Best State to live and ride in Year Round?

Just looking for the best area in the country to ride a bike year round?

I'm thinking SoCal?? Nice weather year round, good terrain and a good starting point to ride in places like Mexico, the Rockies, and even Alaska. Traffic, not so sure tho?

What's great about your state/region?

Maine has some of the best riding in the country, for about 8 months. It's not the snow or even the cold that ruins the other 4 months, but the road salt. I'm always jealous in January of the guys down in Texas, still riding. Then I think about July in Texas and I don't feel so bad

Where is the perfect balance of weather, accessibility and awesome terrain to own an ADV bike?

Not the best, but not too bad.


Dec. 31 2011.

SoCal, lane splitting. game over.

In Wa you don't have to have insurance, and now you can register a dirt bike for the street. but the seasons kinda suck so socal still gets my vote

Yeah, but you have to LIVE there!

Jim

PS I'm fond of WV myself! A bit rough in winter, but doable most places.

I didn't even think of lane splitting! That's a plus! The Blue Ridge area has to be near the top

My vote is Arkansas. We can ride year round except for snow or ice day here and there. Great twisties, gravel and trails in NWA.

My vote is for Utah. I love riding there and SW Utah is surprisingly mild in the Winter.

Being from the north, if it doesn't get much below 10F, I can ride fairly comfortably for quite a ways in basic windproof/insulated gear. I'd dress like I'm going snowmobiling. I ride in mesh gear through the winter here in FL. Every once in a while, I actually zip a liner into my mesh jacket. Most long-time Floridians are usually wearing parkas, knit caps, and insulated gloves by then, just to walk from the house to the car.

I don't like riding in traffic in 180% humidity when it gets much above 80F though, but up to 95F is OK if I can stay moving while wearing a hydration pack. It helps if the humidity level drops below that of a dripping sponge too. Thankfully, I don't live in a very congested part of FL, so I usually only sit at the occasional traffic light. We don't have much for daily traffic jams or a major rush hour around here. Most riders down here don't wear any gear more involved than a pair of sunglasses and leathery skin, especially during the 11.5 months of hot summer weather. When it gets really hot and humid, I put on SPF15+ sunscreen, a DS helmet that breathes well, armored mesh pants, an Acerbis Cosmo chest/back protector, armored mesh/leather gloves, elbow/forearm armor, offroad boots, a breathable hi-viz t-shirt, a hydration pack, and a coolmax banana-hammock. I still sweat like crazy, but I stay hydrated and the breeze from moving makes it comfortable enough. Florida can be ridden year-round if you can avoid the lightning. I haven't passed out or gotten zapped yet, so the place can't be too inhospitable.

There are a lot of places in this country to choose from that I would find agreeable, as long as it wasn't raining heavily or flashing lightning very often. The rainy season here drives me nuts, but the autumn, winter, and spring riding is pretty agreeable. We just don't get a major show of autumn leaf colors or springtime flowers. It's pretty much just green year-round.

I wouldn't mind riding near the front range of CO most of the year. They get quite a bit of sun. If it gets too cold or snowy, one can go down in elevation to warm up. If it gets too hot, one can go up in elevation. The roads and trails are awesome on a thumper dualsport. Once you get away from populated areas like Denver, CO Springs, or Boulder, there is a lot of wide open.

High-elevation NM and AZ are similar.

I could probably ride most of the year in much of the coastal US that isn't constantly besieged with rain. I lived near Bangor ME for a year, and it only got down to the single digits for a few days at a time here and there throughout the winter. It can rain quite a bit, but the spring, summer, and fall temperatures are very nice. As a kid, I rode minibikes and ATCs year-round up there. If I didn't want to ride salted roads in winter there, I'd stick to riding trails until the roads got clean. A track and ski kit might be fun up there.

Coastal SoCal, from the border to Monterey, has probably the best year-round climate for riding roads. If you stay within 30-45 miles of the coast, the weather is pretty temperate. If you go much further inland and south of LA, summers can get ridiculously hot, while mountains north of LA can get cold and snowy in the winter. It doesn't rain very much in a lot of SoCal too...a few weeks in the winter/spring maybe. The legal/political/economic climate in CA is not to my liking, but I always have a great time when I visit out there.

The I-5 Corridor of Oregon and Washington (a.k.a. The Wet Side) have worked out well for me since 1989.
Never gets too hot. Sure it rains some the roads are generally clear of snow and ice about 360 days a year.

The great roads are alomost endless. (Dirt and Paved)

CA. is a nice place to visit or ride through but I would NEVER live there.

Negative... SoCal rules, nothing in the Southeast worth a damn.

You're right, and it's fucking gorgeous.

Not a negative, it's really nice. Lots of pretty women in Bikini's too

Dude... No Way! I'll give you the border N. Southern Wa is nice. but the Entire State of Oregon's 55MPH limit and aggressive revenue collections put it near the bottom of my list :)

Eastern OR/WA are nice too, but too cold for my moto riding sensibilities. Socal is the best, no doubt!

I'll add another plus, because of lane splitting, motorists in SoCal actually LOOK for bikers. Another huge NEg for Wa & OR

Working out so far to be a pretty good jumping off point... there's a fair share of roads to keep a bit entertained within reasonable distance "locally". head OUT... and there's even more for a long weekend. the super slab can get you pretty far pretty fast in a variety of directions and then you can head off, like branches on a tree with the base my home, san diego. (haven't experienced the roots for a long time... mexico and central america is still on my radar but I have a few reservations "just yet" for my own personal reasons)

traffic in the metropolitan areas? yep. can seriously suck at times. that's what the lane splitting is for.

idk.. there's a big wide world out there with plenty of riding. I think the trick is not to get too bored locally and be able to extend your reach as you mentioned. you can have great rides within a short drive... but how long can that keep you entertained? for some, a LONG TIME. it's like having a big mud puddle in the back yard... how many times you going to take your 4x4 through it until it just gets old?

I vote NorCal. I live her now for the time being. But, I'm originally from NJ (thanks US ARMY).

Plenty of awesome roads.
weather is almost perfect year round (lows in the 40s during winter).
only rains two months (at most) out of the year.
LANE SPLITTING.
US 1.
Pacific Coast
Mountain Passes
LANE SPLITTING.
not as much traffic as SoCal and cheaper.
did I mention.. LANE SPLITTING.

I'm with Donsesso. I've lived and ridden all over and I can ride every single day in NorCal. Summertime I can escape the heat by heading into the mountains or out to the coast. We've got it all. Mountains aren't quite as good as the Rockies, but Colorado doesn't have the ocean. We don't have the smog or the insane traffic of LA either.

bingo! I love other places in the world... but there's a certain pull to the ocean I have a hard time overlooking.

and I would consider NorCal a top place to live and ride year-round. or is that ride and live?

Speed limits are higher and enforcement is more Lax in SoCal, beaches are better in Socal, there's a LOT more off-road opportunities a LOT closer... and... More Bikinis.

...whichever one you happen to be in at the time....