There’s a road I rode two summers ago, somewhere between the Apennines and the coast, and for months I couldn’t find it again. I remembered it in fragments — a junction, a village, one perfect hairpin — but not enough to ride it back. Every motorcyclist knows this problem: the good roads slip away.
A route app exists for exactly this: to keep the roads worth riding again, to find new ones, and — if you feel like it — to share them with someone else. That’s what an app like that actually needs to do, and how I see it as the person who built RideLog.
What a good motorcycle route app should do
I’ve tried everything on my phone, and it comes down to three things:
- Discover new routes near where I am, without having to ask in a group every time.
- Record the roads I ride automatically, so I don’t have to keep them in my head.
- Share the best rides with other riders, and see theirs.
Everything else — stats, fuel, maintenance — is useful, but these three decide whether you keep the app open or forget it. For a broader look at the tools out there, from navigators to logbooks, I’ve put together a rundown of the best motorcycle apps that compares them for what they actually do.
Discover new routes near you
This is the part I like best. In RideLog you find the rides other motorcyclists have logged nearby: open the map and see what people in your area have actually ridden. You can filter by distance and rating, so a free afternoon gets you an 80 km loop, a full day something longer. The filters work because they’re built on real ride data, not algorithm guesses.
It’s different from googling “motorcycle routes” and getting the same ten postcard roads. Here the routes come from riders who logged them, with photos taken along the way — that matters more than any description, because photos tell you in a second if a road is worth your time. You’re seeing the road from someone who rode it, not a marketing shot.
For planning a bigger trip — multiple days, stages, gear — I go into detail in my guide to planning a multi-day motorcycle trip.
Record and relive the roads you ride
Here’s where RideLog works differently: you don’t press start. Motion sensors and GPS do the work on their own when you’re riding, the track begins automatically. No forgotten buttons, no half-recorded rides because you forgot to hit go.
Every road stays saved: distance, duration, speed, and you can replay any ride whenever you want. That’s how I found that road between the Apennines and the coast again — it was there all along, recorded. I just opened it. The daily, weekly and monthly stats are there, but what matters most is the map of roads you’ve actually ridden, not the ones you planned to.
Share your routes with the community
A great ride kept to yourself is a waste. With RideLog you share your best roads with the community: the route you recorded becomes one another rider can discover, with your photos attached.
It works both ways — you give, you get — and that’s what makes an app matter instead of just sitting as a private archive. If you’re looking for external groups and communities (Facebook, long-running forums, local clubs) to talk shop and swap advice, I’ve covered those in my guide to the best online motorcycle communities: the app’s community and the ones outside are complementary.
Routes or navigation? Two different needs
I want to be clear here, because this is where people get confused. RideLog is not a turn-by-turn navigator. It won’t say “in 200 meters, turn right” and it won’t build you the perfect winding route to follow in real time.
RideLog is for recording, reliving and sharing the routes you ride. If you want pure navigation — a voice guiding you down roads calculated for twisties — there are apps built for that: Calimoto, Kurviger, Scenic. They do their job well. They’re different tools, not rivals; plenty of riders use a navigator for the journey out and a logbook to keep the memory. If you’re weighing the options, I’ve compared them in my guide on Calimoto alternatives. I chose to do one thing really well instead of trying both poorly.
Your routes stay yours
The roads you ride say a lot about you: where you live, where you go, at what time. That’s why RideLog has no servers — it’s 100% privacy-first. Your data never leaves your phone, doesn’t land on a cloud, nobody resells it.
It also works offline — and on mountain roads where there’s no signal, that’s exactly when you need it. You can export everything to PDF or CSV whenever you want and take it anywhere. What you share with the community is your choice, one route at a time; the rest stays private, on the device.
Getting started with RideLog
RideLog is free with all core features on iPhone and Android, from the same link:
Install it, go for a ride, let it record automatically. Then open the map to see what routes others have ridden nearby: that’s the fastest way to know if it’s what you want.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the best app to discover motorcycle routes?
It depends on what you’re after. For discovering and sharing roads ridden by other motorcyclists near you, with photos and filters by distance and rating, RideLog is built for it. For turn-by-turn navigation on calculated routes, look instead at apps like Calimoto or Kurviger: they’re different tools, and riders often use them together.
Is there a free app for motorcycle routes?
Yes. RideLog is free with all core features on iPhone and Android: record your rides, replay them, discover and share routes with the community without paying. There’s an optional premium (flexible subscription or lifetime one-off) for extras, but the route features are all free.
Does RideLog navigate for me while I ride?
No, and I’ll say it plainly: RideLog is not a turn-by-turn navigator. It records the routes you ride automatically and lets you replay and share them, but it doesn’t guide you by voice down the road. If you need navigation, pair it with a dedicated app.
How do I share my routes with other riders?
Once RideLog has recorded a ride, you can share it with the community straight from the app, along with the photos you took on the way. It becomes one of the routes other riders nearby can discover.
Are my routes safe if I use the app?
Yes. RideLog is 100% privacy-first and has no servers: your data stays on the phone. You only share the routes you choose, one at a time; everything else never leaves the device.
