kbob2000 Posted August 2, 2017 Share Posted August 2, 2017 A bit misleading to say I rode to Switzerland, although true. I didn't ride in the Alps at all, just barely crossed the border. I left on a Saturday morning from Germany near the Luxembourg border, used no highways route from Google maps (slightly modified to hit some good curves from my house) and headed down across the border of Switzerland. Basel was my destination and I camped just passed their in Kaiseraugst, right on the Rhine river which ironically runs pretty near my house. My setup was the SW Blaze bags (which were on closeout on Revzilla, last I saw for $305) and an Ogio All Elements Duffle 5.0 (it's like $40 on amazon and it holds 60 Liters). I used betterbungee.com bungee cords with one hook end and one loop end...not sure of the length I bought. I just hooked three of them together and started from one of the peg hooks and went back over the duffle, around the rear fender and back over the bag to the next hook. I rode about 250 miles the first day down to Basel through mostly France. Google didn't choose a great route for me, a lot of roundabouts with a few nice sections thrown in. On the way back up, I found a Rever route (nice app, I think most everyone should enjoy it for route planning, and in the States there are tons of routes you can load up from others, also allows you to track your routes) that was in the Schwarz Wald (Black Forest) which was a bit out of my and way and added an hour and a half to my trip home but I took it anyway. Totally glad I did. It was a killer road that I will revisit when I hit the Alps here in a week with a couple of friends. It was right at 300 miles to get home which took a little over 8 hours. There was a particularly good section of the Black Forest where I ran into some exotics...Lambo, Ferrari, R8, not sure what else, they pulled out of a lot in front of me and I never saw them again. Right where they pulled out marked the beginning of a 2500 ft elevation drop over like 2 miles. Hopefully, I'll get better pics on my trip next week. Oh yeah. Stock seat...I was fine for 3 hours, after that I would start to get uncomfortable but I found that shifting around didn't help much. If I just sat on it...it would fade away and I would be good for a while. Weird. This is the first time I have rode more than about 140 miles in a day and I have been riding for about 12 years on and off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSTX Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 Beautiful scenery and cool report! Thanks for sharing. I'm very jealous of your area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigturbomax Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Beautiful country man! Im also jealous of the ride, i never get to go on long rides. Side note, i noticed a focus ST in the background. I own a black focus ST too! Very cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbob2000 Posted November 18, 2017 Author Share Posted November 18, 2017 Glad you guys enjoyed it. I'm going to try and make it over to Austria and Czech this coming summer. I just bought a second passenger seat off of ebay to make into a platform for my duffle bag to avoid it sliding forward. I'm actually about to put the Focus ST up for sale. I love it honestly, but I don't drive it much and would rather have more money for motorcycle activities. Plan on getting an old diesel wagon and trailer so I can take my GSXR to the track next year.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrolus Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 OH mann, das bringt erinnerungen zurueck bin 3 mal mit ner suzuki bandit fuer ein paar wochen kreuz und quer durch die alpen und bis runter nach griechenland...... setup war quasi genau wie deins. -jetzt lebe ich seit 2004 in australien und hier gibts keine kurven oder berge bin echt am ueberlegen wieder zurueck 'auszuwandern' . gruss nach bitburg! --die eiffel is doch auch weltklasse zum moped fahren?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebtx12 Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 Nice scenery and ride report, looks like a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbob2000 Posted December 5, 2017 Author Share Posted December 5, 2017 No one seemed to notice this post back when they were out riding. Now it's cold and people are scratching around looking for a reason to go on and this post gets traction, haha. Yes Patrolus, the eifel also has great riding as well. I ride for 2-3 hours regularly without getting more than an hour from my house. I understand some German but... Ich bin Amerikaner. You should return, the riding is worth it. I took a 4 day trip after this one with two friends and we made it to the Italian Alps. One night in France (won't head that way again, a few nice roads but long stretches of blah), one night in Italy right on the other side of the Mont Blanc tunnel (beautiful there and near the Saint Bernard pass which we hit in the morning) and one night in Switzerland at the same place on the Rhine river pictured above. I did an even worse job of taking pictures on the second trip than the first, although I got some good GoPro video. I have a couple of good pics from the mountains where we camped in Italy but I could only get one to resize before my software decided it was going on strike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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