grommit
Active member
I love traveling for its own sake. Have done a handful of long-distance car travels to various parts of Europe in the past. This was my first attempt of bike travel.
I got a 2003 first generation, blue FJR with over 20K miles on clock (maybe much more, who knows what they do to her odometer at the dealership). As a preventive measure, I changed engine oil and replaced CCT before the ride.
We were riding two up with my wife. Started out from Moscow, Russia early in the morning on April 29-th heading westward. The weather was cloudy, nearly freezing with frequent minor showers all along our way.
In five hours of cautious 250 miles ride along somewhat bumpy and slippery road we reached the border of Russia-Belorus, which you may not even notice as there is no real border control (at least for Russian citizens) there.
From USSR times, Belarus inherited and maintains a high-quality, 400 miles road going all the way across the country. The scenery appears very peaceful - great boundless planes sometimes with deciduous forests here and there, with almost no human settlements along the way. With official speed limit of 75 mph, it has taken about 6 hours to reach the border of Poland.
Once got there, we run into a huge line of cars waiting for border control officers to check papers and search cars for prohibited goods. Despite being obviously dizzy and tired, people in line were still very friendly to bikers moving cars aside and welcoming us to proceed right to the front of the queue.
That was a long day. We made almost 700 miles and needed some rest. So we stayed overnight at a motel in Terespol, Poland and early in the morning continued our ride.
When riding over Poland westward (400 miles), we met two fundamentally different kinds of roads. First leg of the trip (Terespol-Warsaw-Lodz) goes through a chain of very similar looking small towns and villages. It is quite boring to drive though them by car (30 mph speed limit, traffic lights etc.) but to our surprise riding there brings very different sensations. Moving slowly we had time to see details, even to watch people on the streets. Suburban Poland has a distinct smell - it's a mix of farm smells plus burnt coil (used to heat homes).
The other leg goes through a newly build highway (Lodz-Poznan) which is not really interesting to ride. Approaching the German border this highway turns into an ordinary two-lane road which lets us enjoy the surrounding pine tree forests. For some reason, this part of Poland is saturated with various gambling/adult services, oriented, probably to truck drivers. We have spotted a handful of young ladies in bright clothes and short skirts walking here and there at the edge of the forest.
Finally we entered Germany and it took us an hour and a half to reach our hosts at the city of Berlin.
On the other day we went to a suburban town of Potsdam where local bikers has their annual spring gathering (Spanische allee).
We spent a great week with our friends in Berlin, then finally set off for home. Just to take [partially] different route on our way back, we went through the city of Lodz, Poland.
The downtown of Lodz is probably a main tourist attraction.
We spent a night a strange motel, then, going through Terespol, Poland followed our initial route in reverse and in just 600 miles of straight ride safely arrived home.
During this almost 3K miles ride, we had a single technical problem with FJR. Just as we passed the Poland-Belorus border, I noticed an infrequent but strong grinding noise coming from below. Once we got home, I disassembled the suspected u-joint but it turned out to be in good condition. Then I found a lash in right-side front wheel bearing which [i hope] is the real cause of that grinding. I'm still in process of replacing both bearings.
A bit of practical info - on a long run and almost maximum load, my FJR eats 5 to 6 liters per 100 km of gas in average. Gas goes for $3.0 per gallon in Russia, $3.6 in Belorus, $5.3 in Poland and $7.4 in Germany.
I got a 2003 first generation, blue FJR with over 20K miles on clock (maybe much more, who knows what they do to her odometer at the dealership). As a preventive measure, I changed engine oil and replaced CCT before the ride.
We were riding two up with my wife. Started out from Moscow, Russia early in the morning on April 29-th heading westward. The weather was cloudy, nearly freezing with frequent minor showers all along our way.
In five hours of cautious 250 miles ride along somewhat bumpy and slippery road we reached the border of Russia-Belorus, which you may not even notice as there is no real border control (at least for Russian citizens) there.
From USSR times, Belarus inherited and maintains a high-quality, 400 miles road going all the way across the country. The scenery appears very peaceful - great boundless planes sometimes with deciduous forests here and there, with almost no human settlements along the way. With official speed limit of 75 mph, it has taken about 6 hours to reach the border of Poland.
Once got there, we run into a huge line of cars waiting for border control officers to check papers and search cars for prohibited goods. Despite being obviously dizzy and tired, people in line were still very friendly to bikers moving cars aside and welcoming us to proceed right to the front of the queue.
That was a long day. We made almost 700 miles and needed some rest. So we stayed overnight at a motel in Terespol, Poland and early in the morning continued our ride.
When riding over Poland westward (400 miles), we met two fundamentally different kinds of roads. First leg of the trip (Terespol-Warsaw-Lodz) goes through a chain of very similar looking small towns and villages. It is quite boring to drive though them by car (30 mph speed limit, traffic lights etc.) but to our surprise riding there brings very different sensations. Moving slowly we had time to see details, even to watch people on the streets. Suburban Poland has a distinct smell - it's a mix of farm smells plus burnt coil (used to heat homes).
The other leg goes through a newly build highway (Lodz-Poznan) which is not really interesting to ride. Approaching the German border this highway turns into an ordinary two-lane road which lets us enjoy the surrounding pine tree forests. For some reason, this part of Poland is saturated with various gambling/adult services, oriented, probably to truck drivers. We have spotted a handful of young ladies in bright clothes and short skirts walking here and there at the edge of the forest.
Finally we entered Germany and it took us an hour and a half to reach our hosts at the city of Berlin.
On the other day we went to a suburban town of Potsdam where local bikers has their annual spring gathering (Spanische allee).
We spent a great week with our friends in Berlin, then finally set off for home. Just to take [partially] different route on our way back, we went through the city of Lodz, Poland.
The downtown of Lodz is probably a main tourist attraction.
We spent a night a strange motel, then, going through Terespol, Poland followed our initial route in reverse and in just 600 miles of straight ride safely arrived home.
During this almost 3K miles ride, we had a single technical problem with FJR. Just as we passed the Poland-Belorus border, I noticed an infrequent but strong grinding noise coming from below. Once we got home, I disassembled the suspected u-joint but it turned out to be in good condition. Then I found a lash in right-side front wheel bearing which [i hope] is the real cause of that grinding. I'm still in process of replacing both bearings.
A bit of practical info - on a long run and almost maximum load, my FJR eats 5 to 6 liters per 100 km of gas in average. Gas goes for $3.0 per gallon in Russia, $3.6 in Belorus, $5.3 in Poland and $7.4 in Germany.
Lot of mileage covered on a stock seat it seems 
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