The way I typical work from a car is to leave the camera attached to the tripod, and when I see something I stop grab the camera/tripod and the camera bag and walk back to take the shot, put the stuff back in the car and move on.
On the bike, it's a bit more time consuming. First I have to find a place where I can pull the bike off the road and get it on the kick stand – if the shoulder is sloping too far, this doesn't work. Sometimes I can turn the bike at about 45 degrees to the road and make it work but not often. If I can't find a spot with in a reasonable distance I have to give up and move on. If I can find a place to park, then I get off the bike, remove the helmet, (sometimes the ear plugs), gloves, disconnect the heated jacket if it's hooked up. Unstrap the tripod, and remove it from the bag (keeps it clean from road grime) and set it up. Then I remove the combination lock from the Stormcase (plastic camera box), open it up and if I'm using the 4x5 I set it on the tripod and lock it down, select the lens I think I'll need and mount it on the camera, pull the photo vest out of the back pack and put it on, put the other lens in a pocket, then I unwrap the digital back and mount it to the camera, attach the shutter release and sync cords. Then I walk back to take the shot. Now reverse everything to put it away. I'm reasonably proficient at this point, but it still takes a good deal longer for each shot. Probably close to and extra 15 minutes per stop unless I have parking problems then it's even longer. Multiply that times 5 to 20 stops and you've lost some significant time.
The other issue has to do with the cold. When i work from a car, I can get back in and crank up the heat and head down the road. On the bike, I've lost the heat, and while I can turn the electric heat on the gloves and jacket up, I don't yet have anything for the legs and feet – So after a few stops I find I need to take a coffee break to warm back up – there goes another 30 minutes to an hour (it's surprisingly difficult to stop for coffee in less than 45 minutes on a motorcycle, when it's cold – I'm wearing a buff over my head, ear plugs, helmet. On the upper body, I've got a shirt, an electric jacket, a protective jacket (heavy textile with armor). and if it's below 50, I'll probably have on my rain jacket, which also works as a good wind block. I' may have rain pants on if it's raining or again as a wind block, and most of that comes off when I go in for coffee, or I over heat, then of course you have to put it all back on.
Yet another time consumer is I really try to avoid riding after dark, which means I need to pick my stopping point either well before sunset, or give up some of the better light during the day. When I travel by car it's not an issue. Also on the bike I can really only do about 400 miles on a LONG day – which means I might only have time to stop for one photo session, generally I only do 300 miles a day. In a car I would typically do 500-800 miles, or more if I was just trying to get somewhere. Which means my motel bills have double (or more).
I get about 42-44 miles per gallon which is nice but I get about 10,000 miles on a set of tires which cost about the same as a set of tires for a Subaru but they get 40,000 miles or more. so I'm spending about 4 times as much on maintenance.
All in all – motorcycle is not economical and if you trying to photograph along the way it's even harder. The question is: Does the fun factor out weigh the costs. For me, I'm beginning to think – not. At least if I'm also try to do photography at the same time. For a week end ride when I just bring a point and shoot just in case – then Yes, it really is that much fun.
