Yes, the secondary country roads are a REAL joy and pleasure to ride/drive in in Europe. Among the East European countries, I have only visited Poland. Are Croatia and Slovakia also part of the EU?

What is recommended grade for the bike that you were riding? I think it is mentionned unleaded premium. But what is "premium" grade? I think you were riding the LT? With 116Bhp and 120Nm of Torque @5250!

No! My mistake. You were using the RT. Compression ratio of 12:1. Rest everything remains the same. 20KM/L! Wow, that is impressive.

I generally like sport tourers and initially I was thinking of renting the new K1300GT, but due to its shorter fuel range and extra weight I instead choose the RT which is also a very nimble sport tourer. The K1200LT is presently not available but the revolutionary 6-cylinder inline K1600LT is on its way probably in late 2010 or early 2011.

BMW recommends 95 or above for all its bikes, but in some extreme conditions you can even go down to 87 grade as its EFI has a special feature to adjust the engine to accept it without damage. My understanding of Premium is anything 91 grade & above is considered Premium.

Slovakia is part of EU like Hungary, Poland, Czech etc, but Croatia will need a separate visa.

Just finished reading the whole log.

That close call at the corner sounded interesting when you nearly grazed the border railing. I wonder what your wife was feeling at that moment!

I too prefer taking the side roads in Europe that run parallel to the Autoroute/Autobahn/Motorways since they are boring, straight whereas the side country roads are exciting, beautiful unless I have to cover 650kms in half a day!

It seems that you spent €50 to €80 a day on B&B which sounds pretty reasonable. Less than 5K INR a day. And you also get free wifi.

Your GPS anecdote in the city walk tour was quite funny!

Mozart is good, but I prefer Bach. Though I am more of a vintage rock guy!

Nude sunbathing in the middle of Munich! Wonders never cease. Actually, they do not have too many days of sunny warm weather in a year. At best 2 months!

Lovely architecture photos on your penultimate day. So your tricycle was essentially a rickshaw! I was wondering about some strange contraption till I saw the photos.

The BMW museum looks superb. Yes, we all know the iconic 4-cylinder building.

Thanks for sharing these wonderful moments.

It still gives me shivers when I think of those few moments. I was probably doing 100 and I was already in this left curve and just behind the mountain the road suddenly took a sharper curve. I had cars in front & behind travelling in a single lane at the same speed and there was no way to even think of touching the brakes or down shift gear since I was already in the curve- Split second decision & probably the only option was to very minimally reduce the throttle & tilt the bike further into the curve hoping I dont loose the rear due to the pillion, & heavy topcase, luggage.....just about managed not to touch the railing and sailed thru. Since traffic was heavy I continued cruising with some deep breathing inside my helmet and somehow thought my wife had not apprehended the graveness of the situation. Then came the surprise during lunch time- my wife smiled and asked "On that curve were we just plain lucky or do I praise your riding skills". I just laughed it off not to tense up my first time pillion rider, but inside me I thanked the almighty god a 100 times for getting me thru it. BTW, being a new bike, it had new tires, but since we had already covered about 600-700 kms on the new tire, I am guessing it stood up to the challenge.

Due to the pillion and the rear luggage, your rear tyre would NOT have given way in a tight situation like that. In fact, that is what helped you get good grip. Besides, yes, 600-800kms into a ride fully loaded, your tyres would have been broken in!

Probably yes, that might have saved the day for me.
Anyways- All is well that ends well and besides my lady is eager for more bike trips & adventures

Good! You should do more... Trans Siberia, after NZ and SA. Or East Coast-West Coast.

Trans Siberia....???. I think the Coast to Coast would be more realistic for a sober rider like me.

Anyway just contemplating something much smaller this coming September but definitely challenging (esp since the last time I rode a bike in India was 17 years back and I have been riding on the 'other side' of the road for all these years!!). Yes, if all goes to plans, apna GS may hopefully be seeing the indian shores on a Carnet.

You are importing a GS?

Not exactly importing. I am working on bringing it to India under the Carnet de passage and then take it back to Saudi after doing a 2500km south india trip.

Oh! There is a thing like Carnet de passage?

Oh yes it works in India. The Carnet de passage is also called a Triptyque. Quite a few Bentleys, Maseratis, Hummers of Dubai/Qatar NRIs running in Kerala with the respective license plates. Some of their pics are on the Team-Bhp website. There is some info on the Chennai customs site below:

EXEMPTION TO CERTAIN VEHICLES IMPORTED BY TOURISTS* UNDER TRIPTYQUE OR CARNET DE PASSAGE

Here in Saudi the cost to get the CDP from the local Automobile Association is equivalent of Rs. 6,000 and thats valid for 1 year (it means I can take my vehicle out on the same CDP any number of times to any number of countries within that 1 year period). In India, I am permitted to keep the vehicle for a max period of 6 months. Anyway, I am just going thru the whole process and once I get thru with it, I will hopefully post a separate thread on the whole formalities, procedures & costs for the benefit of others who may want to do something similar.

This is very interesting. Yes, a thread about the Carnet de Passage would be really helpful to people living abroad and coming to India for a few months with their bikes/vehicles.

Hi Haroon,
I know very late and this triplogue is almost a year old now however i wanted to thank you to take effort to share pictures and pen down your triplogue. It was a wonderful trip and definitely you have inpsired many of us. Riding in Europe has been on my top list ever since my last visit which was mesmerisinig. Thanks again for sharing. Triplogue was simple a la meraviglioso.