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Round Europe on my R6


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Hi guys

Me and my friend have decided to go round Europe on our bikes in the summer and i have so many qustions!!

1) My bike is only insured TPFT, do you think this is asking for trouble on a long ride?

2) Is there any decent luggage racks for a 2008 R6 that people have used?

3) Where are the best places to go on your bike?

Im sure i'll have more nearer the time but thats good for now, any help would be great!!

Cheers

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Hi guys

Me and my friend have decided to go round Europe on our bikes in the summer and i have so many qustions!!

1) My bike is only insured TPFT, do you think this is asking for trouble on a long ride?

Yip. and you need to consider some Breakdown cover (Carol Nash include zone 1 breakdown with the Comprehensive cover). More importantly, some good Holiday Insurance, and make sure it covers motorcycles, some exclude this as a dangerous sport!. The idea being is that in the event of a mishap, you are covered to get you and your bike back home.

3) Where are the best places to go on your bike?

It depends on your own perspective. Sweden, Finland, Norway for sheer spectacular views - but long straight roads

If this is your first time then Spain is always popular, Andalucia is brilliant, great roads, warm, good drivers. The ride through France can be a bit of a slog and if you get bad weather, it's really bad!! Obviously there is the Apline regions.

Further afield, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia are something else too. Only problem is Polish roads are a bit 'iffy' and not best suited to your chosen steed! In the same vein, stay well clear of Romania (it's a great place but the roads will destroy your bike). Greece is wonderfull too, the mountian passes through the north beat the Pyrenees and the Apline roads hands down.

Italy - well, I wrote a whole blog page about this place. The driving standard is the worse in Europe, they will try to kill you. Drinking coffee, lipstick, taking phone calls, chatting (and looking at) to the passenger, all of these take priority to looking where they are going - and you don't even figure in their consideratins.

Consider what you want out of it, how long you have and realistically how far you can travel in a day. Some bikes are good for 600 miles, (I rode from Portugal to Amsterdam in 25 Hours none stop last year - wouldn't suggest anyone trys this though, nearly killed me!) others will have you crippled in 200. I have a map of Europe and a piece of string with markings on it representing 400 miles (about a days riding) as the crow flies. work out how far you can get and then figure it out from thier.

If this is your first time, then you'll enjoy whatever you do, but I'd recommend Spain. Take the Ferry to Bilboa/Santander and ride down throught the country. If you have a dig around my website you'll find some stuff that might be of help -> www.smokingtailpipes.com It needs updating but, there's lots of infor there.

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Hi guys

Me and my friend have decided to go round Europe on our bikes in the summer and i have so many qustions!!

1) My bike is only insured TPFT, do you think this is asking for trouble on a long ride?

2) Is there any decent luggage racks for a 2008 R6 that people have used?

3) Where are the best places to go on your bike?

Im sure i'll have more nearer the time but thats good for now, any help would be great!!

Cheers

Oh err a big distance on a sportster !!! you may think of buying a cheap tourer off of ebay or such like, Diversion 900 will give you the capacity to carry ur lugage and fairly low maintanence while you are 'away' and enuff performance to have a good time. There are other tools to do the job also, but I guess the R6 may not have quite the characteristics to tour comfotable. I'm planning a run around France in late may ... no stress about 2k from end to end so if you fancy 2 weeks away to work out whether you can use the R6 for touring then if so buy all the stuff you need to do a long journey.

Regards Jim

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I rode my 2005 model R6 from London to Monza and back last year September without

a hint of a hiccup and it was subject to many miles in heavy, heavy rain.

As a former Ducati Monster and 748 owner, I can only gush over

the reliability and peace of mind Japanese engineering offers.

Get on your Yamaha and just GO.

Europe is very different from the UK regarding long distance travel.

Going from London to Dover you'll not find a single dedicated rest area

to stop at, unless for fuel. Even between Calais and Boulogne you will find at least half a dozen

designated places to stop and rest, (not petrol stations, rest areas!).

French motorways have a rest area (or ..'Aire's.....) almost every 10 miles.

Europe is far friendlier to the long distance traveller than the UK is.

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Rather than think about carrying as much as possible,

consider taking just the basic requirements you need in

a bag on your back.

You'll experience freedom of you on your bike on the road

much more.

I have been as far a Monaco by bike with just a rucksack and

a tent as baggage.

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I can heartily recommend the Harz mountains in Germany. Fantastic roads, beautiful area and many hotels cater for bikes, with lockable garages, as that area is widely known for being a bikers destination. I'll be there again in August :D

If you're worried about the bikes when parked up, what about locking them together with a chain. Much more difficult to move that way. Additional disc locks are a good plan too. In any case, just asking the hotel if you can park the bikes somewhere out of site or somewhere secure can do no harm.

I agree with Daiv. Pack as light as possible. Consider taking less clothing and taking a quick trip to the launderette when needed. Well worth considering if you want to travel light.

Having travelled abroad as a pair of bikes, work out some sort of sign language to communicate the basics (if no intercoms are being used) and a contingency plan if you get separated. Take your mobile (and charger + Euro plug adaptor) so you can ask eachother where the hell you went! :lol: If you get lost, then you were taking the scenic route, right? ;)

Don't be over-ambitious with your daily mileage and there's nothing more stressful than having the "gotta get there, gotta get there" dash frenzy when you should be enjoying yourself.

I'm no authority but these are some of the experiences of European travel of the last 15 years.

Most of all...... ENJOY!!!!

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a little friendly advice here i just posted it on the how fast do R6.s go thread where the guy claimed to have been doing 144mph on a french road. another thing i have heard recently not sure if it true but if you are on the autoroute they will stop you and check your time on to the route and know if you have been going too fast

ref 144mph

If a gendarrme or police catch you doing that you will have your licence taken away on the spot and the bike confiscated ,

just in case you did not know, 30 mph or 50 kph over the posted limit is an instant ban over there, and if there is no other qualified driver in the vehicle they will confiscate it , no doubt charging you for the pleasure of taking it off and then a release fee /storage etc when yo come too retrieve it , and watch out for dark blue scoobys they have em and can drive em, also they may only have had bmw,s in the past but now are using some slightly faster bikes, dont try to outrun a french bike cop cos while you are trying to corner with your knee sliders on the floor he will pass you sitting bolt upright

on the outside

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Thanks for everyones advice, some great stuff to think about. We've decided now not to go too far for the first one and see how it goes.

Cheers

I'm planning 2 weeks in france just as a nice gently tour brittany area as it is our first go a continental touring (as yours ) perhaps it may be worth doing some of the trip together ... (saftey in numbers !!?)

Regards Jim

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I'm planning 2 weeks in france just as a nice gently tour brittany area as it is our first go a continental touring (as yours ) perhaps it may be worth doing some of the trip together ... (saftey in numbers !!?)

Regards Jim

Hi jim

This sounds good, we were going to organise for the end of june (only time off work)?? When were you thinking about going?

Andy

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