Balkans advice

[Tom89]

Hi all!

New here, 25, living in Surrey, raced enduro for a good few years and only got round to doing my road licence middle of last year!

Anyway, to the point. Myself and a couple of friends are looking at doing a small road trip, only a couple of weeks, from London through central Europe out to Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia etc etc then circling round and going back through Czech Rep and so on.

The idea is to blast through France/Belgium/Germany to get out to the Balkans as we only have 2 weeks.

Just looking for bike advice really. Aiming for £1-1.5k bikes and we'd like to ride a few trails and tracks (nothing too bad) as well as roads. Thinking along the lines of older Teneres (but maybe a bit vibey for long distance??) KLR's or Transalps? but then worried a transalp is a bit too road focused?

So any advice would be appreciated. Or just general comments on the area, what to see and so on!

thanks!

[Tom89]

also been looking at dr600's and dr650's but a bit concerned they would be too off road focused?

[duibhceK]

The region is definitely interesting and well worth the visit.
Imho any of the bikes you mention would be fine. The Transalp should be capable enough for the majority of the trails you'll encounter. We came across a few last year on the Tethi loop in Albania and on the Hani Hotit road as well. We did not do any roads on our Husqy's that could not be done on a Transalp. It just depends on what you are expecting. If you adapt your riding style a TA would do fine.
A DR or XT would allow you to go a bit faster on the roughest tracks. Whether they'd be too vibey for you on long stretches of motorway is very personal. I've ridden my share of vibey bikes and I don't particularly mind. Others might feel very different.

If you want some info on what to expect have a read through our Ride Report on ADV.

[Tom89]

cheers for the reply! I'm going to set about reading your report now!

hopefully be able to put up with the vibey-ness. Think I'd prefer more offroad capability just to have the option. Just the thought of doing a couple of 500 mile days to actually get out there that's a bit off putting!

My friend thinks he's going to go down the fancy route and get a newish Tenere whereas us 2 are defintely going for the cheaper options!

Found an ok looking dr650 rs that has done 15k miles within budget or wait and get an early 90's Tenere...

Would the DR's need much doing to them? imrpove suspension, strengten frame or anything?

[duibhceK]

Originally Posted by Tom89

hopefully be able to put up with the vibey-ness. Think I'd prefer more offroad capability just to have the option. Just the thought of doing a couple of 500 mile days to actually get out there that's a bit off putting!

My friend thinks he's going to go down the fancy route and get a newish Tenere whereas us 2 are defintely going for the cheaper options!

It is a good disance to get there. We rode to the same region in 2013 (myself on a 2008 Tenere btw), but opted for the car train last year on the Husqies. Not so much for the vibes, but simply because it saved us time and we could sleep through the boring parts
Unfortunately the Dusseldorf-Villach line has been discontinued by DBahn.

[Tom89]

I've just been looking at the car train after reading your report. There is one from Netherlands to Koper but it's damn expensive so looks like we'll just be riding out!

Looks to be more than enough off road fun to be had as well! and scenery looks amazing. still torn between the more off-road focused bikes and a transalp, feel like a twin would be so much more cimfortable getting out there but then we would be going for the trail riding.... decisions!

Any advice for travelling around?

[Igor Mihajlik]

Originally Posted by Tom89

Hi all!

New here, 25, living in Surrey, raced enduro for a good few years and only got round to doing my road licence middle of last year!

Anyway, to the point. Myself and a couple of friends are looking at doing a small road trip, only a couple of weeks, from London through central Europe out to Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia etc etc then circling round and going back through Czech Rep and so on.

The idea is to blast through France/Belgium/Germany to get out to the Balkans as we only have 2 weeks.


So any advice would be appreciated. Or just general comments on the area, what to see and so on!

thanks!

How many days are you planing for Slovenia?