Get Help from Fellow Riders on the Road
One of the best things about motorcycling is the community. No matter how much some of us like to think of ourselves as the lone wolves of the road, we all know a fellow rider is always ready to help us if we need it.
Getting in touch with a helping hand can sometimes be a challenge, though. If you end up stranded by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, it can be a long time before another motorcyclist goes by.
What should you do when you’re traveling far from home and need a biker’s helping hand? Fortunately, the internet makes it (relatively) easy to connect with fellow bikers. The greatest difficulty is choosing the right avenue to get the help you require quickly.
Here’s our breakdown of various motorcycling resources to connect with helpful riders. If you travel via motorcycle often, bookmark this page as it may be a helpful resource for you later on.
Public Online Groups
Perhaps the easiest way to approach fellow motorcycle riders is through an open, public group on a popular social media platform. Facebook and Reddit, for example, have motorcyclist groups that have hundreds of thousands, if not millions of members.
The sheer number of members can make these large groups efficient in getting help. Of course, not every member will be an active user, but if even a fraction of the users see your message, it’s likely that it will catch the attention of someone in your area—or a rider who knows someone that can help you.
At the same time, the plethora of users is also large public groups’ greatest weakness. With thousands of riders shouting into the void at once, your message may get buried under dozens of others.
Sadly, it also seems that large public groups are gradually becoming a thing of the past, as they attract hordes of automated spambots and other nuisance users. North American Biker Rescue, for example, has gone from a public to private Facebook group.
- One example of a public online group is the r/motorcycles group on Reddit.
Private Online Groups
In opposition to public groups, private social media groups provide a more exclusive but often also tighter-knit community. Despite their closed-off nature, the biggest of private motorcyclist groups still have tens of thousands of members.
It can often be much easier to find riders willing to offer a helping hand in a private group. With every user vetted by the moderators, it’s easier for members to trust each other, as the unknown rider asking for aid isn’t a complete stranger.
However, that also means private groups won’t do you much good if you need urgent help and you aren’t already a member. You can send a request to join the group, but since many rider groups are maintained by volunteers, it can take hours or even days before anyone reviews your application.
Additionally, your application may get rejected even if you’ve done nothing wrong. Some groups, for instance, will not accept membership requests from recently created accounts to keep spammers out.
If you’re planning to head out on a challenging moto journey, it might be worth looking into regional private motorcyclist groups and send a membership request ahead of time. This way, you can get help from local riders in an emergency—and you might even meet your new best riding buddy.
Some examples of private social media groups for motorcyclists include:
Rider Lodging Services
Most motorcyclists love staying at a nice motel. Sometimes, however, you might want to lodge with a fellow rider, especially if you’re out on a solo outing.
Bunk-a-Biker is an online platform that allows motorcyclists to flag their home as a place where other riders can come stay. After signing up as a host, the Bunk-a-Biker website will add your home onto an interactive map as a potential lodging host.
If you’re a rider, you can then browse the map for nearby rider hosts. The website will tell you the host’s contact information, and you can get in touch with the host to arrange for your stay.
Some hosts don’t offer lodging, but are prepared to give roadside assistance to a rider in need. Bunk-a-Biker can be a useful tool if you happen to suffer a bike breakdown in parts unknown.
To weed out bad apples, riders and hosts can report any violations or bad behavior to Bunk-a-Biker, which will add a Bad Apple warning to the offending profile. Misbehave too many times and you’ll be kicked off the platform.
The Motorcycle Travel Network (MTN) is another popular service that helps motorcyclists share accommodations. To be able to register as a rider, you must simultaneously register as a host and offer your home as rider lodgings. You give some, you get some.
With Motorcycle Travel Network, the kicker is the $20 hospitality fee charged per night. That’s very affordable, but still helps the host with possible expenses and gives some extra motivation to offer a comfortable stay. Not that you have to worry about being comfortable, as the MTN verifies the condition of offered lodgings—with photos required.
Some of you might be wondering, “What about BikerBuddy?” That is an excellent question, and we asked it ourselves while writing this article.
BikerBuddy was a fairly popular mobile application that functioned similarly to Bunk-a-Biker. Unfortunately, it seems both the app and website have disappeared and we can only assume the service no longer exists.
Club and Special Interest Forums
If you need quick help from local riders, fire up your favorite online search engine and look up local motorcycling clubs and other rider organizations. Many of them have online forums that can be a great way to get in touch with the biker next door who knows the area you’re in like the backs of their hands.
Another option are special interest websites with forums, such as ADV Rider. Their users are often well connected with their area’s niche community and can direct you toward helpful people—that is, when they can’t help you themselves.
Finally, you have manufacturer-specific forums, whether official or managed by enthusiastic riders. As you surely know, motorcyclists tend to have big emotions for their favorite bike marques, so it can be surprisingly easy to get help from a fellow Harley-Davidson, Indian, or KTM fan.
These forums may suffer from the same drawbacks as private social media groups, though. You will likely have to register for an account to access them, and people may be suspicious of fresh accounts.
Some motorcycle owners’ associations (MOA) have adopted more creative ways to connect helpful riders with those in need. One example is the BMW MOA’s Anonymous Book (now also available as an Android and iPhone app).
Riders can give the BMW MOA their contact details, although true to the book’s name, their names won’t be listed. Along with the contact info, the BMW MOA includes a code indicating what kind of aid each listed individual is ready to provide. If you find yourself needing help, you can then quickly browse through the listings based on your locations and needs and call the mysterious but friendly stranger.
Roadside Assistance Services
If all else fails, you can always try to contact national or local roadside assistance services. AMA and AAA, for instance, offer motorcycle-specific roadside services. Your motorcycle insurance company might also operate a roadside rescue service.
Granted, these services won’t help you learn anything about the area you’re in, or offer any other kind of deeper insight into the riding world. That said, they can certainly get you and your busted bike safely off the roadside.
For a potentially more personal experience, you can try to find a local motorcycle assistance company or even a bike garage. The people running these companies are often riders themselves, so they may be able to give you some local pointers while they haul your motorcycle to the repair shop.
Keep in mind that these services need to be established at least two or three days in advance of needing them, so signing up on the side of the road and then calling a tow truck won’t work.
- American Motorcycle Association (AMA)
- American Automobile Association (AAA)
- Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys - Riders Helping Riders
- Roadside Assistance through your insurance company
Dealerships
Finally, if the online world has let you down completely, it may be a good idea to head to the nearest motorcycle dealership. You are virtually guaranteed to find a fellow rider there, whether they’re a staff member or a customer.
Of course, it may be that the people at the dealership can’t offer you immediate assistance, depending on what your situation is. But the thing about riders is that they usually know a guy who knows somebody who can get you what you need.
It’s just the way motorcyclists are.