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Motorcycle through Eastern Europe Sept 21-16Oct Motorcycle through Eastern Europe Sept 21-16Oct
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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 Hendi Kaf, in Cambodia

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Hendi Kaf,
in Cambodia



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  #1  
Old 23 Aug 2009
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Motorcycle through Eastern Europe Sept 21-16Oct
Starting in Sofia, Bulgaria. BMW 650 GS Dakar is costing me 1300 Euro roughly for 25 days - Road taxes in each country will cost a little extra.

Any riders out there wanna join up? I'm flexible with what I wanna do.

Wanna hit the markets in Istanbul, check out Auschwitz in Poland, Dracula's castle ruins in Transylvania, ancient ruins of Greece, beaches along the mediterannean - namely Croatia... Check out Budapest, Split, Sarajevo, Warsaw, doesn't really matter, museums, art galleries, good eating, historical sites, tourist attractions, well kept town secrets, micro-breweries, nightclubs.

looking to stay in hostels/inns/or camp out to keep costs down, but do a hotel in a major city once a week to recoup

Let me know what you think.
wuzzittgunnab 'at' hotmail 'dot' com
Michael
Last edited by Bertrand; 24 Aug 2009 at 18:56. Reason: please break up email to avoid spammers and attracting spambots- thank you
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  #2  
Old 24 Aug 2009
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Hi Michael, i have twice hired bikes from Motoroads in Sofia and last year we hired Dakars which were in good condition. I would advise taking puncture repair equipment, (they gave us a front and rear tube) but you will need levers and a pump and make sure you have the proper tools needed for wheel removal. Accomodation can also be difficult to find in Eastern Europe so do your homework (ski areas are good), in Sofia we stayed at Hostel Mostel, basic but very friendly with secure parking, cental location and a good place to meet people.
i have just returned from a 2 month trip which included these counties you are planning to visit, they are wonderful places to travel through and i would recommend Brasov in Romania for a night or 2.
Good luck Andy
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  #3  
Old 24 Aug 2009
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Big Thanks, Andy!
ah glad to hear motoroads is reputable! They'll give me this tire puncture repair kit, right??? I'd hope so.

accomodations tough to come by? i went on Hostels & Youth Hostels Worldwide - Online Bookings and they have TONNES of hostels in all major centers. anywhere that isn't major will probably have an inn.. or perhaps friendly girls in pubs who take kindly to tall, handsome, travelling canucks and at the very least, a ditch on a quiet road where I can set up the rain tarp and bivvi bag and catch some z's.

What is it in Brasov that I should be looking for? I know I DO want to go to that area because there's a castle to see that apparently belonged to Vlad the Impaler aka Dracula.. although some one informed me that no castles exist any longer and that they're all tourist scams. HArd to beleive that castles just dissappear. But if the man was hated enough, people may have destroyed his legacy.

anyway, thanks for the info man. What a great community.
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  #4  
Old 24 Aug 2009
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Hi,
just my two cents on the castle thing. I'm still on the road and was at Bran Castle about three weeks ago. In my impression the thing is really more of a tourist... well... something.

I don't want to call it a scam, since most people I saw seemed to have a good time. It looked more like some kind of fun fair then a site of any historic significance and as far as I remember the actual mustached impaler did only set foot in the castle once, or maybe even never, but not often.

To me it feeled a bit like visiting Micheal Jacksons garden shed and I was not too keen on queueing for something like 40 minutes so I moved on. Nearby is Peles Castle which I found quite enjoyable. It's a bit of the Romanian Neuschwanstein but you need to take the extended tour (40 Minutes or so) to get a real impression of the place.

I'd also recommend that you google for the Transalpinia (National Route 67C if I remember correctly) and the Transfagarash Road (might be a bit off with the spelling). The former you might be able to still ride unpaved and the later is said to be breathtaking and might still be open. Combined both give a nice loop nearby Brasov.

Have fun, it's a great place to ride!
buebo
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  #5  
Old 24 Aug 2009
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Hi agian, to answer your question, we were only given spare tubes which we had to ask for, we did get a puncture but we were very lucky to be near a tyre fitting garage. On my recent trip we had a number of punctures in the most remote places and would have been F***ed without tools and tyre irons.
Brasov has a great city centre with loads of open air cafes and restraunts.

The 2 main 'must do' routes in Romania are the Transfargan (excellent tarmac pass) and the Transalpina (mainly offroad and a bit tricky) . We did both and loved both.

Andy

Ps. When we hired the Dakars we were told not to go off road and were not allowed to leave Bulgaria
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  #6  
Old 4 Sep 2009
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Location: brasov romania expat england
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brasov romania
hi michael.
buebo stayed with us here in brasov, more than welcome to stay and i will show you some good routes. if the the dates work out should have a friend here from belgium and you can possibly leave your bike for a day and take some enduro bikes and do some mountains. if you need any advice on routes just contact me
will send contact details via P.M
regards
mike.
P.S if you get a chance stop at sarka hills camping have heard it is good.
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  #7  
Old 9 Sep 2009
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much thanks, everyone!
hey all, not intending to do any offroad even though it's a dakar, lol... just wanted cheap, fuel efficient, easily parked, mode of transportation.

This route that is good 'tarmac' pavement sounds intriguing though.. God I hope I don't get any punctures. Should be good if i'm not going on anything too awful, and watch my path of travel when going through parking lots and such.
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