Best Motorcycle Roads - Episode 32: Exploring Michigan's Scenic Motorcycle Routes

Join us as we explore the top motorcycle roads in Michigan, highlighting the most scenic routes and hidden gems. Plus, we discuss essential motorcycle gear and maintenance tips for your ride.

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⏰ Timecodes ⏰

0:00 - Teaser

0:15 - Intro

1:00 - Pre-Roll (Email List Promotion)

1:30 - The Toolkit (Essential Motorcycle Gear & Maintenance Tips)

4:10 - Ride Wise (Planning Tips for Michigan Motorcycle Rides)

7:09 - Mile Marker (Top 5 Michigan Motorcycle Roads)

7:45 - Tunnel of Trees Road

8:45 - M-22

10:03 - US-41 to Copper Harbor

10:37 - Lake Michigan Circle Tour

11:42 - Huron River Drive

13:41 - Website & Subscribe

14:13 - Roadside Q&A (Hidden Gem Roads in Michigan)

17:32 - The Last Mile (Reflections on Michigan)

#MotorcycleRoads #MichiganMotorcycleRides #BestMotorcycleRoads #RideSafe #MotorcycleGear

About:

Welcome to Best Motorcycle Roads! Hosted by Tom and Todd, we share our 65+ years of motorcycling experience to help you make your next motorcycle trip the best it can be. Each episode dives into technology, planning, packing, routes, and everything in between. From essential prep to unforgettable routes, we've got you covered.

Episode 032 - Top 5 Motorcycle Roads of Michigan - Best Motorcycle Roads - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8wMU5cnp8E

Transcript:

(00:41) between from essential prep to Unforgettable Roots we've got you covered before we kick start today's Journey we ask you to sign up for our BMR Rider alerts it's our way of keeping you in the loop with the latest rides tips and stories we promise no spam only the essentials to enhance your motorcycle Adventures join the BMR crew today we'll put a link in the show notes this segment about motorcycle gear reviews and tips we call the toolkit Todd let's talk about smartphone mounts today I have some experience with this

(01:45) they're kind of positioned properly they'll hold your phone in there pretty well but there is a tether that's really important right very important so when they first came out with the xgrip uh they didn't includ include any sort of a tether right and there were couple of times where I hit some bumps right uh and it shook the handlebars enough that my phone actually did flop out of there and I thought well this is shitty so I started putting a rubber band around the whole thing yeah but then you have a

(02:42) you're using this make sure you use the tether you have to have the tether on it and then the other thing with this is if you don't position it exactly right those those grips that are on the side can actually like push your buttons right and that is the other problem with most phone mounts I mean it's just yeah yeah yeah you've got to kind of get it set in there just right yeah the second one eliminates that problem that's called the quad lock and basically what that is is it's an attachment and I it's

(03:40) whereas like now modern phones now also a lot of wireless charging not all these have that part so the third one kind of is that zero Gold Strike that one is the one that's kind of um it kind of has a lever lock so you can do it with one hand which is kind of nice you put it in snap it down and you kind of get some tension on the side there's adjustability to prevent the buttons and what I like about this one and this is what I actually have on the gold one for me is it also includes wireless charger

(04:37) up to full capacity so it's kind of helpful so and I do have uh two newer um Ram mounts one one for my phone and one for my 7in tablet like I need all that on the bik but the newer um uh motorcycle one for my um just for my mobile phone is RAM mount but it's um kind of a sliding uh tension thing from the top and bottom and it has two lips that come over so your phone kind of goes back in there and then it slides down real tight and then I assume the bottom maybe has the hole so you can charge yeah the bottom has a hole you

(05:39) accessory so they can charge do things connect wirelessly I mean the safest thing is to get them into a bag and charge them while you're not touching them because I I mean I know it's so habitual to just want to touch that sucker um well and it's nice to have it out there I'm not using it for anything other than like GPS and maps and and things like that or if someone does call it'll show me on the screen that someone's calling I can hear it in my headset and I just tap and I'm talking

(06:35) since we're talking about Michigan riding in Michigan I just want to talk about a couple of things uh unique to Michigan the winters are pretty brutal so put spikes in your tees no no no but it it affects the roads you get a lot of potholes you know in the spring uh you'll also get a lot of gravel onto the roads because the snowplows right and everything are pushing snow that picks up the gravel and all that kind of stuff so um just make sure that you're paying attention uh especially in the spring

(07:32) about nor easers but um just pack accordingly it just know that it can it can change quickly it really really can and have your have your rain gear packed at the top of your bag so that you're not having to dig down yeah and I always say put in the right side of your saddle bag great idea so when you get off the road you're on non-traffic side great idea yeah I love that the next segment is what we call the mile marker it's our story segment all right well we're at part five of the Midwest top five roads

(08:39) yeah um so coming into number five for me is up to White Fish Bay uh taka Manan Falls to White Fish Point um so we've talked about this before recently actually you know but it is just a scenic route through the Upper Peninsula just Deep Forest roads stops that just man the Lakes um for me and then taka ham Falls State Park a white fish point and then the great great lake Shipwreck Museum which we also talked about recently is up in White Fish Bay and I've been to that it's amazing um it is really truly if you're anywhere near

(09:45) wrecks have happened and you start to understand why um it's just like there's not much I mean it's like North is Canada you know like and it's just you can see where it get vicious in November yeah uh lots of of course Lighthouse um uh when you're at was fish point you can see Lakes beer and what lighthouses there and then the museum um just some great stuff so so that's number five number four Us 2 so if you think of the East Northeastern side of the South part of Michigan Rogers City is kind of their

(10:48) mile lighthouse in that area and again The Mao Bridge uh I think it's it's not five miles it's two miles I think it's two or three yeah I think so yeah it's one of the longest suspension Bridges um used to have a lot more I think gr graded road I don't know if there's as much of that that's a little the wire gr yeah yeah yeah yeah uhhuh and then cut River Bridge is actually on the North side too and and that's kind of a cool um some of these bridges are old you know hopefully secure but they're cool

(11:41) yeah uh number three and this is one that I've actually I've personally never been on Hon uh River Drive that's um Ann Arbor to Dexter so that follows the hon River um lots of wiing Roads Scenic views um Barton nature area the delh high Metro Park and then downtown Dexter if you're kind of interested in that little shopping thing um Zingerman's Roadhouse in Ann Arbor is supposed to be quite the place to eat um and then there's a lot of uh the the delhigh M Metro Park has some great kind of

(12:56) Northport yeah um they call it the leilan Peninsula so that's kind of way way up there you know like um and there is some great lighthouses there that I have stopped at and again the views of Lake Michigan it keeps saying views and Views and views my goodness it really is something that's also where Sleeping Bear Dunes Park is that if you've heard of that um lots of hiking and things there but Leland I didn't realize and we I don't think I even stopped when we went by Leland but is historic Fish Town

(13:59) same except colder and then for number one and it's maybe one of the shortest roots that we've have on the on this uh but is the tunnel of trees m119 yeah so it's just to the West uh if you were coming off the bridge to the South um so basically this is just quite you know it talks about um you know the Michigan Shoreline and you probably are less than a quarter of a mile from it but you don't see it hard at all it's just complete dense trees yeah and narrow this thing is narrow it is not two cars wide yeah um

(15:10) things like that not too far north if you're coming from from the bridge to to here you'll you can pass through a little um local grocery store um that's called Bliss in Bliss so it just lots of overlooks in this area spots to capture photos do not be in a hurry on m119 yeah it's D dous if people are kind of messing around and and I've seen a lot of sports cars are going up you know to legs in for lunch coming from up you know from down below so but boy it's a great road if you haven't seen it it's

(16:16) based on what we're going to be talking about mat trying to match it all up so uh Kevin said beyond the maag bridge what are some lesser known scenic routes in in Michigan that offer unique writing experiences and the one I was really thinking of was that uh ta quamen Scenic byway uh m123 yes um it's it's really like the best of the best in the upper peninsula um I was I was kind of picturing uh starting in Newberry and riding it west to east but I mean you were kind of talking about it going the

(17:18) I I know that um my wife and I looped Lake Michigan several years ago and I I was just in oh it was my first time that I remember being in the upper peninsula uhhuh and I just remember being in on just saying all right I want to rent a vbo come up here for a week you know and just ride and and visit places the the towns are cool they're quaint um but having said that don't miss riding along us2 yeah where you were talking about that uh from the Mac Bridge up to uh knin way there yep yep man that's a

(18:27) interesting to plan out sometime is you know vbo and St ignis that gives you I think a pretty you could do a heck of a long day ride down on that you know Northeastern side of Michigan and come back yeah that'd be interesting yeah and then of course visit Mao Island while you're while you're right there right I don't think you Motors there no no no no I mean just you take a ferry over there and walk or bicycle not I'm confused Mao Island yeah I no no Motors did you say sorry we'll can clip all this out right

(19:30) got uh again Upper Peninsula Michigan highly recommended I I want to go back um but I'm interested in exploring some of the uh the East part that uh I really haven't done any riding in yeah you know so uh yeah that's kind where I'm and I guess the one thing and it's technically not Michigan so maybe this is why we didn't talk about it but there are two fairies that run back and forth from Illinois or Wisconsin to Michigan which can be fun too so Milwaukee to Dean and I'm forgetting uh something Mana I can't

(20:29) time I think it's about like an hour and a half or two hours but one of them's twice the distance so one of them goes quite a bit faster than the other but yeah but other than that I agree um you know as I love M uh 119 best Road Michigan White Fish Bay is attractive like it's so cool I'm excited for you guys to go up there the next time we go because yeah I think you're going to be super impressed and happy Oh I know I will yeah and you just sing the song A Lot the ad mid stre if this episode revved up your day