RoadTracks
(Formerly Motorbiketours)
Motorbike touring in Europe and beyond
Why RoadTracks?
RoadTracks (formerly known as MotorbikeTours) is a site geared towards enthusiasts who enjoy both BMW motorbikes and touring in and around Europe with the My Route App and Garmin GPX files.
Welcome to my attempt at setting up a website geared to biking enthusiasts primarily in and around the Randstad area of Holland! As you can see despite having lived here since 2003 my written Dutch is not good enough to establish the site in the native dialect; besides most natives read better English than almost all of us foreigners speak Dutch put together! However, my spoken word passes almost for native ''Haags'' (the Hague dialect) so please don't be put off if you see only English here. I do have quite a following of fellow bikers in UK so the language covers both areas easily!
Have a browse through the site and have a look particularly at the routes that I have set up, developed and ridden. Feel free to download them. All I ask in return is a little feedback as to what you think, areas for improvement and if you are interested drop me a line and join our small band of riding members.
Whilst in the past I have always used Garmin software to create Routes we see new ''Apps'' and programmes being developed all the time. Some more for mobile devices. I have a section which looks at these and recently having invested in one of the Phone mirroring devices (Chigee is my choice) I have switched over from Garmin Basecamp to the MRA App for route planing. A lot of the older trips are still with Basecamp and the more recent ones are both Basecamp and MRA. Going forward from 2026 onwards I will only be posting routes from my MRA files. Click on the logo below to read more and visit the website
The combination of the MRA Routing App with the Phone mirroring hardware just gives a lot more flexibiltiy to riders who don't wish to be limited by Garmin and their paid products. Whilst a lot of the Apps are free in order to get the benefits subscriptions are required but my experience has shown that you get a lot more bang for your buck and no need for lengthy downloads and PC storage capacity. Making routes requires a phone, ipad and an internet connection.....Oh yes, and a suitable phone. More can be found in the Section on Mapping Apps on the site
I spend most of my time riding either in France and the surrounding countries or back in the UK with another group of motorcycle enthusiast pals of mine. I have found that whilst Holland is picturesque and beautiful with its waterways and canals there is nothing to beat the winding country lanes of the French countryside or across the Channel in UK especially the northern counties and Scotland.
In the Tours section of the site you will find many routes and especially longer 4 or 5 days tours in the UK but the fastest growing section is the French one.
Over the past years we have found that France not only is easily accessible for us in Holland but the roads, villages and vast open countryside that France offers is really great for motorcycle touring. This combined with the still reasonable prices
My name is Grant and I am an expat Brit living in The Hague, Holland. I have been riding now since 2007 and a few years ago I exchanged my old BMW R 850 Cruiser which I bought new in 2007 and my 1200 GS (2016) for a new 2021 model GSA.
Since then and recently I upgraded again from my 1250 GSA to a new 1300.
Whilst the GS and particularly the GSA 1250 were great bikes I felt that the new 1300 GSA had such improvements over the previous models a change was a good idea. Also the part exchange for both was simply too good to pass up! I went for the ASA automatic version
for an overnights stay (between EURO 80 and 140 per person per night) and the benefit of the great food make it a real adventure and pleasure. Also France is huge and there is so much variety to explore. Roads generally are good and quiet.
The Francophone section has much more details particularly on how to find suitable accommodation for your tour planning. Have a look and if you have any questions just drop me a line.
Have a browse through the `Tours` section of the site which has tours in UK, Germany and the US. There are also a huge amount of trips in Holland many of which I have set up myself although these days our touring tends to take us further afield. Feel free to have a look around.
Interested in more information or do you have an interesting route to share?
As a foreigner living in The Hague I would like to bring together like minded bikers that are interested not only in sharing their own GPS routes and route files but also exchanging files with others and maybe even getting together for more adventurous tour planning.
I am also an active member of Europe's biggest BMW motorcycle forum UKGSer which is a great source of inspiration, information, advice and also contacts who share a similar passion as I do for touring.
My site is totally free to use and all GPS routes are free to view or to download. I would appreciate if you would simply offer your feedback by sending me your comments and ideas in the Contact section or emailing them by clicking this link
If you are interested in taking the idea a step further and planning a trip or looking for someone to ride with on a weekend then just drop your details and ideas to me in the contacts section of the site or to the email above.
Please don't forget to include some basic information about yourself, what your riding interests are, what you are looking for feedback on and anything else you feel is relevant. If you wish to submit your own BaseCamp files then please feel free to do so as this not only helps me expand the GPS Routes database but also enables others to enjoy those routes that you have ridden. Please send all files to the above email address. Comments and feedback can be made either in the comments section or via the above address.
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