Touring Europe need advice

[vega]

I am thinking of touring through Europe in the middle of next year. Has anyone got good advice as to how to go about it. Where to get a bike (hire or buy)? Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers Vega

[clint640]

Hire or buy depends on how long you want to go for. I hired a bike for a few days of touring the alps a couple of years back. It was great fun, I haven't seen much else of Europe to compare it to, but the alps certainly provided an enjoyable combination of great riding, spectacular scenery & interesting local beer I mean culture
Munich is a good kickoff point & has a few different hire places. I booked everything over the net, it was all pretty easy. The Alpine Roads website is a good place to get some pointers on the most awesome riding.

Cheers
Clint

[martybabe]

Lucky you! can't help on the hire front but I've done a bit of touring in Europe and it's mostly good.

France, Germany, Spain are all bike friendly, I've heard Switzerland bike laws are mega tough re exhausts, speeding etc. Germany has the Autobahns,some of which have no speed limits but be warned you don't have that privilege to yourself and being blown off at 130mph/200 +kph by a Porsche or Merc is not uncommon.

Italy is just plain mad re driving and I would personally avoid eastern Europe, Poland, Checkoslovakia etc, they play by different rules.

I'm sure you'll have a great time whichever way you roam but my advice would be stick to western Europe, buy the best breakdown/ Accident insurance policy you can get with an English speaking emergency phone contact number. Theft can be an issue, so think security at all times for your bike and documents. And check all the requirements for things to carry, it can be extensive. IE warning triangles, bail bonds, spare bulbs, first aid kit, international green card insurance. It varies from country to country but it could make or break your holiday if the police get on your case.

Oh and a quick course in French and German and Spanish would help immesurably, just basic language but it sure will help when you need help.

Phew, think that's enough for now, enjoy muchly and drive on the right of course.

[portokiwi]

Mate i went Portugal-spain-France and back..... Loved it people were great in every country. Petrol costs alot and road tolls is very high but the roads are great.
I didnt ride my bike in italy but had my cell phone stolen lol.
Plenty of bike shops over there and there are web sites like trade me there....
here is the portuguese one. it will give you a head up on prices.
http://www.miau.pt/home.html
Hope this helps and have fun

[portokiwi]

http://www.miau.pt/motores/categoria...sp?prop1=11811
made it a little easer.

[Smoggy]

Hire or buy depends on how long you want to go for. I hired a bike for a few days of touring the alps a couple of years back. It was great fun, I haven't seen much else of Europe to compare it to, but the alps certainly provided an enjoyable combination of great riding, spectacular scenery & interesting local beer I mean culture
Munich is a good kickoff point & has a few different hire places. I booked everything over the net, it was all pretty easy. The Alpine Roads website is a good place to get some pointers on the most awesome riding.

Cheers
Clint

Did plenty of touring around Europe before Imoved here. Plenty to see in Northern Europe, but if your time is limited, I would recommend staying around central Europe, the Alpine areas, and try to venture into the central/lower area of France. Maybe even a venture into Spain.
Northern Italy is good, but avoid the Major cities.
Just enjoy

[owner]

Me and bikern1mpho got a ferry ticket from dover to calais return for us and bike for 34£ from there we went to barcelona marsellie chamonix turino milano, then to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpkarzx0-aY on to Zurich then thu germany to holland back thru belgium to calais, Total = 5500km in 16 days on a 600cc 1400 euros(not including bike purchase and bike insurance)including gas food accomodation and tolls.I had flightcnter basic travel insure we had blast got back a week ago. PS Learn basic french thats all, We stayed in youth hostels and avoided tolls as much as possible,
There are huge boring 6 laned motorways that connect every city in western europe they cost heaps and are no fun at all but they are handy
It takes a while to learn how not to get on to these paige's as all the sights are on B roads Good luck

[Voltaire]

I did a bit around 20 years ago on a BMW r75/5, up as far as the Artic Circle and as far East as Eastern Turkey and what was then the Iron Curtain.
Did a bit more about 4 years ago in my Kombi.
If you buy a bike, insurance might be hard to get, and/or very expensive and you MUST have insurance to tour Europe, if you get asked for your Green Card and don't have one you will not cross the border or worse.
You might be able to get your insurance company here to provide docs for a discount.
The only place you could really buy a bike is England as some places won't let non EEC members buy vehicles...italy....
My choice would be a mid 70's/80's beemer as they are cheapish and easy to fix but you might like more modern.
I was broken into in Spain and Portugal in broad daylight....park at the campground and get the bus.
Driving gets worse once you leave the Northern countries, The French like to tailgate, the Spanish and Portugese are just mad.
Just be on the ball and give way to everything.
The hardest bit is getting off the ferry and the first day of driving on the right, after a while its routine.
Get health insurance.
You will have a great time and meet lots of interesting people.
Avoid the motorways unless you need to get somewhere in a hurry.
Thats my out of date view of it...
Have a great trip...

[spacemonkey]

Hire or buy depends on how long you want to go for. I hired a bike for a few days of touring the alps a couple of years back. It was great fun, I haven't seen much else of Europe to compare it to, but the alps certainly provided an enjoyable combination of great riding, spectacular scenery & interesting local beer I mean culture
Munich is a good kickoff point & has a few different hire places. I booked everything over the net, it was all pretty easy. The Alpine Roads website is a good place to get some pointers on the most awesome riding.

Cheers
Clint

I'm headed to the Black Forest/Switzerland (possibly down to french alps to see another mate in Morzine) for 4 weeks next month and will be using a mates moto while up there. Are there any passes/routes that you would recommend as "Must ride's"?

[monchopper]

I'm headed to the Black Forest/Switzerland (possibly down to french alps to see another mate in Morzine) for 4 weeks next month and will be using a mates moto while up there. Are there any passes/routes that you would recommend as "Must ride's"?

I did a 10 day trip in the Alps this June and it was awesome.
If you go too early in June many of the higher pass won't be open yet.

These two sites are really good http://www.bestbikingroads.com/ and http://www.alpineroads.com/links_homepages.php

Of the passes I rode I'd recommend the following.
Passo del Stelvio. Something like 54 hairpins one side and 48 the other!
Furka Pass, Susten pass, Grimsel pass, Fluela pass, timmelsjoch. Passo tonale....... There are heaps of them!!! You could ride for months and do all the goodies. The Alpine roads website mentioned has a rating for the passes that I used as a guide.
Avoid the Gavia Pass!

If you're going for a while I'd buy and sell in England. Plenty of choice plus speakada language. Can get comprehensive breakdown cover for NZ$250.

I got a cheapo VFR750 ('93) for NZ$1800 and it was great, plenty fast enough, comfortable and reliable. In fact it's on ebay at the moment. My old shiter will hopefully get my money back!

[spacemonkey]

Just got back 2 days ago to Lörach on the Swiss German border, clocked up over 2,000km 90% back roads all over the alps.......
Oh
My
God!!!!!!!!!!!

The roads here, I just can't get over how much fun they are!!
S bend after S bend after S bend after switch back after S bend after switchback ect ect for ages. and there is just no end to the number of roads like that.... you'd have to stay here for years to get around them all.

The bike I've been lent is a 800cc Suzuki intruder, not the most sporty of bikes but still fun for a cruizer..... heh heh found out fairly quickly just how much lower to the ground the pegs are compaired to the bike back home

And now I'm going to play on the Black forest and Alsace roads.

Dammit only one week left...... I don't wanna go back and say bye to these roads.

[gunrunner]

Buy i good condition bike over there if you can something reliable bmw are good alot cheaper there than here , depends on how financal you are worst case you send it home and make on the deal , also if travelling on nz passport you should be fine but would double check for visas etc as bikers are being targeted for delivering stuff to other countries etc , also take ya time doing it and go off the track as you will probably never do it again .

[woza]

I also planning a trip there and looking at buying a bike in London... however how does it work with getting bike insurance? Many european countires require you have at least 3rd party, is it easy to get insurance when your not from the country.

[Supertwin Don]

Hi from the UK,
FWIW - I think that the simplest way is to fly to the UK, buy a bike and go for it.
That said, there will be various hoops to jump through if you want to do it totally legally.
First - Licence - full NZ licence Ok for 12 months, unless you get pulled/crash probably won't be checked.
Second - Bike - over here, separate third party insurance is a legal requirement, comes in three forms (1) third party only (2) third party, fire and theft (to own vehicle) and (3) fully comprehensive. TPO is getting harder to come by, and price is more governed by rider age/experience, base location, and bike capacity than the bike itself. e.g young, inexperienced, London, big bike = ££££££££££ old, experienced, rural = less ££
When I first came over here I had no trouble getting insurance, but it will cost!!
Bikes - whatever takes your fancy is probably available, but decide if you want to look at the road or the scenery - road - sports bike, scenery - cruiser. You will probably find main road cruising speeds higher than in NZ, but the towns and villages can be slow with heavy traffic.
I am going to be in NZ in November, based in Morrinsville, if you would like to share a beer and a chat let me know.
Don