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Europe Topics specific to Western and Eastern Europe, from UK to the Russian border, and south-east to Turkey.
Photo by Lois Pryce, schoolkids in Algeria

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Photo of Lois Pryce, UK
and schoolkids in Algeria



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  #1  
Old 6 Mar 2011
Mehmet Zeki Avar's Avatar
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Pay attention please.If its your first bike, its a mistake to buy 1100 at the beginning. A personal advice of age 56, better to start riding a smaller one at the beginning and never go abroad riding before having a 5-6 years experience in your home country. Every year we rescue about 10 unexperienced riders in natura. Safety first.

The reply to the question where to ride depends on your hobbies.The best way is to look at the map and feel which colors invite your souls.Browns and yellows are adventure, greens nature and blues seaside comfortable holidays.

Best Wishes
zeki avar
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  #2  
Old 6 Mar 2011
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Quote:
Pay attention please.If its your first bike, its a mistake to buy 1100 at the beginning.
Got to agree .
I went straight on to a ZZR 1100.
With hindsight I was a bloody fool. Luckily I got off with it (so far ).
It would have been better to work my up the power ladder, I think I missed out on a lot of fun that can be had on the smaller more nimble bikes.
Watch your right hand, It can kill you.

But you have your "Big Bike" now so enjoy.

For your first trip to the Continent it may be an advantage to travel with someone else that has done it before.

As for things to take with you - Bring all your dreams and leave all your troubles

I'm going for a run in July ( Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain then back home via the Alps) Maybe our paths will cross.
Have a good one.
Rory
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  #3  
Old 6 Mar 2011
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As a relatively inexperienced rider (planning on doing off road courses) inspired by lots of similarly inexperienced riders taking off on their big trip I would be interested if the more experienced riders on the HUBB agree with the minimum 5-6 years experience suggested above before you attempt a trip abroad.

A tad overly cautious or on the money?
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Old 6 Mar 2011
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I would say, one year and nearly every day riding is enough if you can control your right hand. 5-6 years.. I wouldn't even be sure if I lived that long

Be careful in Ireland, the roads are narrow, the surfaces are breaking down and every car driver is out to get you Rural France is fine for a starter, that's where I would begin a trip if I was only a learner.
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  #5  
Old 6 Mar 2011
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Personaly I think 5 or 6 years is a tad over cautious ,whilst agreeing that nothing beats experiance.
The only way to get experiance is by doing it.
I would always tread on the side of caution, but , maybe that's me being an old fart

Rory
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Old 6 Mar 2011
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i agree with you rory.although a good bike,the gs put's out 80ish bhp so it's no animal so if your comfortable rideing in the uk,abroad should'nt be a problem.going to greece and back is a big ask for your first trip in euroland,and if you stay of motorway's you see more of the country of course,but what look's easy on a map can turn into a long hard slog.the d and n road's in france can be wonderful or an absolute nightmare if you need to get somewhere.two month's might be a bit optomistic.take the bare minimum with you,and if you need anything on the road just buy it!enjoy
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  #7  
Old 6 Mar 2011
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oh,and ride on the right..........sorry





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  #8  
Old 6 Mar 2011
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Will. No problem as long as you know your hand turn's both way's you should be OK. It look's like our path may cross as we are doing the same thing round about the same time.

Europe 2011

I'm taking a lap top. If you have one also. could keep in touch by mail. But I see you have only made the one post. So i have no idea if you will be back.
John933
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  #9  
Old 18 Mar 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by realmc26 View Post
As a relatively inexperienced rider (planning on doing off road courses) inspired by lots of similarly inexperienced riders taking off on their big trip I would be interested if the more experienced riders on the HUBB agree with the minimum 5-6 years experience suggested above before you attempt a trip abroad.

A tad overly cautious or on the money?
In my opinion the number of months/years is not relevant. What is important is putting in plenty of kilometres on the bike you will be using, carrying the luggage that you will be taking on the trip (so you are used to the impact on balance, steering, etc, and on roads and traffic conditions that are typical of where you will be going. After 4 or 5 thousand km, which could take as little as a couple of weeks, you should know yourself whether you are ready or need more experience.
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  #10  
Old 19 Mar 2011
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Originally Posted by istanbul bisiklet motosiklet View Post
The best way is to look at the map and feel which colors invite your souls.Browns and yellows are adventure, greens nature and blues seaside comfortable holidays.

Best Wishes
zeki avar
You know - I like that. I think it's very true.

Buy a map or maps of Europe, as large a scale as seems sensible, and just study them for a while.

Look at the patterns of the road layouts, where they are twisty, where they are straight, where there are big empty areas, maybe with a few tiny thin roads criss-crossing, where there are only tiny villages, mountains, rivers and valleys, where the big cities are, all that sort of thing. See what sort of ideas it generates in your head.

Then just go without thinking about routes too much more.
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