The very very best time to visit Norway, if you are to ride the arctic highway, is from early june to early july, but mid may to mid august will do. June is when you will experience the midnight sun at its greatest... but don't forget to buy some mosquito repellant if you are going that far North, and plenty of warm clothing. There is a superb mosquito repellant brand called Mygga Myggmelk (comes in a glass roll on bottle in a green cardboard packaging and can be bought at most Norwegian pharmasies and sporting goods stores). This is really a must... at the worst places at the worst times, we are talking millions of mosquitos. This repellant is superb, and mosquitos will not touch you. Don't cover your whole body, just roll on single stripes a few cms appart on exposed skin.

I strongly believe that Norway must be one of the greatest places on the planet to ride a motorcycle... and I am not just saying that out of patriotism! I can reccomend a book by John Douglas called Norway's Arctic Highway. But remember, distances in Norway are looooong! Windy roads going around bendy fjords, over and alongside high mountains, etc, takes time. Roads are in excellent condition and pose no problems for anyone (except for a few Danes who are affraid of heights), and main roads here are nothing more than backroads in other countries, with speeds hardly ever above 80 km/h. Also, this is an extremely expensive country where eating out in any restaurant is expensive, as is fuel and just about everything else. If you stay in a hotel, make sure not to pass up on the great breakfast buffets (included in the room fare), they will get you through dinner. Take time to use their sauna. Don't forget to bring warm clothing, and expect it to take much longer to cross this country than other European countries... there are no short cuts or large highways here (except for in and out of major towns and cities). Entering Norway from the south from Sweden, nature won't even begin to take your breath away until you get a few hours north/west of Oslo.

To put distances into perspective, this summer, sticking to the main roads, we drove a car from Oslo to the Italian boarder in 24 hours. We drove around the clock, taking turns sleeping and driving... and we vere going really fast.

If all you want to do is pass through every country, then 4 months will be plenty... but you will miss out. I would rather pick out the areas, roads, towns, cities, etc, that you would really want to see, and stick to the main highways inbetween.

My top 5 list:

1) Norway - amazing scenery and roads for true biker enthusasts. Great breakfast buffets.
2) Austrian Alps arriving from Germany and going to Italy, taking a little detour to stop in Highligen Blut where you will have a clear view of the tallest mountain in Europe Gross Glockner. (crossing the alps you can make it a short trip, going through the Brenner passage into Italy). You have never seen so many motorcycle riders in one place... Summer would be the right time, but more flexible than Northern Norway. Eat apple pie or pancakes and drink scnapps.
3) Tuscany Italy, Including Cinco Terra, Luca, Sienna and the Cianti Road. Here it is mostly about enjoying the towns, though the scenery inbetween is also beutiful. I don't know which I prefer the most, Italian or French cooking... they are both so awesome. Italian food being so ingeniously simple, yet tasty, while french being complex and utterly savioury... mmmmmmm!
4) The wine roads in France plus the french riviera.
5) Ireland - beautiful, but rainy and windy... awesome pub life.

Going to these places would just about put you in every corner in Western Europe. Germany is often only used as a transit country, but has much to offer. If just passing through, don't forget to spend atleast one night in an old town with the wood framed houses. There are some good wine routes that could be riden as an alternative to the Autobahn. It took me 8 hours to cross all of germany on the autobahn, though I drove really fast!

Then offcourse there are all the major cities: Berlin, Paris, Prahag, Budapest, St.Petersburgh, Moscow, Amsterdam, London, Copenhagen, Rome, and others. I know little of eastern Europe and can't provide you with much useful information. But lt it be said, travelling in Europe is easy. I would bring a GPS though.

If going to Copenhagen and plan to go to Norway from there (or the other way around), although much more expensive and a bit slower than riding through Sweeden, I would concider to take the ferry. The bike ride from Copenhagen to Oslo is long and boring. The overnight ferry voyage http://www.dfds.no/dsw/no is a full cruiseliner with just about everything on board. It will allow you to rest up, eat well, catch some sleep in the lugar, get drunk in one of the many bars or discoteques, purchase some duty free cigarettes and liquor (something which you definantly want to bring if you smoke or drink). But as I said, the ferry is a bit pricey when bringing a vehicle, something which you should take into concideration before embarking on Norway. Still, you would probably spend the night in some hotel anyways. There are often special low price tickets available as they make most of their money from Norwegians solely taking a round trip to hoard duty free goods and to get drunk onboard. Probably the greatest thing about this ferry, if the weather is nice, is that you get to see the entire Oslo fjord (not a true fjord like those in the geography books, but pretty spectacular non the less).

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