Thanks for set #1... Is your lid a Schuberth?

If it is ... how is riding @ high speeds with the chin section open?

Simply amazed to see the friendliness of everyone involved. The people there seem to put you at ease by being as cooperative as possible. Takes a lot of stress off you. Probably thats why touring is such a pleasure there.↲
@haroon Feels great to see the tricolor sticker on the rear storage compartment *double thumbs up*

Thanks Killer_instinct. No, my helmet is a Nolan flip up.
I NEVER ride with the chin section open. Its only opened during photo stops or fuel stops etc. I personally feel the flip up is great for touring duty. BTW, all flip-up helmet manufacturers warn that its not safe to ride with the chin section open.

My buddy in Saudi uses a Schuberth. The pics are there in my BMW Tutotial thread. Its a relatively quiter helmet than my Nolan (with the chin section closed ofcourse), but very pricey. In Germany I saw it retailing for Euro 549 & upwards.

Thanks Gautam. You are bang on- The people are very friendly and far less stressed than us in general so we also feel less stressed there.
As for the tricolor, mera bharath always mahaan

awesome ride.

How to describe something which is achingly beautiful, use expletives,

I am having difficulty with words to describe exactly what i feel about Europe and it is the best place to tour/ride on,

I really enjoyed the vistas and photographs posted by you,

waiting for rest to be mesmerized

I kept ignorning this thread as I assumed there's nothing interesting. How I curse myself for missing this!!! Riding in Europe!!! Fantastic & when you've a company as a life partner, what else on this earth one needs?

Your travelogue is quite lively & makes me feel like watching one of mega serials. You just cut in right time but I'm waiting impatiently for the next write-up!!! Keep them coming.

PS - Somehow my wife refuses long trips on motorcycle & prefers cars. Yeah, May be this is Indiya!!!

Thanks Tourer_Kashif.

Yeah Sheelpriye. Europe is mesmerizingly intoxicating..

Thanks Aargee. Indeed, my trip was all the more enjoyable as I could share the whole enjoyment & thrill right there with my lovely wife.

Its a lovely trip indeed! I was already drooling over the BMW tutorials, and now we see one in Alpine action too.

Haroon, I am in Bahrain right now. Yourself being in Saudi, do you have any biking buddies/contacts on this side of the causeway ??

Also, do update this thread with the legalities, procedures and costs involved in the trip. I am inspired to follow course with my girlfriend who will be in Belgium in a few months.

Hey Haroon, awesome trip! What happened to the plan of touring India on the BMW? And when did you come and leave Bangalore?? Should've called for a Bangalore meet.

How different is the 1200RT compared to your '09 GS. SOHC vs DOHC, how different is it? 120kmph limit because of the run-in I suppose. I was expecting you to whack the throttle wide open at the Autobahn. How is the wind protection?

Did not see your thread at ADV. Will search for it. Looking forward to the rest.

Super, Haroon bhai! Looking forward to enjoy the trip with your logs and pictures. Lead us ahead.

Day 2 (Zell Am See to Arabba)
The morning was chilly. After a nice breakfast, we were ready to roll.


Our B&B owners


Loading the cases


Adjusting my intercom












Ofcourse, light rain is accompanying us constantly on this route, but we carry on. Before Mittersill we take left towards Felbertal on road B108. The road is awesome,






but we have to ride with caution as the rain still continues. We pass thru some mountain side tunnels and then as we are nearing the 9km long Felbertauer tunnel, we experience the first snowfall of our ride. Its light but I can see the snow flakes sprinkled onto my windshield. I was tense, as this tropical animal has never ridden in snow! As we reach the tunnel entrance the snowing gets heavier and within minutes, there is snow all around outside the tunnel.






Meanwhile the bikers coming in the opposite direction from other side of the tunnel are all lifting their hands in despair and decide to stop here till the snowing stops. I ask one of them about the condition on the other side & to my delight he tells me the weather is gorgeous with light sunshine on the other side of the tunnel. Well in the Alps a 9km tunnel can make such difference in the riding conditions. Anyway, all thru the trip, my Cramster K2K jacket, DewRex gloves & Olympia pants kept me very comfortable with temperatures varying from -1 to 25 deg C as well as easily confronting some light rains along the way. Also the Wolfman tank bag for my 1200GS easily fit the RT- just that I had to turn it around 180 degrees to fit the tank shape of the RT. But it was a valuable companion for the trip. We bid farewell to those bikers and enter the tunnel. Its all well lit and all vehicles follow the rules inside the tunnel and surprisingly it is more colder inside the tunnel.







Me posing with a nice new VFR1200


From here again we had a spectacular ride descending downwards with long sweeping curves and mind refreshing scenery. We maintained good speeds and finally arrived at the Austrian city of Lienz.







Had a nice lunch of Grilled chicken and potato salad with a soft drink. Soon after we take right onto road B100 and ride on scenic roads and also pass
the Loacker Wafer biscuit factory (I am a big fan of Loacker wafers-Vanilla flavour)





















Time to gas up and then we reach the Italian border at Sillian.



Here they sell 91, 95 & 100 grade petrol





















Here would be the next highlight of our trip- we are going to ride the famous & mighty Dolomite mountains in Italian Alps. We ride to Toblach and then turn left on road S51 towards Cortina di Ampezzo. At a distance the majestic Dolomites are slowly coming into view. They are absolutely stunning. Cortina is a bigger sized city in this region located right in the middle of the Dolomites. It is also home to some of the most prestigious names in fashion such as Bulgari, Benetton, Gucci etc and the nearby mountain slopes were used to film the hair-raising ski chase scene in the 1981 James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only. The movie Cliffhanger was also filmed here. From Cortina somehow my GPS started showing me the distance to Arabba as 47 kms whereas signboards on the road were all showing 31kms to Arabba. For once I decided to follow the roadside boards and here I was climbing the Dolomite mountains into Arabba.













On the way we cross the Passo di Falzargo- a gorgeous ride with steep climbs, sharp hairpins and deep frightening drop offs several hundreds of feet without any guardrails. I just noticed that my wife was not chatting on the intercom like before- Yes, she was a lil tense with the heights and sharp curves and steep climbs. She would just nod when I remarked about the beauty of the valley down below etc. Naturally, the cameraman refused to take photos on that stretch!! Anyway, the roads are nice, but you have plenty of tight, twisty & narrow stretches and hence these 31 kms consume more time than you would plan looking at maps. Ofcourse, with a pillion rider and a fully loaded touring bike, there is no room for stupidity in these high passes as they could be very unforgiving and even a little misjudgement could have fatal results.











Riding thru the Italian Dolomites

Alps Bike trip 2010- Riding thru the Italian Dolomites - YouTube








We pass some more beautiful sights including thick snow at one point pictured above and finally arrive into Arabba, which is a very beautiful & serene town located with mountains all around. Shoot pictures in 360 degree directions & you have breathtaking view all around. Arabba could be an excellent base hub for doing different loops and passes in the Dolomites. Upon arriving here, we searched for a few B&Bs including the well known Evaldo, but finally settled at Garni Monika







that is run by Pio & his wife Monica with excellent mountain views. Price Euro 35 per person and with a nice parking space in the basement of the building. Total 197 kms traveled today.

Thanks Kirosh. Please remain tuned in.

Thanks diffuser. No better bike than a BMW to ride the alps. It was fun.

Unfortunately, I dont have any biker friends in Bahrain, but there is a very active xbhp member Adil (id kar1zma) just this side of the causeway in Khobar. He rides a ZX10R.

Basically you need a multiple schengen visa, an international driving permit (you can get it from any travel agent in Bahrain), medical insurance, good riding gear as we toured europe in 'summer' but temps encountered were from -1 to 25 deg C). Ideally, CE approved helmets, but DOT is also fine. Lastly, some time & money Carry some cash as credit cards are not widely accepted in many places unlike the USA.

Thanks buddy. Peninsula trip with my GS is still on but that has to be in winter as I cant cope with the summer in Kerala!! I was only briefly in blr for 2 days and hence I could not call anybody. My apologies. I only had Srikeerthi's mob and called him to tell him I was leaving for Munich. Ofcourse, he was on a different trip at that time... you know what.)

This DOHC RT is a lot smoother and has some more punch in its engine. Even for overtaking during normal cruising I just had to open up the throttle, but didnt need to downshift. Esp in lower gears, you can feel the torque. I rented the RT mainly cos of the superior wind protection, lower seat height as compared to GS (for my wife) overall ergonomics and longer fuel range.

Only once did I touch about 140kmph on the autobahn otherwise it was all close to 100, mainly coz it was a new bike, a new pillion rider, wet roads etc and I had put a deductible deposit of Euros 1000 in case I crash up!! But I was riding on Metzeller sport touring tires for the first time and they perform superbly on wet roads. Way ahead of my regular Bridgestone Battlax.

BTW, Day 7 of this trip was the BMW HQ, BMW Museum & BMW World in Munich. I can feel your excitement already!!

Awesome... after this.. I think I HAVE to marry a girl who is interested in bikes.... and touring, of course.

Thanks.
Dont worry. Mine was a studious dentist & was never interested in bikes, but I got her hooked onto it.

LOL! good one..i have actually thought the same