Hi there, will keep one eye open on this thread, I'm quite interested in doing extreams(going '08 Dakar etc).Sorry but very guilty of being a bandwagon jumper and bought Me sen a GSA last yr and fookin love it ta bits,"Ronseal".... "it does everything it says on the tin".......!!!!!!!!!

wocha. i was thinking of going to the elephant this time round too. im based in bristol at the mo but mi folks are leeds based, so maybe we could hook up at some point? when were you thinking of going? do we need to book in advance or is it tickets on the gate? got to psyche myself up and invest in some woolly undies i think....

karl

Hi, I just checked the website and there's no mention of tickets, prices or anything like that. No mention of max numbers either. Location would be on google earth "Thurmannsbang-Solle". If there's more than one then Bavaria should get it. Linzi.

My mistake. The entry is 20 Euros, but seems you just turn up and pay. It's on google earth at Thurmannsbang. It's on from 30 Jan 09 to Feb 09. Linzi.

The Elephant rally is one of those things you just have to do. Just don't use a decent bike to do it. If the ditches don't get you the salt will.

My advice, based on doing it four times, is to get something cheap, light and small (in the sense of being able to put both feet flat on the ground when you're on it), cover all the cycle parts (and as many of the engine parts as you can ) in grease and try to take spares for the bits that will break when you fall off (clutch lever etc).

You've got to camp. Don't wimp out and stay in a hotel! Geodesic tents make it a bit easier as you don't have to worry about trying to get pegs to hold it up. If you're camping on any depth of snow the tent will sink in over a day or two.

Lastly, make sure you get the badge!

A couple of pics from my early visits - on an MZ250 and a Suzuki TS100

The elefant is the last weekend of jan 2009.
There will be a british contingent there, a few will be catching it on the way back from the tauerntreffen in Austria.
The camaraderie is great, if you turn up on your own, there are plenty of campfires that will welcome you.
I don't think there is a true maximum number, you can always get a ticket on the gate.
BUT, do turn up early, Wed before the rally is when folk start arriving, if you land at the site on fri evening, you will struggle to find a flat bit of hillside/snow to bivvy up in. It gets VERY BUSY! If you arrive late, and have a heavy bike, be prepared to carry your camping kit several hundred yards.
MAG members get a discount (was 6 Euro's).
The best undies are norgies! (ex norwegian military)
Camping is required, unless you have booked in already into a local hotel.

The roads to the Rally can be unpredictable. The Germans are masters of keeping trunk roads open, so you will more than likely do most of the ride on dry salty tarmac. This will knacker proper knobbly tyres. So go for a catspaw type tread, they still work in the snow. The alternative main roads can be icy. I have to use these on the c90, and the run up the old road towards regensburg can turn "interesting" very quickly.
The older roads are much more interesting, if longer and slower. also you have less chance of interacting with a heavy truck in the occasional freezing fog. This is not uncommon in the Frankfurt area.

The main advice any experienced elefantonian (my new term) is be prepared for bad riding conditions. One day it will be beautiful blue cold skys, and it will turn into snowy, foggy freezing nastyness in hours.
Think high viz from the back, the Trucks are fast, and if you are forced to ride slowly on a motorway due to a freezing visor...... Oh yes, heated visors are great, but Fog City inserts work really well down to -15c. A normal clear visor will ice up, also a length of gaffa tape accross the top will help reduce glare.

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Harley Davidsons,
The most effective way of turning petrol into noise without the side-effect of horsepower

hmmm.... i'll join the crowd keeping one eye on this thread. kind of feel like doing something my girlfriend would term as "loco" this winter...

who else is thinking about going from the uk?

__________________
"I think we've stumbled onto something substantial"

Did it in 2004 and 2007 (failed). Would love to try for 2009, but saving up cash and passes out for a trip to somewhere hotter. My advice to first timers would be:

1. Allow enough time. Normally one or two days there or back from the channel is fine but if you find yourself on the autobahn going 40 mph due to a white out it takes longer.

2. Tyres are key. Some years a Bonneville on road tyres will be fine, others it would have made up there with a bit of pushing/picking up, others still (2007) you wouldn't get withing 50 miles after falling off dozens of times! Knobblies are fine if you can live with the wear, most old style tyres work well.

3. At minus 10 you need serious gear. With a heated vest or oil rig survival suit it's tolerable. With UK purchased so called winter gear, the warm drink stops every thirty miles really slow progress. Same goes for camping gear, items in UK camping shops rated at minus 10 mean you won't die, but you won't sleep either.

Bike wise, you need to look at the investment. In 2004 I used a perfectly good BMW R1100R road outfit that wasn't great getting going on snow and meant parking off the camp site but was otherwise fine. In 2007 I intended to use an MZ solo which would have been great if it hadn't siezed on it's motorway test run. The Bonneville was a no hoper on those tyres in that weather but would have made it other years. The Bonneville now it's got the chair would be pretty perfect. I'd gauge how reliable and how well you'd know a purpose bought lighter bike before trying to ride it across Germany in January. A 250 traillie is (as always) what you want for the last twenty miles, but the hundreds on the autobahn to get there might kill it.

Andy
Have a Gluhwein for me!

Hi snowmen, for strong pegs and very warm sleeping bags at LOW prices, check out alpkit.com Regards, Linzi