Review of Reuther’s Motorcycle Tours – July 2018
We recently had a 1-week guided motorcycle tour with Reuther’s Tours in July 2018. This was a destination Guided Motorcycle Tour through southern Germany and the Czech Republic. The “destination” was the Harley-Davidson’s 115th Anniversary Celebration in Prague, Czech Republic. I wanted to capture a review of our experience for this Tour to hopefully help others decide if this type of tour and tour operator would meet their own motorcycling vacation expectations.
COST:
The Tour included motorcycle rental and insurance, 7 nights all “middleclass” hotel accommodations including breakfasts, escort vehicle and driver, onebag/suitcase per person transportation in escort vehicle, Welcome Dinner, Farewell Dinner, fuel, tolls, parking, transfers before and after we picked up the bikes, entrance fee to the Harley Davidson 115th Anniversary event. The cost for this package for a rider and passenger was approx. $7200 (including 10% early bird discount) depending on the exchange rate. (Does not include airfare, trip insurance, meals other than those noted)
THE GOOD:
The logistics for the trip were very well organized. Basic to good hotels (although no AC in most of the accommodations). Checkin and checkout at each hotel was extremely easy and efficient with the advance work done by Reuthers. Excellent breakfasts were included with all accommodations.
A Welcome Dinner and Farewell Dinner were also included in the Tour Price. Reuthers provides a van and driver for the entire tour that handles the on-the-road logistics. Each rider and passenger are allowed 1 large suit case per person that travels in the Van. Even though the rental contract is with each rider, the rental motorcycle can only be ridden with the group tour. In other words, you can’t go off and ride independently from the tour.
Transportation logistics from our first hotel to the Nuremberg Harley Dealership were well planned. Our rental paperwork (which can sometimes be a nightmare) was very smooth, organized in advance and efficiently managed. Outstanding motorcycles. Most in our group had brand new motorcycles as our rentals. Mine was a 2018 Harley Ultra Limited with 12 miles on it to start. We had perfect weather and never needed our rain gear. All gas stops are planned in advanced and are pumped and paid for by the Van driver and Reuthers. So, you never needed to pump or pay for your own gas.
Total motorcycling ride distance was about 1000KMs or a little over 600 miles.
THE BAD:
The original trip billing was somewhat of a hassle. At first there was a discount because we booked the trip by Reuther’s “early bird” deadline. Then the tour operator said we only got the discount because we booked the Tour as a Group which meant we needed to pay as a Group. The Tour operator required international wire transfers (no credit card billing). Unnecessarily confusing.
The lack of AC in most of our hotels after a long sweaty day on a motorcycle was less than desirable. Of course, AC is not available in all hotels in Europe but it would have made the trip more comfortable if the tour operator had reserved hotels that had AC.
As an American, if you were expecting to enjoy a world-renowned local Bavarian beer at lunch…. Forget it. The tour operator would not allow any alcohol consumption by the riders. I get it. Makes sense. But not even a “single” beer was allowed by the riders. Important to know if you thought you might experience a taste of local beer on your tour.
Renting a bike for 7 days and only riding 4 days seemed like a waste.
The longest ride of the trip, from Prague to Nuremberg, was a lost opportunity for a short tour of a local village or something off the highway. The guide seemed to waste time with multiple unnecessary and long stops at highway rest stops, when we could have easily gotten off the highway for a short tour of the Bavarian backcountry. We would have easily made it back in time even with a local ride off the highway.
THE UGLY:
We had a major “blow-up” with the tour guide over WEARING T-SHIRTS WHILE RIDING OUR RENTED MOTORCYCLES. Ridiculous and unnecessary histrionics by the tour guide over wearing t-shirts. It was the second day of riding. Most of us had worn t-shirts on the 1st day and he said nothing. It was 90 degrees, bright sunshine and he was demanding we all wear long sleeve t-shirts or our jackets. We refused and he went ballistic and proceeded to take pictures of each couple on their bike wearing t-shirts as if we were criminals violating some law.
More importantly, on the second day of riding, our guide got lost due to some construction and crazy navigation directions from his GPS. We’ve all been there. No big deal. All he needed to do was safely navigate us back to a safe route. Instead he made a U-turn in the middle of a T-intersection. He was a single rider leading a group of 2-up riders and he’s navigating us to make a U-turn in a difficult downhill intersection that could have ended badly for any of us and we are all very experienced riders. That very unsafe maneuver (particularly when contrasted with his concern for safety about wearing t-shirts) was unforgivable in my opinion for an experienced guide and left me with a negative impression of this tour operator.
SUMMARY:
The Tour overall was an amazing experience with terrific old friends and some wonderful new friends. The cities of Nuremberg, Coburg, Dresden and Prague were truly spectacular. The city tour guides were top-notch. The Harley celebration was fun and the motorcycling in Bavaria was excellent…at least on the days when we were riding.
Would I ride again with this Tour Operator? Tough question … I’d have to think about it long and hard. In the end, I would probably want to try a different Motorcycling Tour Operator that wasn’t quite so “demanding with rules”.