Malta - Bulgaria
 

have been biking many years but the furthest i ve been is malta - Sicily now planning to do a trip to bulgaria (two up) with an MUZ 660cc any tips from u guys please http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif ? thanks

From Malta the easiest way to go to Bulgaria is to take the catamaran to Pozzallo or Catania, Sicily and ride to Brindisi. You can do this easily - remember that Pozzallo - Catania takes a good 2 hours - there are a lot of small roads on the route.Once in Brindisi, there are a number of night ferries that cross over to Igoumenitsa, Greece on a 10-hour trip if I remember correctly. The fares are very reasonable, much cheaper than the catamaran malta-sicily, and it will save you one night's accomodation. You can buy the tickets from agents all over the road leading to Brindisi port. The ferry arrives in Greece very early in the morning. From there I think you'll need 2 days to get to get to Bulgaria at a touring pace. I've never been there, but we've done Greece a few years ago. I'm sure you'll find a lot more information on these boards.

Thanks a lot very nice of u to reply! the only thing that is concerning me now is that im planning to go two up on an MZ Baghira 660cc with a maximum carrying capicity of 180kg.. me plus the pillion thats 150kg.. that leaves me to 30 kg for baggage..

That carrying capacity is based on several things:

1. The tire weight capacity
2. shocks and springs
3. frame/subframe strength
4. pannier mount strength

All of these can be uprated and typically need to be for long distance two-up travel.

Springs are not stiff enough, shocks blow out and leak, frames break and pannier mounts break.

First thing is usually a high quality shock, of which there are many. Search the HUBB on "shock" and you'll get a million hits with loads of info and discussions on what's good.

Tires - check the actual max load at max pressure rating of the tires. Usually the tire pressure can simnply be bumped up, and that will get you to it's max rating, which is usually sufficient. The tire I run for instance has a max load of 761 pounds at 50 psi. MORE than enough.

The rear subframe can be strengthened as can the pannier mounts. See someone expert in such things, (motorcycle shop with a good welder is a start) and you shouldn't have any trouble beefing it up.

Of course the first step is to always keep the weight to a minimum anyway!

good luck, Grant

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Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
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One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

[This message has been edited by Grant Johnson (edited 03 May 2005).]

Keith, your email address is bad - replies to your post are bouncing. Please correct by cliocking on "Profile" above.

Hi Keith,I did a two-up trip ending in Bulgaria last year on a BMW F650. Exactly the same carrying capacity (but a more comfortable seat).I put the bike over a weighbridge before we left and we were at it's limit(30kg is a lot of stuff). The bike was completely standard and we had no problems, on any road surfaces, as long as we didn't attempt silly speeds. Stability became a problem above 75mph (130kph?) on good roads but you won't be doing much of that in Greece or Bulgaria.
We are moving to Bulgaria in June. We will have a roof for any visitors, especially if they come by bike. Email me if you are interested or need info on Bulgaria or Romania. Regards, Nick.