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But first a brief introduction....
Chapter 1: Background
I am someone who has riding two-wheels since I was in class 11th around village roads and trails. When someone told me you need to have a Learner License (at least) at the age of 16 for two wheelers- gearless, I jumped at it and got one for myself without thinking twice. This LL gave me the opportunity to ride my dad’s Kinetic Honda to college & tuitions (it was the first moto-scooter IMHO, still a fan). But this license also gave me little more confident riding the scooter in the city and also join my brother, uncles on rides on their Motorcycles and thus it all started.
Why am I saying all this?
Because this is what led to me hopping onto a motorcycle and start daydreaming about riding far one day.
Back in 2004, I got my hands on my brother’s TVS Victor (first gen) shown above. Learnt the art of “motorcycle touring” on it doing day trips from Hunsur to Mysore (100 km per day) 2-up riding for 2 months- every single day. This route on repeat mode for nearly 60 days made me get the basics right and the confidence to ride on my own. Soon what followed was me getting myself a proper license to ride - MCG from MCWG
(Confusing right ? Hence the need to get oneself an IDP while riding aboard even if one has a DL smart card). Anyhow this license thing was monumental, like for every boy growing up as this meant eventually at some point, one will get his own first motorcycle. That dream came true nearly 1.5 years later, when dad got me a Bajaj Pulsar DTSi 150cc in black, with alloys, electric starter, fully loaded with features by end of 2005).
Why am I saying all this?
Because it is around the same time, I found friends who shared a similar passion in Mysore and the partner in the above crime. I found a friend who was more dependable with planning and execution of rides and remained naturally so for years/decades to come.
It is this attitude that made “more possible with ease” even years later. He is mostly known by userID hifi_sharu or the guy in Bangalore who owned a Street Triple before moving abroad. Above is the picture from our then THE RIDE all the way to Nandi Hills from Mysore (bunking the class on Monday)
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We go back nearly 14 years of moto-touring all over India. But all this of riding in India was about to change come 30th April 2018 - A new continent & in few countries at a shot !
So, back to Bajaj Pulsar 150 DTSi (mag-wheel edition).
This motorcycle led to SO MANY weekend rides in all directions with Mysore as the base, it was almost a bi-monthly affair.
In those early days of motorcycle touring in and around Mysore, there were no assistance from the google map’s-aunt/ uncle, online forums, vlogs to get inspired or informed. There were no travelogues, no Instagrams to expect - what to expect en-route. People were the only sources (period)
Knowing places to visit with good set of roads were the only two criterias. Everything else was left to “surprises on- during- at the end of a ride”.
Why am I saying all this?
Because in the Austrian Alps ride, nearly 14 years later in a completely different continent & for the first time, we nearly dropped those two criteria. A lot of this was due to two reasons. One was the unpredictability with weather as we were riding early in the Spring around Alps (End of April - First week of May 2018) and the second reason was the third rider (wait ! second reason was the third rider...that is correct). He is a German, who we got introduced through a common friend, over a ride we all did back in 2016 around Gujarat - Rann of Kutch. He threw light on some of the the don’ts when riding in Europe during transition seasons when the weather is unpredictable. We basically did not do any reservations for the night stay for the entire trip. We were at ease the whole trip and all the credits go to tech-platforms like Booking.com | AirBnb etc.
So back to the Great Rann of Kutch Ride- That is when the seed that was sown of riding in Europe got some serious fertilizer and that thought grew into reality in less than 1.5 years.
Chapter 2: Where it all got a bit serious
Following the Kutch ride, I started seriously putting time and effort into getting the financials into place as by then I had a fair bit of understanding of the ground reality of living in Europe(during my Masters study programme) and through discussion with fellow Xbhpians -ID Adarsk_BK & Mr.NiranjanScoda. Both by then had done serious miles in Europe under their riding shoes and Adarsh in-particular had flown from here and accomplished his “Mission Alps” (link shared below).
http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/tourer/32345-mission-alps-accomplished.html
So, with reality check done at various levels (basically rental possibilities + riding legalities) and what it is gonna cost, things got serious by end of 2017. I started putting together all the needful for this dream ride to happen- people, papers, pre-work and packing.
Chapter 3: People (and their rides)
Created a Whatsapp group with the same 3 people (the same group which rode to Kutch) and put the thought out there. Started discussing holidays possible for everyone involved and narrowed in on the week. Me, hifi_sharu & one other german friend were the final list of riders for the trip. The German had a BMW K800GT where as me and hifi_sharu started looking at best rental option to go with.
We all were aligned right from the word go that, we will avoid unrestricted Autobahn as much as possible and stick to interior roads for that is where one finds most fun and amazing scenery.So , having ridden Ninja 300 extensively here in India alongside Striple, the sub 45bhp/45Nm figures seemed sufficient for what we were planning.
I personally also wanted to be least bothered about managing the motorcycle. The intent was to reduce surprises as much as possible and take things in my control which I have control on. I wanted to concentrate my efforts on adhering to the rules in Europe and more importantly enjoying the ride than to “drop a gear and go brappppp”.
All these made us look at options which were in the vicinity of Ninja 300 in-terms of a package and performance - sub 45bhp & 45Nm. We knew even with a Hayabusa on unrestricted Autobahn, you are better off on the slower lanes for there is something always faster coming towards you in the rear-view mirror... OMFG some cars are ballistic
. On the plus side of sub 45bhp-45Nm was that we could save nearly hundred euros on rental costs. Felt logical- again take control of things you had control on while planning. Hifi_sharu started visiting few rental agencies near his place (https://www.limbaecher.de/vermietung.html ) to discuss if they would rent motorcycles to an Indian on IDP while I parallely wrote to the agency Xbhpian Adarsh_Bk rented from in Frankfurt (http://www.motorradvermietung.de/en/price-list/) to reconfirm once again.
But considering, for the later, we had to go all the way to Munich and start our trip from there (plus it had a cap on the range for 5 days), we chose to stick to the option closer to where Hifi_sharu stayed and hence went with Limbacher.
Something to note here is, while it is cheaper to rent from Monday to Friday but the catch is - the rental is from Day 1- 11 AM to Day 5- 11AM. It is aspects like these that made us opt for Limbacher and they offered unlimited mileage and was closer to where we were staying. Having that unlimited factor always meant, we could go always a bit further, faster and cover more if needed.
So, Hifi_sharu went ahead and booked himself a 2017 Kawasaki Z650 while I settled for the Honda CB500X cousin - 2017 Honda CB500F. I would have loved to have had the CB500X but did not have that as an option. Via Online-booking, rental agencies confirmed our booking and insisted I have IDP with me at all times for any scenario that might ask me to present one. Hifi_sharu had gotten himself a proper Motorcycle license in Europe hence, no issues there.
Note: Prices do not fluctuate with motorcycle rentals - they are fixed. However, you might not find the desired option as you go closer to the date of riding. Book at the earliest if you are picky on the kind of motorcycle you want to ride.
Chapter 4 : Papers
Motorcycle rental was one of the easiest as one pre-requisite from my end to be met was the IDP and a credit card for them to block 1000 Euros (security deposit). But to get IDP, there is a lot to be done before hand and all of that starts with flight booking. The order of things to be done in-terms of paperwork is as follows;
Flight tickets (Instantaneous) > Travel Insurance (From Inquiry to issuance 2-3 days) > 6+ months Passport validity (5 working days for re-issue of passport post submission) > Schengen Visa @ VFS (5 working days post submission) > IDP (Depends on the system - took me 5 days)
The most challenging of all the documents that were to be put in-order was the IDP (Not the new passport, not the visa or the travel health insurance or the rental booking). RTO is quite something and everytime is throws up new challenges.
Note: If one wants to eliminate the slightest thought of VISA being declined, it is recommended to get a letter of invitation from a local Indian in Europe or a European citizen. Processing of the VISA becomes hassle free. However, do factor in 30 days for the letter to reach you once the letter is ready with the concerned in Europe. It is an activity that has a lead time of 1 month overall. Again - Letter of invitation is not mandatory to get oneself a tourist visa m just having sufficient funds in your account for the last three months should suffice.
Chapter 5: Ride Preparation
Documentation and rental aside, it was the time to get acclimatized with riding in Europe. As they say devil is in the details, riding in a new continent definitely needs one to start observing the details. So, as per recommendation from hifi_sharu I downloaded this application into my mobile which is used by Germans to take mock-tests on do’s and don’t in Europe. Below is the link to this app. I used this sparingly before the ride 30-45 min at times over weeks but ended up using it extensively during my flight. It somewhere gave me the confidence that my rationale were valid in most cases and got informed about the little nuances in others.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.drivingingermany
One more site I found most informative was “ Brian’ s guide to getting around Germany - “The doctrine of confidence” article specifically. This doctrine is something I recommend every Indian to also read as it still holds true for every motorist - no matter which country he or or she is in or visiting.
http://www.gettingaroundgermany.info/regeln.shtml
Lastly, while one can be a sponge and absorb as much info as he/she can, nothing can prevent one from getting lost in the roundabouts in Europe or taking the right exit on the Autobahn. We did not get ourselves GPS and each mistake would mean a delay ranging between 30-60 mins with increased stress levels to wait for others to join/find each other.
So, very well in advance, we both got ourselves one of the Freedcom Intercoms (sub-INR 5k)from Gearbest and set-it up on our helmets. This gadget turned out to be a true rockstar as it made the whole journey a breeze.
https://www.gearbest.com/motorcycle-intercoms/pp_614179.html?wid=1433363
https://www.gearbest.com/other-motorcycle-accessories/pp_009429959663.html?wid=1433363
Chapter 6: Packing
Now with Oman air, one gets 30kgs/2pcs of luggage. So, hence, in one of the suitcases I filled all the motorcycle trip luggage. The list is as mentioned below;
- Rev-it leather Jacket (textile jacket was left behind for it would not be suitable for the weather we were up-against in the Alps)
- JoeRocket full gauntlet racing gloves (again to keep myself warm)
- Triumph Motorcycle Apparel - Riding Jeans
- Dainese Motorshoe D-WP riding shoes (if it rains)
- Craft warm-weather base layers
- Rain jacket & pants (Decathlon)
- MT helmet T-Rex
- Freedconn Intercom
- Mijia 4K action camera
- Olympus EPL2 with 9mm Fish-eyed lens
- 10000maH battery bank
- Dirtsack magnetic tank bag
- SW-Motech drybag 250
- 3-4 t-shirts
- 2 pullovers (layers)
- 2 jeans
- 5 pairs of inner-wear
- 3 pairs of socks
- 1 charger for phone
- 1 EU charging adapter
- 2 USB cables
- Camera charging adapter
- Documents (a copy)
Anyone who is reading this and has done extensive travelling would realise (we did realise much later) that with increasing USB-charging based gadgets, we were under-prepared to charge our devices at the end of each day. Every evening ,we would end up having all devices (2x Smartphone, 2x Intercom, 2x Action Camera, 2x battery banks etc) up for simultaneously charging. Lesson learnt the hard way. Here I highly recommend someone to get one of those multiple USB charging dock as that way as mentioned below. I would next time for sure.
https://www.amazon.in/Portronics-343-Charger-Charging-Station/dp/B00TGUX8T0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1532453148&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+charging+station
So now that we are prepared with all the necessary information, let us start the ride.
If I have missed some aspects, do ask and would do my best to provide necessary information.
The Ride
(I am the one the right ) 
To be continued...
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