Hello!

Shiny new member here, I'm currently doing my DAS with a view to go touring in the summer. I have to move out of my flat in July, which is also when my job will finish, so I'm thinking I'd like to pursue one of my dreams of touring on a motorbike.

The route I'm thinking of would be to make my way from the UK to Norway, then up to the bottom of the Arctic Circle, down through Finland, carry on through Eastern Europe, skirt around Ukraine to Greece, head up the Croatian coast to Italy, go up and down both coastlines of Italy, then head to Spain to potentially get a ferry back to Plymouth (near my family home) for Christmas. I'm trying to put away 5k to find the actual traveling part, with roughly 2k for the bike/insurance/luggage. 7k in total.

I'm 27, 6ft, 90kg. I've been looking at a whole host of bikes, but there are so many considerations. I'm prioritizing length of travel vs. comfort of travel, so I will be camping whenever possible. Good mpg is a big draw, plus reliability (at the moment, my mechanical know-how is very low, but where there's a will...) or part availability. Comfort too, I guess!

I know Ed March from my hometown, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to go on a C90. I've been looking at DR200s, Varaderos, you name it really...

Any advice? At the moment any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Kris

I did 3 months in Europe on a Honda cg125. Smaller the bike the easier to stealth camp. Fast enough for secondary roads, and obviously great in fuel mileage (90-100mpg) and reliability. Parts availability is limited in Europe, though not impossible. With the CG you probably won't need much.

Something Honda Transalp'ish might be worth looking at. Comfort isn't exactly in abundance on 200-250 cc's. The Transalp's great reliability track record is by now an established fact. Also, 650 singles like Honda Dominator, Suzuki Dr650 or even Aprilia Pegaso can be good touring machines.

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HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

I think I'm going to have to substitute a bit of comfort for better mileage; those 600cc+ bikes will return about 50mpg and that'll cut my trip much shorter.

What's a good, sub 400cc bike to go on? I'll have a look at the CG and known issues with it, thanks!

What's the Varadero 125 like?

You can tour on any bike, as long as the back wheel goes round. I bet if you look, someone somewhere has gone round the world on a sit on lawn mower. If you go on a Gold Wing or a 50cc steep through. You don't have to be Einstein to work out what one is going to be better for the job. I see where you are coming from. Any one who has been touring, will tell you that speed at some point is going to be a plus. With that come's MPG and larger cc. So it's a toss up between travel time and money. Me, I would not go touring on anything less that a 250, and that's the very bottom line. 5 to 600 cc, would be a good size to go for. If you ride with Mile's per Gallon in mind. You will be surprised just how many more over the book number's you can get. In my case on a 1,000 cc Honda on a major A road's, going no slower than 50, and no faster than 60. Reading the road so your not braking a great deal. You can get over 55 to the gallon, and some time's up to 60. But you have to work at it. So MPG is more to the rider than the bike.


So my advice is. Go get your self a 4/600 single with electronic ignition and fuel injection. Then get it up on a dino road. Tell the man your looking for the best MPG you can get out of the bike with in a speed range. You will be surprised just how far they can push the number's out to.


Pack you bike out well. You don't need black bag's flapping in the wind. So your looking at stream lining as much as possible. One or two kit bag's, to make less drag. And pack them long way's to the bike. Cargo netting, your need cargo netting if you don't want to lose stuff. And good bungees. Strap's are OK. But you'll find that on a long trip. Thing's pack down, after being shaken round and the strap's get lose. Bungees will take up the pack down slack. And you can all-way retighten strap's. If I use strap's, five min's in to the ride at some lay bye, I stop and go round pulling up the slack in the strap's. There is always slack.


Any way I hope that help's.
Wish you well.
John933

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To buy petrol in Europe. Pull up at station. Wait. Get out a 20 Euro note, then ask someone to fill up the bike. Give person money. Ride away. Simple.

That's a great tour you have in mind there. But man, that's a whole load of miles you're looking at. Comfort is not optional: you'll be in that saddle all day most days. You want to enjoy this right?

Western European speeds are high. You gotta keep up. Motorways are everywhere, and often very useful for getting from A to B when the in-between is less than stellar.

600cc is a standard size for multi-purpose biking in western Europe; 125cc standard for about town. There is good reason for this.

A small single bike will be at its limit most of the time on any road of size. Try sitting on a washing machine for an hour with a hairdryer in your ear (in a gale if you can manage that). The thrill fades. Doing those distances though Scandinavia western Europe and on a 125 is demanding. And at speed, not so pleasant. I wouldn't.

A faring for example, will make a huge difference in your enjoyment levels.

For the tour you've described, there are loads of bikes that will deliver what you want - all those Japanese commuter twins for example. Ideal for a beginner (a single wont be particularly economical at standard highway speeds). A 500/600cc multicylinder fared bike will give you both safe levels of speed and decent economy. They are reliable, easily found and cheap. Loads to choose from. You can also find them with built in luggage: far superior to bungee cord mayhem four times a day.

Looking at your money levels: do you really think you can live on a grand a month? That's a tall order -- even excluding fuel from that allowance. You want to crunch those numbers a bit more I think. It implies a serious level of deprivation. Camp sites in western europe are about 20 euros a day during the summer for example.

In France, Italy, Scandinavia I would budget several hundred pounds a week, and that's being moderately careful.

Another option: how about focussing on a smaller area; quality over quantity? I would imagine a backroads tour of a less vast land mass would be great fun on a 125. You could make friends and really get to know an area.

When you scale down in this way, everything becomes less demanding and less expensive: luggage, gear, planning, targets, and so on. If you choose eastern Europe then your budget is going to go a lot further and a small bike better suited to the road conditions.

Apologies for the negatives: I am trying to help. An enjoyable trip needs realistic logistics. They free you to have fun. Couchsurfing though Romania and Ukraine anyone? There are worst things for a 27 year old man to be doing with his days.

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Simon Kennedy
Around the world 2000-2004, on a 1993 Honda Transalp

for Europe and a low cost I will look at 125 cc YBR or CG , you can buy one for less than $1000 with low miles and they are very reliable. bigger will be more fun but more $$

Honda Dominator.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

I think about 15Hp would be enough in Western Europe. Less would be stressful sometimes (?), although haven't tried it. East of Germany/Austria/Slovenia no problem for sure. France has lots of quiet D-roads, I remember. Getting accoss Austria without using the highway can be much longer and slower, and the highway moves fast and has long inclines. Hmm. Germany and Spain haven't tried on secondary roads, would be interested to know. Italy has tolls everywhere, and the signposts all lead you to them. You'll need a GPS or careful map planning to avoid them.

On highways trucks travel at 90kph, you'd need to be able to maintain that if you don't want to be passed all the time. A 10hp can just about manage on the flat, but a bit more power would be welcome.

An economical bike should do 2.5-3.5l/100km. I might take one of these:


Мотоцикли : Мотоцикл JIANSHE JS150-3A EFI

$1400 USD here in the Ukraine, 150cc/14Hp with fuel injection.

Bring a small laptop/tablet. You can find cheaper accomodation online with free Wifi at Macdonalds, or spam old ladies on couchsurfing for free accomodation (recommended). Harder in touristed cities. If you bring a sleeping bag and a sleeping mat, just pull up anywhere quiet by the road to get some sleep. No need for a tent in summer, at least if you head South. Best to find a spot before sunset. Feels great once your used to it. Make yourself some tea with a gas stove. Campsites can be fun but can be expensive in some counties, but also very reasonable. Eat in Billa supermarket, cheap and good hot food. Get good with OSMAND (offline, good POIs for pretty places) and Google Maps (online) on a tablet. Good maps, your own transport and internet open the doors to very cheap and pleasant travels. Drive slowly, bring things to listen to. Black forest (SW Germany), Switzerland are beautiful. Northern plain in Italy not much fun. Actually Italy not my favorite. Bulkans, the carpathian mountains, all the way through Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania. There's a good highway to Kiev, and no visa. Haven't driven in France or Spain much. Actaully, just look on Google maps terrain view, wherever there are hills and mountains, it's likely to be pretty. Plains have more farms, factories and people. Stunning nature and a feeling of independence, talking with people, the occasional hot meal. More money won't make for a better trip. Stay hungry stay foolish etc. etc. But then go to Kiev or Sarajevo and live the life of an oligarch for cheap. :-)

The YBR 125 would be a sweet bike if you plan to ride secondary roads. As jordan325ic said, the smaller the bike, the easier it is to stealth camp. Plus outside of the wealthy part of Europe, riding a small displacement bike might earn you more hospitality.

A friend of mine once owned a 17hp Suzuki GN250. He still regrets selling it. Maybe another choice.

I will run my Suzuki GS500E again once I get a new/used engine transplanted. With a fairing, it is a decent bike on highways. No rocket, but will go 120kmph all day long. It is about as heavy as I would like a bike if wildcamping is part of the plan. I slapped some Heidenau K60?s on. Since then it behaved like a good little bike. The Bridgestone tires were no good. Maybe another option.

If you plan on travelling mostly wooded countries, you might want to think about using a hammock w. tarp and underquilt for stealthcamping. A lot more comfy and way more options as you don´t have to find a flat piece of ground.

I recommend getting a camping hammock as well. These ones are great (and include rain tarp, bug net etc): Hennessy Hammock: The Coolest Tent in the World

Not too expensive, packs small/light, and you'll be able to rough camp more easily.

In Germany, the speed limit on secondary roads is 100km/h and in most countries it is 90 km/h. I would recommend a bike that can do at least an easy 100km/h going uphill so no less than a 400cc.

The fuel consumption depends for a big part on your right hand. On my +/- 3000 km trip to the Czech Republic my 1200cc Honda GoldWing used 44 mile/gallon (18 km/liter) on average and I can assure you that it is much more comfortable then a 125 cc commuter bike.

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Jan Krijtenburg

My bikes are a Honda GoldWing GL1200 and a BMW R1200GS

My personal homepage with trip reports: https://www.krijtenburg.nl/
YouTube channel (that I do together with one of my sons): motormobilist.nl