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

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

Transcript:

(00:00) if half the change you get back at the gas stop is in Canadian you're probably riding motorcycle in [Music] Michigan hello and welcome to best motorcycle roads I'm Tom and I'm Todd we have over 65 years of combined motorcycling experience and 30 years of planning and riding motorcycle trips we're here to share with you everything we've learned over those years our goal at best motorcycle roads is simple make your next motorcycle trip the best it can be we'll dive into technology planning packing roots and everything in

(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

(01:15) so there's kind of three mounts I guess you would say I mean there's a hundred of them of course but there's three really I mean RAM mount as the X grip and that's kind of your classic ramball attached to kind of this skeleton looking thing with an X grip is what they call it a spring-loaded x that kind of fits your phone in and it kind of snaps inside um I guess it's strong pretty secure for the most part I think you'll explain maybe an issue there but basically the rubber tips as long as

(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

(02:11) rubber band around the middle of your screen well a couple years later uh they came out with a silicone kind of a Graber web yeah and you basically a rubber band that qued up you get all four corners and it just it secures it to the back so that worked great um so I I ordered some of those just online Amazon or something so if you can imagine the X if you kind of compress the X into a sideways X you put the phone in the middle and it kind of opens up the rubber grabs on but yes there's a little bit of trouble sometimes so if

(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

(03:08) a case and or an attachment that goes on the back of the phone you kind of turn it and then you kind of spin it 90° and it locks in so there you're kind of in a good spot I think so the advantages is very secure not really going to come off unless bad bad things happen yeah um so it kind of has that dual lock St you know kind of a dual stage Locking System it's and I think the only negative about this is it's kind of like attached to your phone so you almost have to have a special case for that you know like

(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

(04:09) mhm um but the negatives here of course it's just kind of compression fit in there a little bit so what I've noticed over time if I'm not paying attention it will come undone um so it'll stop charging oh yeah hard to kind of see that um so yeah for me that's the negative there and it it is slippage you'll see some slippage sometimes um and it's not easy sometimes I don't know why it's going out of charger mode but you can't always just get it back working again but it's usually charging

(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

(05:11) got to push you know put your cord through there and then I have just a larger version of that for my uh for 7in tablet and uh those I think I feel like they're more secure than I would agree the X the X grip was I mean I think what we're starting to see now newer bikes are starting to have the Android auto carplay now you can take that phone put it somewhere else and charge and then or you can get the add-on carplay Android AO kind of screen and and a lot of these starting to come you can buy wireless

(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

(06:05) but um that's that's really why I have it out there as mostly for the GPS what I like is if with all this newer features and some of this other options you can put that phone away so it's also just temperature yeah um wet you know it get say anyone it's ruined a phone that way I've ruined two phones that way and it's not in the sun they do overheat if they're in the Sun and yeah yep cool ridewise is the section we focus on planning and safety tips so for today's ridewise planning and safety tip uh

(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

(07:03) before the potholes are fixed uh you get a lot of heaving and and that kind of stuff from you know the ice getting under the or you know freezing under the roads and then uh you know it does get hot make sure you're you're hydrated yeah and then there is a you know such thing called the Great Lakes effect you know on on weather and it it makes the weather change pretty suddenly in Michigan so uh you know when you're leaving be prepared for things like rain fog strong winds nor Easter I don't know

(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

(08:04) EP series I guess we'd call it yep so today we're talking Michigan you know the Great Lake state has some some pretty good rides um it's kind of the up the oopers versus the bottom dwellers um Michigan you know it's very different up north versus the lower part um now I will say a little bias here because I have not rode the east side of Michigan too much um have at all um but I do think that uh the roads that we picked today are some of the better roads there but please argue with us in the comments

(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

(09:16) please go because it's really great it also Sports up in those areas one of the largest waterfalls on the east side of the Mississippi um so yeah and then when you get to white white fish point it's just a really crazy View I mean you start to um look around and there's a lot of Lake to look at up there and it just kind of almost a it's almost like 180 degrees of lake and that's Lake Superior looking into like White Fish Bay right correct yeah yeah yeah and this is kind of where some of these big

(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

(10:18) first big city to Mana which is on the upper peninsula so think about starting in Rogers City and then you cross the Mao Bridge uh then you kind of Follow The Lakes shore of the upper Peninsula Mao bridge is just quite the quite the ride um itself Lake Michigan views you got ligh houses and pasties of course but there's all kinds of syrup and blueberries a lot of things grown up there that you don't really think of all the way and there's lots of places to to get that Rogers City um there's the 40

(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

(11:17) and there's some hikes and sometimes it's the reason why some of these are there is because you know they were a lot of times it was for the train traffic and you'd see you kind of look down below and you can kind of see kind of it's a pretty good cut sometimes so when you stop at some of those little places it's pretty neat but there's also a lot when you're in Manistique I mean this is a very local fishing area so so you can get some fresh fish um that are pretty pretty tasty at times I think too

(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

(12:14) riverishere of fun I think that' be all right to do too yeah so our next our next uh planned route is is really just going around Lake Michigan and hon and hon yeah okay that's right yeah hon is on and on the other side the Canadian side is what we've been thinking so but like it wouldn't be bad to come around them that way sometime too yeah um coming into number two I think I don't know if you've read this one before or not um it's on the southern part of Michigan on the western side Traverse City to

(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

(13:27) um so lots of Shops and and fresh seafood so I'm thinking sometime we really probably should hit that even if it's a fairy right across or something um and then actually along 22 is a lot of uh Vineyards um too so I I you know I don't know what a Vineyard tour does we haven't done that before but there's some interesting um lots of blueberries grapes and things grown in these areas um which is which is kind of interesting yeah i' I've been on Plenty of Vineyard tours with in California never never in

(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

(14:36) some of the great things to see there Harbor Springs Cross Village is a little place that has a a place called the historic legs in it's a like um it's a restaurant that's been around for quite some time kind of uh it looks a little bit like um oh what am I trying to think like a grotesque I would say um there is quite a view there that's a fun little town a lot of people are hanging out there you know it's like a place where people are coming in for kind of a Sunday dinner type feel um really nice gift shops

(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

(15:43) definitely a a a road to see the podcast can be found on best motorcycleroads.com slmp podcast all the information you need will be there uh but you can subscribe on Spotify Amazon music apple pocketcast and YouTube this is the interactive segment we will be looking for input from you uh we want you to send us your questions and suggestions for roads topics and anything else you have on your mind today's roadside Q&A comes from Kevin um again I'm picking these uh questions that we're getting

(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

(16:47) other direction but you'll ride along that uh tanaman Falls it's one of the largest waterfalls East Mississippi and then there's dense forest there's Wildlife um and then you follow all the way out to White Fish Bay Lake Superior there then down to Emerson uh eeran and Trout Lake Y and if you are trying yeah I mean I know you're talking about some other things here but like if you're staying in hotels Paradise Bay is it like you got you're right that's the only hotel in the area pretty much yeah

(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

(17:56) gorgeous area there that is so neat so you know and I think it's St ignis right is that what's on the north side of the bridge oh yeah I'm pretty sure think so yeah so like that might be interesting like finding qu it's a quaint town it's cool Town yeah because there's also to the Far East of St ignis is a is a place called Drummond Island and if you go all the way to the end of Drummond Island that's as West as you can be in Michigan or excuse me East as you can be in Michigan which yeah so that might be

(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

(19:03) clearly clearly you're not hearing me no no it's it's such an interesting area I mean what I've always found really interesting is maybe not right in the very very top of Michigan but you get very far and it's a very two different places a lot of people say that toally the up should really be part of Wisconsin you know it's more but yeah yeah it's fun now it's time for The Last Mile it's kind of the way we close the episode with a reflection on the things we've heard today Todd what what do you

(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

(20:03) remember where the upper one goes but you you do have options for fairies and that's kind of fun too I'm a little bit pricey those fairies are pretty good priced um I do know that if you go on them after Labor Day and Before Memorial Day they're cheaper so watch your if you want to take the fery look for those discounted days but I know that after Labor Day they can be a little bit cheaper which may be a good option too so and how long a ride would those be it depend they're both the same length of

(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

(21:00) don't keep it to yourself like subscribe and share it with your crew we're all about the thrill of the ride and the bond it creates keep the spirit of Adventure alive and remember bikes friends and endless roads the stories ride forever take care [Music] [Music]