My wife and I have been saving for a few years to go ride the roads of Ireland. Any Irish lads on the forum that can tell me the best part of the year to go, and special places of interest. I am retiring for my second time this year, and it has always been a dream of mine to go to Ireland and ride the country.
I quite drinking 20 years ago, but may have to have a 1 month waiver when we go over. Can't go there and not sample the brew Give me a shout if you have any pertinent information. Ride safe

 

Just stay away from Belfast! Saw on TV last night some bad stuff going on between an M/C & the IRA!! LOL!

Have a great trip!

 

I spent 2 days riding there in September of '09. We got really lucky with the weather, it was in the 50s and relatively dry. I'd suggest the west coast between Galway and Clifden, the roads are absolutely amazing.

I rented from http://www.motorental.ie/

 

Not Irish but in the UK. It rains a lot in the UK, but one thing that cheers us up is there is somewhere else that is even worse :-)

Must be in the summer, and generally prices and availability of accomodation etc are more hectic in August. As you are retired and can go just about anytime then personally I would look at June / early to mid July. That keeps you out of school holiday silly season.

Also, the Irish HD rally is supposed to be an absolute blast, although I haven't done it - yet.

Not Ireland, but if you are a racing fan then it would be awesome to coordinate with the Isle of Man TT races - although you will need to book well in advance. It is around the end of May to early June. By all accounts the Health and Safety nuts are putting a lot of pressure on this race so there is a strong possibility it won't be around for many more years.

 

Man, my wife and I have a dream of leaving the kids behind with someone and doing a bike tour of Ireland.
*wistful sigh*

 

I am interested to see how appealling this is to members.

Quite a while back I posted about the option of a "bike swap". I understand a lot of people are very sensitive about others riding their bikes - that is fine, but personally if I could get an arrangement with someone in the US that was willing to do a swap for a couple of weeks I would certainly be interested in discussing it further. The bike hire / hassle etc is a significant cost so if there is a win / win option for 2 "consenting adults" then it should be considered.

I own a 2010 FLHTK and I am based in a lovely part of the UK. This September I was in The Smokies for 9 days and next year I am keen to do South / North Dakota and Montana area.

Obviously the devil is in the detail but no harm trying??

 

Man, that's a dream I have too. I'm still about 8 years from my second retirement (maybe a bit sooner if I have my way or the economy still continues to suck for awhile longer) but one day I'm gonna take the trip!

 

Just don't kiss the Blarney Stone!!! I hear the local's do some scrupulous things to it...not to, should i say "sanitary"...............

 

Thanks for the info, I will keep saving and researching and see if it's cheaper to fly and ride, or take a crusie and take my own bike. Not sure about laws on American vehicles. Oh well, it's a plan, and one I'm not rushing. Gonna try and make it the ride of a lifetime!

 

Hi Dude - I live in Belfast and am happy to help.

I'd recommend May or Sept as it rains here a lot during the summer

There are 3 dealers in the country with 2 in the south and 1 in the north:

http://www.provincewide.com/

most dealers have a good bunch of guys who are happy to help. I regularly see guys over from the states who rent a bike and tour around the island - you could comfortably cover it all in 7-10 days. Food is great and the scenery is worth seeing for sure as well as tracking down ancesters etc.

hope this helps - pm if u need any more info.

Trev

ps. ignore all the nonsense u see on the tv - its the media lookin a story.