If you get a VW Vanagon or Microbus, install a DVD player. Then purchase DVD’s of places that you would like to see. Charge the battery and sit in the VW Vanagon and watch the DVD’s. Don’t start the motor, because it probably won’t run anyway. This way you can take a Virtual Trip. You will get extremely good gasoline mileage and you won’t risk breakdowns. You can make the trip even more adventurous by either driving or towing the VW Vanagon to a place near a sorority house on a college campus before you begin your virtual trip.
Five motorcycles at 50 mpg if they can do that totals out to 10 mpg for the group. For that, buy almost anything with four wheels that runs. Beyond that, I like the suggestion to buy a US made vehicle that will have depreciated more than an Asian vehicle. Something popular made by Chevrolet or Ford as there are dealers everywhere; many more than the Asian brands and US vehicles are not as bad as Consumer Reports wants to tell us. You might want to invest $50 or $70 in a trouble code reader to determine trouble codes to help yourselves. A laptop with a commonly available dialup account will help to interpret any trouble code for your mechanically inclined fellow traveler. Don’t forget to have a WiFi setup to park near a Starbucks etc. for Internet access too.
You guys are lucky to have the Internet. In the bad old days, we just went with what we had and hoped for the best and did OK.
Enjoy your adventure. This will be a time that you will remember forever. I wish I could come along; too old for you and the wife says no!
Take this trip in luxury. Buy a old used pop up camper to tow behind the party van!
I don’t think the point of taking motorcycles is to maximize fuel mileage, even if that is what everyone tells their wives when they buy one. (-;
This guy (a friend of a friend) had a pretty cool bike trip:
Yep, and similar to hybrid cars, you won’t save money by riding a motorcycle just because of better fuel economy. Everything is more expensive. When calculating the cost of a motorcycle, you should factor in that tires cost three times as much per tire and last about 1/3 as long as car tires, the higher cost of labor and parts for maintenance, replacing your helmet at least every five years, and all the other gear and accessories. Even the windshield for my motorcycle is more expensive than a replacement windshield for my car. Even if you get 60 MPG on a motorcycle, riding a motorcycle costs more per mile than driving the average car…but is it still worth it!