California is the most motorcycle-friendly state in the U.S. At LAX airport, where we left a bike for a few days, parking for two-wheelers is completely free and has no time limits. It’s also the only state where lane-splitting is officially permitted. We experienced this firsthand when a motorcycle police officer greeted us while riding between cars in traffic—it was a truly memorable moment.

Overall, the tour was fantastic - well-balanced in terms of time, packed with stunning sights and delicious food. We’ll definitely repeat it next year. Stay tuned for the second part of our report, where we’ll cover the technical details.

Upcoming Motorcycle Tours in the USA

If you’re interested in joining us for a U.S. motorcycle tour in the future, here’s our calendar: