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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 7 May 2006
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Talking
Quote:
Originally Posted by Global Rider
...Nice site, except for that "Loud Pipes Save Lives" .... Sorry bud, but little wonder a lot of pass roads and areas are closed to motorcycles with that "Loud Pipes Saves Lives" mentality. Its a poor excuse to justify their use.
Hi Alex,

thanks for the site comments and yours is not too shabby either!
The site will be closing at the end of the month and will re-apear in another format... probably minus the "loud pipes" logo;-)) though I still have a tee-shirt with it on.

Having said that, I still love 'em. I'm not talking race pipes but stuff with nice rounded, fruity sound.
Living in a area full of deer and boars, they are very good at stopping the wildlife jumping out on me!

They are also good at letting the deaf and blind buggers in their cars know that you are about.
I do not like the BMW/Honda approach of making a bike sound like a compressor. Come to think of it, all my German mates call BMW's Komressors as well.
I notice that your bike is an "older" model and so does not suffer from the whispering death exhaust of the newer models.
Here in France there is a more liberal view from the locals who like a good sounding bike - except for the 2 stroke stingers.

Beers,
John
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  #2  
Old 8 May 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Redboots
I'm not talking race pipes but stuff with nice rounded, fruity sound.
Hi John,

You mean like an older Ducati or a Moto Guzzi? Unfortunately, it is loud throaty singles that probably put an end to Passo Tremalzo being open to us. Oh, I'll be riding that one legally, thanks to the help of a local.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Redboots
I do not like the BMW/Honda approach of making a bike sound like a compressor. Come to think of it, all my German mates call BMW's Komressors as well.

I notice that your bike is an "older" model and so does not suffer from the whispering death exhaust of the newer models.
Well you might think differently depending on how long you had to listen to it. Over here, my leisurely day rides are usually 650 to 850 kms; long ones are 1500+ kms. I don't think I would want to listen to the constant drone of a loud pipe. Been there...Honda CB400 F with a full race, hand bent, open Yoshima pipe...no thanks...drove me nuts. Loud pipes only sound good when going up and down through the gears hard, as on a race track.

My older bike that you see pictured was sold last year and I now have two R1150 GS Adventures as well as an R80 G/S PD, an R100 GS and a Krapmasaki KLR 650. The old airheads are the best of the GS series; no fancy smancy high tech stuff to go wrong.
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Old 8 May 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Global Rider
The old airheads are the best of the GS series; no fancy smancy high tech stuff to go wrong.
Thats exactly why I hope to buy one this week, ('94 r100gsPD with 27000km), for my trip next year.
I do love my KTM 950 adv but cant afford the cost of carnets etc and no big tanks available as yet... and not at a price I can affors anyway!

I have had a few BMs and the best was the 1150GS. But that was only after having used it in the Alps for aseason. At first I thought it was as bad as my second r100rs. That must have been a Friday bike because the first RS was the dogs in its day and that was getting off an 850 Le Mans.

Why oh why did we sell all those bikes.

Cheers,
John
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Old 7 May 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by santhasz
Does anybody know where is the highest pass on Europe?
As some have already mentioned, I believe the highest pass is in Spain.

But higher (or bigger) isn't always better.

I've been on some of the highest passes and although they might offer distant views, they don't always offer the most interesting roads or scenery.

The road from Passo di Croce Domini to Anfo, crossing Passo Maniva was more rewarding to ride than most of the well-known passes. I've been on more out-of-the-way roads where I might come across one or two vehicles at most that I would rate higher than the typical road that an "organized tour company" would take you on.

Here are pics of the road over Passo Maniva...
http://www.ott.igs.net/~ace/0013.jpg
http://www.ott.igs.net/~ace/0014.jpg
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  #5  
Old 23 Aug 2009
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Highest pass in europe
See attacments La Bonnette at 2802M Also Mont Ventoux, the windiest place on earth I believe? We did the Liseran then found the Bonnette was higher so you have to go and do it eh!
Highest pass in Europe-holidays-2008-069.jpg

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  #6  
Old 23 Aug 2009
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impressions of the col de la bonette
freunde landstrassen und schotterpisten,

i was up the bonette 2 weeks ago. it was a beautiful day.
a few cars, a few more bikes, hikers, runners, bicyclists and strange enough summer skiing tourists.

here some impressions:
YouTube - impressions of col de bonette
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  #7  
Old 2 Sep 2009
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Stelvio via Gavia
I was up Stelvio the other week and after reading a lot about how cold it would be I made sure I had a jumper to go over the leathers and a waterproof over that at hand and didn't need either. I was certainly fresh, but after being down in the valley for a while it was a welcome relief.

We rode to Stelvio via Gavia as we were down that direction to begin with. It was a lovely ride and gave some great views over the surrounding valleys.

Grossglockner, though a better quality surface, did not seem as much fun as some of the other passes. Probably because of the simplicity of over taking and the smoothness of the tarmac. But still worth the time to ride, if not the €18!

Earlier in the day we found ourselves on Passa della Foppa (or Mortirolo as the locals call it) It is only a tiddler at 1851m but the road was great fun to ride with 35 hairpins (tornante as they were labelled) I'm told it is part of the cycling tour of italy and seeing a 65 year old woman at the top getting a photo next to the plaque with her bike would testify to that. Kind of puts you in your place when you see that

simon
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Old 8 Sep 2009
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Not a pass, but still the highest OPEN road is Sommeiller. Pics are
from late July this year.



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  #9  
Old 18 May 2011
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Hello!

Ummm, sorry to revive such an old thread, I hope it's not frowned upon.


Could you provide some more details about this Sommellier road? Is is reachable from the French side or from the Italian side? I was looking on google maps and I can't quite figure it out. Is this the lake and buildings you are talking about? If so it means that it is from the french side...

Link to google maps

Thanks a bunch.
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