Alps touring without the hastle!
Discussion
Harry H said:
II think people actually underestimate the money they spend on bikes and the cost per mile.
.....
Now at least I have an alternative option.
I have to agree that the total costs are often and easily underestimated, and the sums mentioned might not be far off for professionally maintained bikes. .....
Now at least I have an alternative option.
Edited by Harry H on Thursday 23 October 14:04
Personally the greater benefit is time. With a very young family its more selfish to feck off for a week to spend a few days in the Alps, compared to a long weekend in northern France. This option might give you the same time in the Alps while only being away for a long weekend. Doing over 600 motorway miles in 1 day at the start and end of the trip holds no appeal for me.
The more alternative options such as this the better. Perhaps we might see a few more entries into this market and costs drop a little.
Hooli said:
I think you'll find a lot of us use road tyres that last long enough for a road trip (7k ish out of my PR3s normally) & maintain our own bikes. £40 every 4k for an oil change & £120 every 30-40k for C&S.
This. Plus, I dunno about you, but I wouldn't want to be riding a £15k bike with a track setup on some of the alpine passes, the surfaces can be pretty crappy in places and can catch you out if you don't know the roads and are on something unforgiving. KTM 990 SMR would be my weapon of choice out there, and there's no way you'd spend £160 on wear and tear getting there and back on one.As for depreciation, I love you guys who worry about depreciation, as it means in five years i'll be able to buy your tricked out garage queen sportsbike with less than 5000 miles on it for peanuts.
I dont see any hastle in being away on my bike, with my mates, I hate coaches at the best of times, ive had some fantastic riding expierences in Northern France, sure it isnt quite as glam as the routes south of Lyon but its sure a shed load better than anything the UK has offered.
The thought of catching a coach or blasting down to the tunnel on the bike, then flying down the autoroutes racing away from the peages, dicking around pulling wheelies..no contest for me, I dont want my holiday to start like a SAGA one just yet.
The thought of catching a coach or blasting down to the tunnel on the bike, then flying down the autoroutes racing away from the peages, dicking around pulling wheelies..no contest for me, I dont want my holiday to start like a SAGA one just yet.
Battlecat said:
I have to agree that the total costs are often and easily underestimated, and the sums mentioned might not be far off for professionally maintained bikes.
Personally the greater benefit is time. With a very young family its more selfish to feck off for a week to spend a few days in the Alps, compared to a long weekend in northern France. This option might give you the same time in the Alps while only being away for a long weekend. Doing over 600 motorway miles in 1 day at the start and end of the trip holds no appeal for me.
The more alternative options such as this the better. Perhaps we might see a few more entries into this market and costs drop a little.
Personally the greater benefit is time. With a very young family its more selfish to feck off for a week to spend a few days in the Alps, compared to a long weekend in northern France. This option might give you the same time in the Alps while only being away for a long weekend. Doing over 600 motorway miles in 1 day at the start and end of the trip holds no appeal for me.
The more alternative options such as this the better. Perhaps we might see a few more entries into this market and costs drop a little.
This looks spot on for me and the mrs; we will be doing a euro trip next year and have been looking at options for shipping the bike over to cut out 4 days of tiring motorway drudge. God knows it was tiring & boring enough driving across France with cruise control this summer, never mind going two-up on a bike. Cheers for posting, K1.
Eh? 700 quid to go to Switzerland? So you don't have to ride? Lightweights. Creampuffs.
I rode from Switzerland to London in an afternoon/evening after already doing a mornings riding through Germany and France. I did have to do unspeakable things to my bike (as per my wet passport thread from a year or two back) as I didn't have sufficient time for breaks, but still.
I rode from Switzerland to London in an afternoon/evening after already doing a mornings riding through Germany and France. I did have to do unspeakable things to my bike (as per my wet passport thread from a year or two back) as I didn't have sufficient time for breaks, but still.
BaronVonV8 said:
As for depreciation, I love you guys who worry about depreciation, as it means in five years i'll be able to buy your tricked out garage queen sportsbike with less than 5000 miles on it for peanuts.
I don't care about it as I buy bikes to keep. Turns out they don't explode at 25k like most buyers seem to think, but the oil cooler pipes do start leaking at 96k...BaronVonV8 said:
This. Plus, I dunno about you, but I wouldn't want to be riding a £15k bike with a track setup on some of the alpine passes, the surfaces can be pretty crappy in places and can catch you out if you don't know the roads and are on something unforgiving. KTM 990 SMR would be my weapon of choice out there, and there's no way you'd spend £160 on wear and tear getting there and back on one.
The French making a tarmac road with cobblestones at the hairpins can give you something extra to think about too.......We did something similar when we toured the Dolomites for the first time.
We used: http://www.chasmortimer.co.uk
Chas is an ex GP/TT rider.
They sent a lorry round to my house which picked up all the bikes plus helmets and riding gear.
2 days later we drove to Stansted and flew Ryanair to Brescia where the bikes were waiting for us in the airport car park. 8 days later we reversed the process.
If you factored in fuel, hotels etc there was next to nothing in it cost wise but we were tight on time and effectively saved 3 days. 1 day in aggregate travelling to and from versus 4 days - 2 days there, 2 days back.
We used: http://www.chasmortimer.co.uk
Chas is an ex GP/TT rider.
They sent a lorry round to my house which picked up all the bikes plus helmets and riding gear.
2 days later we drove to Stansted and flew Ryanair to Brescia where the bikes were waiting for us in the airport car park. 8 days later we reversed the process.
If you factored in fuel, hotels etc there was next to nothing in it cost wise but we were tight on time and effectively saved 3 days. 1 day in aggregate travelling to and from versus 4 days - 2 days there, 2 days back.
black-k1 said:
Harry H said:
Hooli said:
I think you'll find a lot of us use road tyres that last long enough for a road trip (7k ish out of my PR3s normally) & maintain our own bikes. £40 every 4k for an oil change & £120 every 30-40k for C&S.
And there's me thinking PistonHeads was full of company directors driving Lambo's and riding Desmodici's
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