Is it possible to ride a bike through the alps during January? The Budapest-Bamako rally route goes over the mountains and it would be a shame to have to skip that part. If the roads are icy, are studded tires legal? And if so, where can I find the best info on studding tires? Is there a way that I could just install them when I need them?

While I have no experience riding in mountains during winter here in Canada, I have lots of experience riding un-studded bikes in the prairie cities all through winter (with a sidecar and without). No hills at all, but lots of cold wind, ice, and blowing snow. Am I way out of my league here thinking I can tackle windy European winter roads?

It's certainly possible - I've been through the (French) alps in winter many times on a bike. In general the authorities keep certain key routes open and close others once they're blocked with snow. If you stick to the key routes your biggest problem is likely to be rust from all the salt that gets used. That and the climate. It can get seriously cold on some of the passes. I was at 6000ft when I took the picture below last winter. It was -12C and that was only November.




If you're heading for the heat of Mali any clothing good enough to get you through the alps is unlikely to be necessary once you're out of Europe!

You can get real time information on which roads are open / shut from various on-line sources. Below is a link to a French service.

Critère de recherche

of course it's possible to travel through the alps in january, but you have to reckon with very slippery streets during this time and the roads up/down to the passes are usually very curvy - in combination with a wall of rock on one side and a bad slope on the other it's not the safest place for biker. so think twice about your plan if the forecast is snowy. although they use salt, the streets could be snowcovered in this case.sometimes the temperatures could sink far beyond -20°C here in the nothern alps (my personal extreme was skiing at -27°C, measured on base station).if you decide to go, you should check your route: many of the passes are closed during winter and only the important ones are open for traffic. of course this can be done online, but a good map will also show you the regularly closed roads....and on a sunny day you will get wonderful impressions, but i think you know already ;-)

Useful site to find out what's happening before you get there!
Swiss
OAMTC

Thanks guys, that is some great information. I have ridden in -20 to -30C fairly often, and once at -40C before through a snowstorm (now that was fun!), so I'm not too worried about the temperature. And if you say they keep salt on the roads, that's good news. But would the police stop me for riding in weather like that? I've been stopped here in Saskatchewan by cops who believe biking in winter is illegal. I got into a bit of a disagreement over this, so I'm just hoping I don't have to go through the same thing in Europe...

So... -20 to +30 in a few days?? That will be interesting!

Hi Dan

There are a few things that might stop you but being told that biking in winter is illegal in the middle of Europe isn't likely to be one of them. Going back to your original post you're more likely to be stopped for riding with studs in your tyres than without them.

If you're en route to Mali you're unlikely to be spending the time trying to force a way through passes blocked with snow and probably going to stick to the open cols. Occasionally I've been stopped by the police at the bottom of open passes after (and during) heavy snowfalls and told that I'll need to fit snow chains if I want to continue. That might be a problem on a bike although there are several posts both here and on other sites about fitting "chains" to bikes using cut down car chains, rope, nylon zip-ties etc. I've had a go at it but as usual with things done half heartedly it didn't work so I've no experience of what its like to ride a bike with chains. On a car / 4x4 it feels like something expensive has broken in the suspension but that might just be the way I put them on :confused1:. Usually though its just a case of go slowly and admire the scenery.

Are you doing the rally on a 125? Post up some more details

I'm not sure yet what I want to use. I am keen on the 125's myself for some reason, but not sure if it is the best choice for this particular trip. At first I thought that a sidecar motorcycle would be best because a friend of mine may come. Then considering their cost and limited availability, an old XT 600 or a tenere seemed like the best option. I ride a 76' XT500 in rough weather, so I'm quite familiar with their many quirks.

I do all my long-distance traveling on a cbr125 which I have come to love. Extremely underpowered but its a fun challenge! I would love to put knobbies on it and ship it over for the rally, but its just too much money and trouble. While I'm used to a 125 on Canadian roads, maybe its not enough power for the Sahara? In most cases, smaller is always better in my opinion, but the desert will be a whole new animal to me!

If I were to buy a bike and license it for 3 months in Germany, what would be the price difference from a 125 to a 600?

Here are some pics showing my current adventure machine. Its doing the exact opposite of what it was designed to do, but it continues to hold up well! From Regina, I have been all through the rocky mountains and through the northern U.S. But school always keeps the trip lengths to a maximum of 2 weeks, which is why I'm taking the whole 4 month semester off next time around!

I came across this topic while searching for some information about crossing the alps early december this year.

I'm in Turkey right now and from Istanbul, I think I will go to Greece and take the ferry from Igoumentisa to Bari or Ancona. From there on heading north with final destination the Netherlands.

Google tells me the fastest route is taking the E35, via Milano to Lugano and straight through Switzerland.

I'm not sure about the snow forecast for the Alps this year, but I hope snow will be late

Has anyone ridden this route in the winter? Is it possible at all? Or should I leave my bike somewhere in Italy for the winter and pick it up next summer?
In the summer there is a "car train" taking tourists straight to Italy but that service does not run at this time of the year. Any alternatives?

I don't really mind the cold, my gear is pretty good, but lots of snow or ice is surely no fun as we all know

Thanks!

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This route is perfectly possible. As noted above the only issue is how long it might take. If the weather closes in and you can't see you have to stop. This can be a boring couple of hours drinking coffee in a service station, a nice one nighter in a ski resort or a hellish 36 hours guarding your kit from thieving Romanian truck drivers while trying to sleep in a stinking roadside hotel.

Get a weather forecast, dress for minus stupid and have a plan B.

Andy

I have not tried all of these, and also I´ve never ridden in the Alps this late in the season... but I believe you do have several options in that region, that would all cut through the highest mountains, including:

– San Bernardino-tunnel

– San Gottardo-tunnel (that one´s a LONG road tunnel, and was very HOT – but this was summer-time!) – (Note, that there are also several rail tunnels going through those mountains, and at least trucks are transported on trains, but I don´t know about cars or bikes)

– Simplon-tunnel + Loetschberg-tunnel (so there are two big mountain ranges to cross, vehicles are transported on trains.. although I´m not sure, if both ´legs´ will be operational by December)

– Mont Blanc-tunnel

By following weather forecasts closely, and having plenty of time (even to wait a few days for the roads to get cleared, in case there´s lots of snowfall) and good cold-weather riding gear, I think one of those options should be just about do-able almost any day of the year. It should be quite rare for the motorways to be completely blocked by snow.. just keep in mind, that if you exit the motorway, road condition could be just about anything!

And if you´re in Italy, and the Alps just appear to be no-go weather-wise, then I guess it should be possible to head to Genoa and Ventimiglia, cross into France, and then follow the autoroute a bit west, and then north towards Lyon. That way, you´d mostly by-pass the Alps altogether.

Good luck, and let us know, how it went!

.... In fact I´d probably be more worried about how the weather will be closer to Netherlands, because if bad luck strikes, you may not have other options but to park it for a good while, and wait until it get better. I once rode through France in early February, and it was about +1 to +2 Celsius in the daytime, and kept raining constantly all the way through the country. Just a TINY bit colder, and it would have all come down as snow! Not sure, if I´ve EVER been that cold in my life before – reached Germany, checked into a hotel, and just laid there on a warm bath for 2-3 hours that evening, still shivering from all that cold... I´d actually ridden from Cadiz, south of Spain, on one go (yeah, I was crazy!!)

Thanks for the good tips. I have plenty of time so that's not the issue! And cutting of the alps via Spain is a good option.

We will see what happens. Inshallah! I will put my report up when I'm home for sure

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I've just crossed the Sint Gotthardtunnel without problems. In Ticino (the Italian side of Swiss), it was cold but clear and there was no snow, on the other side there was snow and it was wet, but less cold luckily.
I stopped after I crossed the tunnel to take some photo's while the Police stopped next to me. First asking me if I was lost, then finding out I did not have a Vignet.

I did not need one because I'm not driving on the Autobahn, and tought I could pay the toll charges for the tunnel at the end of the tunnel (I read this somewhere on wikipedia!) But that's not true. I could buy a vignet without extra charge from the police guys who were very nice by the way. But still a pity because I paid 40 CHF for the vignet and only used it for crossing the tunnel! However it has the validity of a year so I can come back in 2015

And well, I needed a sticker of Switzerland anyway for my collection

On my way to Germany now!

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