Gerontious

Now you’re talking. Germany and Austria plus the once upon a time “Austrian parts” of Italy are rich in motorbike hotels. Find them with google use the term Motorrad Hotel. Aside from that accommodation is plentiful and always Biker Friendly. The term to look out for is Zimmer Frei. (Bedroom available) and these are everywhere. It’s completely normal to see the room first before you commit. Zimmer mit Frustuck is Bed and Breakfast. Again very common, Breakfast is a big deal in all the German speaking countries and areas. Trouble is though the distance. Black Forest is over 900 kilometres. Shortest toll route. You might consider the Pyrenees though that is a similar distance. If you head for Pau, which is a favourite starting point on the French side. im not even sure if motorail is still a thing in France. Last I heard it was vehicles only which required you to catch a separate train. Might be worth investigating if this service still exists to the south of France and gives you enough of a time saving to be worthwhile. if you were to decide to go to the Pyrenees There is a direct ferry service was starting from Ireland this year. A Brexit benefit for you for sure!! Rosslare to Bilbao. https://tinyurl.com/2e6aq2rd Im certain this would be cost effective as well as saving you a huge amount of time. I have some great bike route maps for a 10 day tour, and can easily send them if you want. For the Pyrenees. Of course the ferry port in Spain, puts you within easy reach of the Picos too. And that’s a hugely popular touring region in “Green Spain”.

Thats absolutely fine. its a popular destination. but not for me. and incidentally, I suggested to my group of friends, going to Switzerland quite a few years ago and didn't get a single positive response. It was met with either a stony silence. ethical objections from one of the guys. or.. it's just "too much of a faff". (and we all know what that means.) And this was without me saying anything about the place. it was merely a suggestion made in a German hotel bar. Im not in any rush to suggest going there again.

over 26 years owning an 1100GS I never had a problem with the shaft, I paid almost no interest in the 1200 series when they appeared, so I have no idea what they mean when they mention "grease". or "water ingress". or a "one way valve". With mine it was just go for a quick ride drain the 1L of warm gear oil out, new crush washer on the drain plug. refill. and done. a simple 2 minute job. progress eh?

I find Switzerland wildly unexciting. Passed through that country while Covid was in full swing after staying the night in Liechtenstein as that was one of the few countries the UK government allowed at that time. Plus Germany and Italy. (Bizarrely) Due to all the laws and accompanying fines they have it’s a tedious place to visit. Speed cameras. Speed traps. And an awful lot of polizei with little to do aside from dusting their credit card machines it’s just not worth the hassle. It’s good that you have a GPS on order at least you can be sure you’re within the speed limit everywhere. Be very careful. And be sure you have the cash available if you do get caught out and that the bike is fully legal. There is no such thing as a minor misdemeanour there. Everything costs. Big. if you weren’t set on going there I would suggest you pass it by. Head for somewhere glorious. South if France. Or the Pyrenees/Picos or eastern Alps - Dolomites and Slovenia. Carinthia in Austria. Salzkammergut. What these areas lack in cheese and cowbells they make up for in a markedly reduced level of day to day stress.

Yesterday now. Did that rarest of things, I actually became a commuter. No rush hour traffic at 21:45 and don’t tell my insurer cause I ain’t. Rebel me. Fortunately the wildly exciting schizophrenic I’m with tonight is fast asleep and blissfully unaware. Worn out after beating up a member of staff last night. He’s far to wary of me to try that!! I don’t back down. Ever.

Me too.

Stop and Go. you will also need a small pair of pliers to remove the object and to pull the mushroom stalk to finish the repair. (they don't tell you that until you read the instructions) - I carry a multitool, with needle nose pliers. which is always a handy thing to have with you anyway. Gerber or Leatherman. The best thing by far about the stop and go is it doesn't use any glue. with glue, once you open it you need to replace it for next time as it will go off once its exposed to air. once you have found the object in the tyre, the repair takes 2/3 minutes and however long it takes to reinflate. you can usually be on your way agin within 20 minutes or less. But... it should be obvious, sods law comes into effect. if you have it with you then you will never use it. the moment you forget and leave it at home then that is when you will get a puncture.

its a much better bike for the mountains than any sports tourer. your original question was about sports tourers not (so called) Adventure bikes. so my reply didn't mention them. but there is a reason why they are so popular. they have a very small turning circle so are great in the proper mountain twisties and faster on everything aside from the Autobahn, though they are more than capable of sustained motorway speeds. but they are happiest on normal roads and don't care a jot about the state of the tarmac. Like I say, there is a reason why this segment has become so popular for touring. You can go anywhere on them. absolutely anywhere.

Just get what you can afford to buy and insure. There are various affordable ways to improve comfort once you have the bike and have identified the problems. If you’re going second hand the try to concentrate on bikes that come complete with luggage as new can often be pricey. I wouldn’t fuss too much about “what bike”.., as the most popular suggestion might be beyond your budget once all the costs are factored in. Look at bikes that have a full service history and do your research. Is the bike due a major service? These can be pricey. Does the bike have decent tyres with tread that will last until your return? Treat this first bike and trip as a learning experience the carry forward the lessons you have learnt forward to next time. By which time you will have a years no claims and insurance becomes significantly less expensive and that will widen your options for your next bike. Which is more likely to be one you will want to keep over the longer term. having said all that the top end of your budget will easily buy something traded in on a pcp. But can you afford to buy AND insure?

Once, in the Black Forest near the Mummelsee. well within the speed limit and passing a parking place, a car began to pull out and the driver looked directly at me... he paused and when I was almost upon him moved again. I slammed on the anchors but still hit him. €10,000 damage to his car, when the polizei arrived they wanted me to agree to press charges for attempted murder! Bike was in a bad way but I still managed to ride it home at the end of that week. his insurance paid for the repair and bike hire. you can't really organise a holiday for friends and not ride with them. can you.

When I bought my bike the difference between the PCP deal over 3 years and a Bank loan over 5 wasn't that great. to my mind continual PCP's every 3 years is the 'never never' gone mad.

Made the final payment on the bank loan that bought it. 10 months early. It would have been sooner but I had a washing machine crisis before Christmas.

Camped one night on the edge of a tiny village close to the Czech border. Clear night, no moon. went for a walk and looked up. Milky Way stretched across the sky and so many satellites. Literally 100s of them. Never seen anything even remotely like it since.

Reminds me of this. The Africa Twin is that rare bike where the Designers didn't bother to give it one of this "must have" beaks that make it a "true adventurer" So, of course the 3rd party makers produced them... Ive never seen one in real life, mind.

I’m so excited. It’s a good job I’m sitting down listening to a schizophrenic snoring in the next room. Otherwise I’m sure I would be doing a little happy dance while singing about a little mouse with clogs on. (Well I declare) going clip clippety clip on the stair. helps break up an otherwise dull night with the bewildered, sometimes, needs must.

When I had a breakdown in Austria and was with @Snod Blatter I was insured with Carole Nash and they arranged for a local van to come and collect the bike and me to transport it to a BMW dealer on the other side of the mountains. Who CN had contacted and ascertained that they had a donor bike to take the part I needed from. And that’s what happened. I don’t know if CN do stand alone rescue, this was included in my policy. But might be worth trying. This was 5 years ago and my bike was 17 years old at the time.

we meet up near ashford and because we have people coming from all over the country we stay overnight. adds to the expenses a bit but breaks up the journey and it is supposed to be a holiday so no big deal. Very first time we did one of these trips in 2011, one of the guys had a problem with his bike as we were setting off for the tunnel. and after much faffing about, we were forced to leave him behind. The alternative was everyone losing their crossing and the whole trip possibly ending up a waste of time. Turned out this problem was also self inflicted - he refused to say what he had done to the bike - so the cause was impossible to diagnose. he wouldn't tell us but he told the man from the RAC - who fixed it. and he ended up beating us to the hotel. though that meant him riding the long way round almost all motorway. and he was knackered, so tired he didn’t want to ride the next day!! I don't do it that way... we take it very easy.. and get off the motorway as quickly as we possibly can while still making progress. with frequent breaks, so that nobody gets stressed about fuel. or that sudden need to use the loo. or because their bike isn’t ideal for long distance rides and their wrists or back begins to suffer. but mostly because these guys like to natter. and eat cake!! Get to the nice bits and then slow down, meander across the nice parts of Belgium then across northern Luxembourg and onto our base at Neuerburg. Same for the return ride at the end of the week. The holiday ends when we join the motorway, but we spend the morning enjoying the local roads, one last time. There's no rush. This is how we have always done it. Its a holiday. And if I were to change this emphasis... there would be complaints. we don't do the outward journey as fast as possible, same goes for the return. Our return crossing is usually at 17:20 local time. so we should be back in the UK at 5pm. One year I broke this rule and our outward and return to and from the tunnel was over 350 miles of French Autoroute. I will never repeat that mistake. Riding motorways or autoroutes isn't my idea of fun. just a means to an end. and needs to be minimised as much as possible. If we could do the whole journey in both directions without using any Autoroute then we would... but its just too far and north western France isn't really all that great to be honest. Though every time I do look at alternatives and they turn out to be too slow.

That’s a very distorted picture you paint. We never use German motorways when we travel to the Eifel, because there aren’t any between Calais and Neuerburg. So. I’m not sure what you are talking about there. Illegal turns? if I did that then I can assure you the other guys would not follow. absolutely no way. they would carry on to the next available stopping place and wait for me. As for Paul’s breakdown. you seem obsessed about that, you love mentioning it, like it was a big deal. He never cared, it was entirely his own fault it happened. He knew that. I knew that. The bike he was originally going to use was broken. A non starter. His 400. And so he decided it was a great idea to use another bike he had in some dusty corner of the garage. BAD IDEA. He should not have used a bike that hadn’t been touched, no maintenance done. Nothing prepared. Not a drop of oil on the chain…, for months and months and months. It snapped. And so did I. He fecked up big time. And should have been left to sort it himself. We weren’t in the middle of a forest… it happened 2 miles from our hotel. On the main road. it also broke down again a few days later and he ended up stuck in Belgium overnight. Obviously we left him then too. he can be a bit of a prat, sometimes. But I really like him regardless. And so continue to put up with his high jinx… and repetitive breakdowns. He has a reputation... his seat has to come off every time we go away due to some problem or other. we all make fun of that. Its been mentioned in every trip report. But, do you really think he would come away with me every year since? that’s him in Slovenia last year! Obviously he had a breakdown. Again. I had to laugh. And the only reason I didn't leave him there.. was because we had no set destination. we were on our way into France from Italy. If I knew were we were going then I would have left him to it. And waited for him to turn up. It's the best way to deal with him. maybe one day he will use all that money he earns and buy a bike that doesn't break down. fat chance. he's a character. But at least, this time it was not due to riding a completely unsuitable bike with zero maintenance, this time. Just one of those things. And I had nothing to do than waste a day.. grab some sun. watch the bikes go past. if I’m so bad why do these people say “YES. I’m in.” The moment I suggest doing it again, year after year. This will be the 12th year with only one year nothing happened due to Covid. so I went on my own. got as far as the Czech Republic. I mentioned going to the Eifel in private before my original post and they all said yes. including @Snod Blatter who has been missed. And why you’re obsessed about something that happened 8 years ago, on a trip that you can’t seem to remember right. A minor event that nobody cares about. Never cared about except as just something to take the piss out of him. Beats me completely. But seems to be eating you. Forget about it. Nobody has complained about it. least of all the man who actually had the breakdown. just you... like it happened to you!! like you are a victim. so odd. never mind eh. Since you came, we’ve been back to the Eifel several times. Black Forest. Austria. Ireland. Italy. South of France/Alps. You were always welcome to come along. I don't bear grudges. never have. never will. These trips have always been a laugh. Every time. Every year. even when things go wrong its a source of hilarity. and we have had much worse things happen than this. himself having yet another mechanical whoopsie is very minor in the scheme of things.. its actually expected. that seat must come off!!! Im assuming he will be coming with us again.. and if he breaks down (again) then we will leave him to it. (again) And finally.. the one thing you never considered, is what would have happened had it been someone else that had broken down. You, or that young lad on his CBR500 or even Anthony on his Silly Shiver or bonio, Then I would have stayed and ordered everyone off.. leave this to me. just GO. I would have stayed with that person. you. anyone. but not Mr breakdownalot. he does it to himself. every time. self inflicted. and so funny when It happens. never a surprise. Though he outdid himself that year. two breakdowns in 5 days is a record. and ending up missing the tunnel and stuck in Belgium is a first. (and last - hopefully)

you obviously can't read.. or deliberately ignored my reasoning. here is a reminder. you're obviously just trolling, so off to the ignore section with you. TTFN.

Its not just about people who didn't know each other, aside from names on a forum. We've had people come who only recently passed their full test and were still nervous riders. people who had nobody local to them to ride with, no biker mates. people who had been thinking about going to Europe but never got past the thinking stage due to being nervous about going on their own, or their mates weren't interested. or they couldn't afford to pay for an organised tour or were nervous about the itinerary. or sharing a room with a stranger. (their own room is guaranteed and relatively inexpensive). of course once we arrive then they are free to do what they want. I ride every day, but we have had people who joined in a few times and broke that up with a bit of solo tourism. visiting the local city. or just having a day off walking round the village or countryside. Im not going to argue with that, its their holiday after all. All the rides are geared around the 'weakest' rider.. and I'm not being patronising. we've had people along with very small fuel tanks so I keep them in mind so they don't get stressed about running out. or people who just aren't used to fast riding, (or riding on the right) or as part of a group. I usually ask one of the regulars to keep an eye on them when I can't do so myself. I don't worry about the regulars at all.. they know what they are doing by now and what to do if things go pear shaped. We all get on like a house on fire. there are no strangers. Ive been away with these guys as a group.. and as individuals. because Ive come to like and respect them. last year I went to the Dolomites with one of them... he came away with us for the first time, maybe 10 years ago or so. he has a nasty habit of breaking down and managed to do it twice on one trip.. but, no drama. The only drama we ever get is when a drama queen comes along. there have been a couple. But, this lad (smallfrowne) had a request, he wanted to go to Slovenia. and so we did last June. and he managed to break down just once. no drama.

ooh... an extra hour with the schizophrenics. I'm in.

oddly enough I didn't see any kind of sarcasm when KTM brought out their Bike with a 1301cc engine, five years ago. Though they called it a 1290.. which was kinda selling it short. who knew that superstition about such things could be so apparent in Austria in 2017. Though all that aside.. As its a BMW, a 200cc increase in displacement over the course of a 30 year model history is obviously an outrage. definitely. .

I had this happen months ago. I just cancelled it and that was that. heard nothing afterwards. It's nothing more than a phishing scam. they send 1000s of these 'requests' and if only 5% do it, without thinking. as some probably do. it soon adds up. Its like the "missed delivery - please pay X" scam, probably with the same results. a fair sized whack of cash ends up in the scammers pockets. because some people are gullible and pay without thinking. and as long as this continues...