Best way to tour Iceland on a m/c?

Devon said:
I think the best bet would be to hire a 20ft container and freight our M/Cs to Iceland from Immingham in the UK. We could then all fly in a week later and collect the bikes from the port. Freighting the M/Cs shouldn't be that expensive.
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We air freighted about a 1000kg of diving kit in about 4 years ago, it was easy to do with a freight forwarder at Heathrow and not too expensive even at the old exchange rates. I think freighting is only done by Icelandair, and we got the kit on the same flight we were on.

It's a great country, but very disappointing that they have started whaling again.
 
Rushy the 650 was fine with all the weight on the back. I change the sub frame for TT steel one.

In fact the 650 was the perfect bike for the trip.

The
 
Waiting for the Big Heavy Bikes to catch up :blast

The Rave 4 was a hire car with a German couple they did not read the sign that told you to cross 10m down stream:nenau
 

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Well, I have done a bit of homework for a trip but there doesn't seem to be a cheap option for seeing Iceland other than fly in with a tent in your luggage and take buses everywhere.

To ship my M/C from Immingham in a container is about £650-ish but factor in delivering and collecting the bike to the port from Devon adds another £200-ish in Diesel and 2 x 16hr days driving: I would be better off hiring a M/C in Iceland for 8 days at 100 euros a day (the cheapest deal I can find). Flights to Iceland can be had for £150-ish plus the cost of getting to the airport and parking.

There is a ferry from Dk which stops off at the Faroes and is a 36 hr crossing. The cheapest crossing with a m/c is 568 euros return. It's a 1000 boring miles ride to Dk for me but it's looking favourite at the moment. :beerjug:
 
Jaythro said:
Take a VERY Full wallet or a very empty credit card with a big limit!!

It's not cheap!!!

Try Horizons unlimited for info there should be some good stuff there
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I'd disagree with the expense side of things... yes it can be, but if you're smart you can do it cheaper.

We've been out there a couple of time, first a long weekend to Reykjavík where we hired a Landcruiser which cost between us what a single "golden circle ticket would have cost". We did a load of driving out and able from there and saw as much if not more than the tours without all the people. It was a good few years back, but I honestly didnt think Reykjavík was any more expensive than any other western capital city.

The second time we went out we flew to the north, picked up another Landcruiser and toured around the north, east and west, driving back to Reykjavík... the north is a lot more expensive and there arent as many options... we ended up spending something reduclous like 60 quid on two very medioca pizza and 2 beers, after that we bought stuff from local supermarkets and cooked for ourselves at various place.

Iceland is a really amazing country, I've really enjoyed myself both times we've been and would definately go back.

it's well worth working out what you want to do and picking your time accordingly, one of the things I wanted to do was some of the inland routes, we got lucky as they opened up towards the end of our trip, but we could have easily missed them

Devon said:
There is a ferry from Dk which stops off at the Faroes and is a 36 hr crossing. The cheapest crossing with a m/c is 568 euros return. It's a 1000 boring miles ride to Dk for me but it's looking favourite at the moment. :beerjug:
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the last time we were out there we met a couple of guys who'd done just that. One on a GS the other on an RT (that had sadly been dropped a couple of time). Just checked, our last trip was June 2005. The guys we met seemed to be having an excellent time, but even in June the North is bloody cold :( didnt notice it too much in the south


edit: the attached pic is me trying to look shame faced at the state of the rental car... really doesn't work when you done mean it :aidan
 

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Iceland

I've been up to Iceland a few times now both with the bike or hiring a jeep and visiting friends there. It really is an amazing country and truly spectactular driving on ice studs in the winter on very snowy and very empty roads.

Most of my friends there are in the Icelandic Rescue Service and they've given me very good advice over the years regarding travel in the interior and 'not using' closed roads when they are closed. I've been twice with the bike in late May and most of the interior roads were closed aswell as some of the roads to the main 'offroad' tourist attractions such as Dettifoss and Askja.

It's a real pain not having the ferry from Shetland anymore as it used to be possible to sail from Aberdeen to Iceland three days each way including having a fantastic days riding on Shetland and The Faroe Islands. Sailing to and from Denmark is just too expensive and takes too long.

When I do go back to Iceland i'll probably just hire a jeep again as the weather in November can be a bit testing but if the weather was good enough i'd hire a bike from www.bikingviking.is. They have a good selection of bikes now and seem a very friendly bunch of mainly BMW enthusiasts.

If I wasn't going up to the Nordkapp again in late May then it'd be Iceland for sure it's just a pity there isn't a quick cheap way of getting my bike there(Norway's bad enough now with no DFDS sailing from Newcastle)

FP.:thumb2
 
I reckon hiring a m/c is probably the most economical way to see Iceland but I really want to use my own bike. It's a pity I can't find a cheap deal to ship the m/c from Britain: £650 is £400 more than shipping the bike should be and is from Holland. :(


I intend to sail from Dk (not the end of the world as I usually ride to Dk once a year and visit mates) around the 5th June and spend about 8 days on Iceland. The plan is to ride the 800mile ring road and venture short distances into the interior. I hope to get a couple of days fishing in as well. I expect I will do 12hr -ish days on the bike: it's too far to go to spend too much time sleeping and sitting around

Are TKCs a must or will road tyres suffice for the ring road?
 
Hi Devon,

I feel the same way about riding my own bike. It's just not the same sense of adventure stepping off a plane and picking up a rental. When the Norrona sails into Seydisfjordur you get a real sense of achievement as you arrive.

Go to the Shell Fuel Station in Eskifjordur and get a free cup of coffee from my friend Einar if he's in! He's toured the Baltic states on his Susuki GSX1400 and makes all bikers welcome. They have excellent Hamborgarar med Franska and usually do a 'daginnsret' or daily meal at his restaurant at the fuel station

I used TKC80s on my 1150GSA and I use Karoos on my HP2, the TKCs were fine for me(you would be amazed what type of bikes Icelanders ride even on the gravel, two of my Icelandic friends rode Suzuki Intruders, cruisers are very common although there are a lot more adventure tourers up there these days) Tourances would be fine on the ringroad as there's not so much of it gravel these days and you'll get used to riding the gravel in no time at all. It's a bit scary at first but you can easily travel at 100kph on good gravel whereas the deep loose freshly graded stuff is a nightmare!

The fishing is fantastic on Iceland and the days are long. Visit the 'hot pots' around the island and enjoy a dip in the many geothermally heated pools. The waterfalls are incredible as is the glacial scenery but watch for stones flying off the 'superjeeps' as they whizz past with their cargo of 'golden circle' tourists.

The first time I went to Iceland we only had six days but still managed most of the tourist sites on the ringroad aswell as a day in Reykjavik and a day relaxing in the Eastfjords before catching the ferry home.

Must see's for me were

Heradsfloi lava beach and mountain pass
Dettifoss
Lake Myrvatn and Namafjall
Godafoss
Rekjavik
Blue Lagoon
Gullfoss
Skogafoss
Seljallandsfoss
Skeidararsandur and the Vatnajokull Icecap and Glaciers
Nuppstadur church
Jokullsarlon Glacial lagoon

loads more............



FP. :thumb
 
I have booked the ferry today. It leaves Dk 12th June, I will spend 3 days on the Faroes and the sail to Iceland and do 7 days looking around. Depart Iceland the 24th and arrive in Dk again the 26th. I know very little about the Faroes but they look interesting on the map

The Ferry from DK cost me 530 euros sharing a cabin for 4 blokes. It looks like I will be camping a fair bit to keep costs down. I will plan more nearer the time
 
you might find this useful is should show you road conditions and was generally pretty up to date when we where out there.

it'll let you know when the various roads are open, etc.

Dont venture off piste there while stuff can look solid you can find yourself easily up to your axles and beyond :( the first time we were out there, I did one of the southern track routes up to a glacier. I wanted to stop on the way back down to get some pics, pulled off the main track into what looked like a viewing park area only to sink the front end of a LandCruiser up to its belly - got out ok, but a lot easier with reverse than trying to haul a bike out.

Looking at one of merlings1200 pics it looks like he had a little of the same

lol... there's some funny stuff here :D driving in Iceland
 
Devon said:
I have booked the ferry today. It leaves Dk 12th June, I will spend 3 days on the Faroes and the sail to Iceland and do 7 days looking around. Depart Iceland the 24th and arrive in Dk again the 26th. I know very little about the Faroes but they look interesting on the map

The Ferry from DK cost me 530 euros sharing a cabin for 4 blokes. It looks like I will be camping a fair bit to keep costs down. I will plan more nearer the time
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Are you riding to Denmark? How long do you reckon the whole trip will take door to door?
Having dived in Iceland and driven all over, I'd love to go by bike but don't want to fly/hire.
 
Berin said:
Are you riding to Denmark? How long do you reckon the whole trip will take door to door?
Having dived in Iceland and driven all over, I'd love to go by bike but don't want to fly/hire.
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I expect to blat the motorways up to near Hamburg then take the main road that follows the west coast north of Hamburg and up through DK. It's 300 miles for me to Dover and then about 750 miles to Northern DK. I will allow 16 days in total for the trip.

I booked my ferry tickets through the Danish office for Smyril line.
 
Devon said:
I expect to blat the motorways up to near Hamburg then take the main road that follows the west coast north of Hamburg and up through DK. It's 300 miles for me to Dover and then about 750 miles to Northern DK. I will allow 16 days in total for the trip.

I booked my ferry tickets through the Danish office for Smyril line.
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Good on you mate, if you need any assistance while up here you can always contact us at Biking Viking www.bikingviking.is [email protected], we do offer emergency service as well as bike rental and guided tours
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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