trvler48: Since I have led over a dozen European motorcycle adventures for my friends since March of 1969 I was asked by fellow Phoenix motorcyclists and BMWRA/BMWMOA members to write about the process of riding the Alps. This article appeared in
https://www.bmwmoa.org/forum and other BMW and Sport Touring publications. I certainly did not invent the Euro Touring wheel and one of my mentors is my friend from San Diego: John Hermann. Herr Hermann has written "The Bible" on touring Europe with his fine book "Alps and Beyond". You can order this book for $29.95, plus shipping, from
https://www.whitehorsegear.com You may also feel free to contact me at
[email protected] for any Euro planning help!
Alpine Pass Bagging 101 or Riding Les Alpes
Do-It-Yourself Style, by Don Stanley
June 2, 2007
The purpose of my report is providing you, an AZ Beemers and Fast Tour Riders Group member, basic information to plan your own Alps Adventure.
Accompanying my report is another report from my good friend Uri Schumm detailing the cultural, historical and social interactions that our trip encountered. Think of my narrative as a Clymer’s Shop Manual for the Alps
There are many tour companies providing escorted Motorcycle Tours of the Alps, Beach’s and Edelweiss are two premier companies serving the motorcyclist riding the Alps. You can go to www.bmca.com and www.edelweissbike.com to see their rates; at a price twice our expenditures.
Our trip consisted of eleven days total, with three of the days being flying days and eight days were aboard the motorcycles. We used www.expedia.com to purchase our American Airlines budget tickets, but www.cheaptickets.com or www.orbitz.com works fine also. Buying nine months ahead resulted in flights of $600; you pay more nearer to flying time.
First hand experience is everything and I heartily recommend Knopf Motorradreisen operated by Stefan Knopf in Heidelberg. His homepage is
https://www.knopftours.com and e-Mail is
[email protected] and my use of a 2004 BMW R1150 RT with top case, tank bag, and cell phone-travel service assistance resulted in a fee of $150 a day. If you like the K75 series, he has a fleet of these and they rent out for $100 a day; they are very well suited to the Alps. When you arrive at Frankfurt Rhein Main International Airport collect your baggage and walk down stairs to the train terminal. At the Service Desk are English speaking staff, purchase a ticket for 30 Euros to Kircheim/Rohrbach and Stefan’s shop is 300 yards west of the train station.
We tried to not spend over 100 Euros a night on average for lodging for two people and we easily met our goals. Here’s our easily obtainable routing from Heidelberg that provides a rider with 300 kilometers a day and up to 400 kilometers if you bag extra passes. Augsburg, 2 nights each in Merano and Lake Como, Landeck and Titisee-Neustadt for last night. Here’s some great M/C links for your use:
https://www.alpineroads.com and
https://www.bmwmoa.org
Day One: From Heidelberg to Ausgburg was a nice blend of high speed autobahn running and cruising the famous two lane Romantische Strasse, the old post road of Rome’s Legionnaires in their far flung colony of Germania.
Autobahn M/C Notes: Never stay in the far left lane except to pass! You’ll either by cited by the Polizei or you’ll wind up as a hood ornament on a Maserati going 250 kilometers an hour. There are speed limits on the Autobahn, but only at intersections of multiple routes or where there’s successive on/off ramps where you are reduced to 100 kph. Construction zones on the autobahn can be reduced to even 50 kph, but typically they are posted for 80. Other than these examples, run that BMW flat freaking out.
Secondary Roads: Euro authorities are lenient on your speed in rural areas, but they will cite you in a second and fine you 100 Euro on the spot if you speed through their towns and villages. Save the blast for the countryside.
Day Two: We rode the Romantische Strasse south to Merano, Italy today and start bagging our first passes. On the way we stopped to check out Bavaria’s Mad King Ludwig’s twin castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohen Schwangau. Here are the passes we nailed on our way to Sunny Italia.
1. Fern Pass, 1209 meters. 3. Piller Hohe, 1558 meters; Note: Piller Hohe is a nice pass because it has hundreds of very tight turns and the road is only 2 meters wide, you have to let another moto squeeze past when you encounter one. 4. Reschen Pass, 1504 meters. We got to ride them in the rain!
Day Three: Using Merano as our base Camp we did some serious Big Boy pass bagging: 1. Timmels Joch, 2509 meters. Note: This is one of the Disneyland E-Ticket pass rides in the Alps and the only one better is Passo di Stelvio, but unfortunately Stilfser Joch was still covered in snow. 2. Jaufen Pass, 2094 meters. 3. Penser Joch, 2214 meters. Last two hours of this day trip were on the Jenesian trail that runs from Bozen to Merano along a track just like Piller running through the villages of Moltina and Avelengo.
Day Four: We had many miles ahead of us to get to Lake Como and some amazing passes to Conquer! 1. Gampen Joch, 1518 meters. 2. Passo dello Tonale, 1884 meters. 3. Passo dello Aprica, 1176 meters. Technical riding!
Day Five: Using Abbadio del Lario as our base we explored Lake Como and the mountains above. We put our bikes on the car ferry at Varenna and were transported to Menaggio. At Carlazzo, next to Lago di Plano, we saw on our maps a twisty little road up to the Village of Cavargna. This road made the Piller and Jenesian tracks look like the Autobahn. Our arms were tired for the rest of the trip after negotiating this incredibly twisty route. We turned back when it turned into a GS track at Saint Nazzaro and returned via ferry to Mandello del Lario to tour the now historical Moto-Guzzi M/C factory.
Notes on Vignettes: To ride the Autobahns in Switzerland and Austria you will need to pre purchase a sticker that you display on your windshield. We avoided the autobahns because Austria charges 7.5 Euros for a ten-day vignette and Switzerland makes you buy a pro rated vignette at four Euros a month per year. Since we were in the fifth month we’d have had to pay 32E.
Day Six: Lake Como and through San Moritz to our day’s nightly destination of Landeck, Austria. Only significant pass today was Maloja at 1815 meters, the road followed the Inn River and it was beautiful; and rainy!
Day Seven: Pass City on our ride back into Germany to spend the night at Titisee-Neustadt. 1. St. Anton Pass, 1284 meters. 2. Arlbergpass, 1793 meters. Flexenpass, 1773 meters. 3. Hochtannberg Pass, 1679 meters. We then rode along the Northern Shore of Lake Constance through Switzerland.
Day Eight: We rode through the Schwarzwald-Black Forest today. Took the secondary passes through Munstertal to the A5 Autobahn, our route back to Heidelberg. Took everyone into France to show them the Rhine River and the river barges going through the canal locks. Afternoon rained like crazy!
We had a fantastic trip with great friends and great scenery to enjoy throughout. The roads are incredible and every turn brought a smile to our faces. Stefan Knopf provided us with motorraden that performed flawlessly.
We did hit a little bit of rain, but all in all we were very fortunate that the longest duration was two hours and mostly it rained at night while sleeping.
Only thing I’d do differently next time is to make use of renting one of Knopf Motorrad Reisen’s K75’s. Solo that’s all you’d need for Alps riding.
If you’ve any questions about Alps Riding, please call Don at 480-917-3863.
