Scraping Pegs in Southern Germany & Western Austria

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teerex51

The Italian Scallion
Joined
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Location
Milan, Italy
Every bike forum over here in Yurrup waxes lyrical about the Dolomites, the Western Alps and—inevitably—the ultimate rite of passage: riding to Norway’s North Cape (which is an easy ride but takes a little time, seeing as the distance from here is some 4,000 clicks each way).

I can’t spare all that time and neither can my riding buddies. We specialize in quick, action-packed sorties (2 days, one night) and try to take in as many attractions—read: mountain passes—as we possibly can.

Last year we did the Western Alps, from down close to the French Riviera all the way north to Mont Blanc (1,200 clicks, 12 passes, 2 days).

This year, we set our sights on that particular spot in Southern Europe where Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein meet. Mountains are not as high as in other, more traditional stomping grounds (Germany’s highest mountain pass, the Riedberg, is a piddly 1,400 meters) but roads are immaculate and—if you pick the right days—almost deserted.

Let me drop a few geographical names here: the Voralberg and Tyrol (Austria), the Allgäu (SE Bavaria), the Engadine (Switzerland) all contribute to creating a fantastic riding area where distances between passes are minimal and you get the most bang for your buck.

Typically, you leave Northern Italy from the northernmost corner of Lake Como, enter Switzerland near St. Moritz and keep riding NE down excellent roads until you hit the Austrian border. There you have Lake Constance and a chunk of Austria on your 10 o’clock, Southern Germany due North and a lot of Tyrol on your right.

Real close you now have the Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse, a 20-km toll road, which I assumed would be a Blue Ridge Parkway on steroids, but really is not. The scenery is awesome but, apart from a set of mind-blowing switchbacks spanning an altitude gap of 1,000 meters, the riding experience equates that of a beginners’ slope on skis. The toll is a whopping 12 Euros, some $15, which is pricey but ultimately worth it, considering that these splendid switchbacks come at just a buck fifty apiece.

The Silvretta road is your pivotal event. Based on the direction you ride it, you can plan the rest of your tour accordingly. Suppose you come in from Landeck (i.e., the eastern end), once you’ve done the Silvretta, you should go through Bludenz, then the Faschina Pass, then angle east into Bavaria through the Riedberg Pass. In Germany you should not miss the Oberjoch Pass east of Sonthofen and the famous Neuschwanstein Castle near Füssen. From there you should check out the Deutsche Alpenstrasse, which begins on L255 at Lake Plansee in Reutte (Austria) and takes you all the way to Garmisch (Bavaria).

Back in Tyrol, don’t miss the climb from Imst to the Hahntennjoch (1,894 m) on the Bschlaber Landesstrasse (yup, no typo there), As I said, the distance between a great set of twisties to the next can be as short as 15-20 miles. We rode ourselves silly over two 11-hour days covering 600 kms per day at near-to-legal speeds.

You’re likely to be riding rental bikes over here, most probably Beemers. You’ll be amazed at the amount of R1200GS’s and R1200RT’s you see on these roads. But there are plenty of custom bikes, Honda GWs and the occasional veteran bikes, too.

Avoid weekends, if you can, because everybody and his Bruder will be putting the old iron through her paces on the twisties. Even though it was a Thursday, this demented GS rider waltzed out of a curve into the opposite lane and nearly collided with me head-on. Vollidiot!

My new ride is a Honda VFR1200 XD Crosstourer with double-clutch transmission and on this ride I was testing the brand-new Michelin Pilot Road 4 Trail tires, which are supposed to be the ideal choice for heavy dual-sport bikes like mine and the BMW GS. Excellent rubber, it reminded me of the Pilot Power 2CTs I had on my FJR. I understand the Crosstourer is not imported stateside. WTF?

Here's a few pics for your viewing pleasure: https://plus.google.com/photos/118310790531253290051/albums/6054414562370752529?authkey=CIP61sCC2eXcpwE

 
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Nice write-up, Teerex. I did some of these tracks few years ago and they are amazing indeed.

It looks like the access to your pics are somewhat restricted...

 
Hi Enn, my bad.
fool.gif
I chose the wrong sharing option. It should be "share-by-link" now and no longer restricted.

My apologies to all who tried in vain to access the photos.

 
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Nice write-up, Teerex. I did some of these tracks few years ago and they are amazing indeed.It looks like the access to your pics are somewhat restricted...
Hi Enn, my Italian is terrible but my Spanish is excellent! I went to Stef's Italian FJR Forum and navigated my way to excellent videos of the trip from teerex51:

 
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Hi Stef,

Good to hear from you. Got to meet you in Levico in Aug 2012 when I was strafing the Alps & Dolomites on the Extreme Alps Tour with Don Stanley & Co. It was a pleasure riding with you & having you show us your neck of the woods.

Thanks for the great ride report & recommendations for some of Europe's finest. I hope to get back over there again some day. It was definately the ride of a lifetime for me.

 
Hi Enn, my bad.
fool.gif
I chose the wrong sharing option. It should be "share-by-link" now and no longer restricted.
Stefano, Grazie! I joined Google to look at your photos, but this makes it much easier. Dr. Rich and I hope to see you and the Italian FJR Forum at the end of the month.

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Hi Stef,Good to hear from you. Got to meet you in Levico in Aug 2012 when I was strafing the Alps & Dolomites on the Extreme Alps Tour with Don Stanley & Co. It was a pleasure riding with you & having you show us your neck of the woods.

Thanks for the great ride report & recommendations for some of Europe's finest. I hope to get back over there again some day. It was definately the ride of a lifetime for me.
+1, Gunny; Stef with your kind permission I am moving your excellent video over to www.azbeemers.org - Dr. Bob, Uri, Bruce and the rest of the Alps/Dolomites crew will want to view this!

 
Hey Don and Mudslide Miller.
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I remember that muggy day in Levico and the crazy traffic jams all the way to Lake Garda. Jeeez
fool.gif


And thanks Don for posting my Silvretta video here.

The three riders shown at the beginning are Mik (Michele) and me from the Italian FJR Forum and Bob, an American friend who's based in Germany. He owns a "flying brick" BMW K1200RS and a Honda GW. Wisely, he picked the RS for this particular mission...

Mik has a real loud Remus can on his R1200GS and you can clearly hear it when he steps on the gas. Funny enough, both Bob and I also have Remus cans—but not as loud. When the three of us entered tunnels, other road users must have cringed...

 
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Hey Don and Mudslide Miller.
smile.png


I remember that muggy day in Levico and the crazy traffic jams all the way to Lake Garda.

And thanks Don for posting my Silvretta video here.

The three riders shown at the beginning are Mik (Michele) and me from the Italian FJR Forum and Bob, an American friend who's based in Germany. He has a "flying brick" BMW K1200RS and a Honda GW. Wisely, he picked the RS for this particular mission...
Great Ride Report with outstanding photos and Many Thanks to you for sharing it with us! yamafitter, Dr. Bob and I are discussing recreating the Spanish ride we did with you and the Italian FJR Forum: In April or May of 2016.

Mid-Morning break at Lago Di Garda:
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My heavens, it doesn't get much prettier. I've spent lots of time in Bolzano, and the mountains are simply stunning.

 
Stef, the Guys over at AZ Beemers are really enjoying your video and the photos:

Great memories come back watching those vids. My wife and I rode the High Alpine Tour some years ago. We rode a 1200RT and it was the first time for her to ride with me while I rode at a spirited pace. It was then that she said, "oh, this is how you ride when I'm not with you". ;D It was some of the most technical riding I have ever done when negotiating switchbacks, passing in the corners and in general riding like a complete hooligan. Two of our guides, Axel and Christian were excellent riders and it was a hoot to try and keep up with them.

We leave the end of this month to take the tour of southern Spain and Portugal. Going to spend a few extra days before and after as I want to visit Barcelona, hang out drinking vino tinto and eating tapas.

Don, thanks for posting these vids.

 
Thanks guys. The scenery is indeed breathtaking, The Hochalpenstrasse is just a blacktop ribbon that winds through the vegetation. No guardrails, no billboards, no garish signs. Just the occasional reminder that the speed limit is 60 kph.
Curiously, you don't feel like riding much faster (except to pass some oxygen-starved cager wallowing all over the place in a cloud of burnt brake smell). You just want to take in all that beauty and keep a reasonable pace through the bends, with the gritty rumble of the 4-in-1 Remus providing a compelling soundtrack...

 
That video is amazing.... well the landscape is amazing. What I would do to go ride in a place like that. Wow !!

 
Curiously, you don't feel like riding much faster (except to pass some oxygen-starved cager wallowing all over the place in a cloud of burnt brake smell). You just want to take in all that beauty and keep a reasonable pace through the bends, with the gritty rumble of the 4-in-1 Remus providing a compelling soundtrack...
Sounds like the perfect ride to me... I think I need to get back over there sometime soon. B)

 
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Nice pics and RR Stef! Good to hear from you!!

What's that Don, April/May 2016 ?

--G
Si mi Compadre Gorgeous George, after yamafitter - Billy Fitz and Papa Chuy return to Estados Unidos next March from our Southern Mexico Expedition we will post up the Spain, France, Andorra and Portugal ride details; basically straight North through the Pyrennees then west through Asturia. Papa Chuy has a bike rental agency in Barcelona I have used before, so we'l fly in and out of BARCA! Madrid and Lisbon are beautiful cities, two night stays in those Ciudads ese! JSNS!

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Green-Spain.jpg


 
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