My wife and I are looking at a couple of cities in the SW to relocate to. One is Vegas.
I'm sorry.
(Spent four years living in Henderson, NV, a suburb of Vegas, from 2005-09)
What is the motorcycle communityh like in Vegas? The non-HD community.
Almost non-existent on the street, though there is a decent dirt-bike community - understandable considering the topography out there. But what's surprising is that the HD folks there seem to be much more relaxed about other types of bikes. I got friendly waves from Harley riders a good 80% of the time on my metric bikes. I'm not sure if it's related to the higher percentage of retired folks in that area, but it's noticeable.
Are there good roads nearby? Or is it mostly desert?
Lots and lots of desert. Outside of Mt Charleston (just NW of Vegas and small enough that you can cover just about everything in a weekend), the only areas with trees are in Flagstaff, AZ (235 miles SE) and the Brian Head area of SE Utah, east of Cedar City (approximately 240 miles NE).
So you really have to like riding in the desert.
Also, you have to pretty much count on parking the bike from Memorial Day to Labor Day every year, as the temps soar to points that it's actually dangerous to be on the bike for too long. (I rode in 117 degree temps on a trip from Vegas to St. George, UT in July 2007. Was sick for days from heat exhaustion even though I drank 3 liters of water throughout the day).
And surprisingly, the bike is pretty much parked in December and January too. In the 4 years that I lived there, it snowed in December 3 times. High temps are usually in the high 30's to mid 40's during those two months. Now that's not too terrible depending on what part of the country you're coming from.
But the wind....OMG the wind. The wind blows 11 months a year in Vegas (it usually takes October off). It's the wind that makes winter riding in Vegas something less than fun.
So it sounds like I hated riding there, right?
But the funny part is.....I miss a lot of the riding in the area. Lake Mead is just east of town, and there are some fantastic roads to ride in that area - most with fresh pavement, fun sweepers, and the occasional amazing view of the lake. It's fairly long too. An end to end run from the heart of Vegas to Overton and back via North Shore Road is a nice 150 mile ride with a couple of good restaurants and gas available.
Other excellent rides exist off of U.S. 95 on the road to Searchlight, NV and Laughlin, NV, as well as some great rides on the AZ side of U.S. 93. They were still constructing the Hoover Bypass when I lived there, and traffic was a nightmare, so I didn't go that way as much as I would have liked. With the bypass done, that is another great option for some day rides along the Colorado River. Nothing technical, but enough sweepers to keep you awake.
Finally, if you like to ride in order to be alone with your thoughts.....you might not find a better place on earth. 10 minutes outside the city limits in three directions, and you'll find you have the roads almost entirely to yourself. In addition, you can take those great sweepers faster than you otherwise might because there is nothing to block your view of the exit. Since moving back to CA, I've had to re-learn how to ride through corners where tall rocks and trees can partially (or completely) block your view through the corner.
So like anywhere, there are good and bad points to it. The summer heat and distance to cooler weather and trees were major bummers for me. But the awesome riding around Lake Mead and the Colorado River, along with the sense of "alone-ness" out there almost made up for it.
Hope this helps.
