Adventures in buying and riding a motorbike in Europe

[motion]

Just thought I'd post this to share my experience, in case others would like to do something similar. I'm not much of a long-form writer, so here are the Cliff notes

I used a guy in Cork, Ireland as a service to purchase a bike for me, and register it in Ireland under my name, using his address. This works well in Ireland, as opposed to other countries for various reasons. His service is very affordable, and he'll travel to pick up your bike. Naturally, he charges for mileage.

I wanted something unique to keep in Europe. Something that I can't find in the USA. So, I located a 1999 Honda Africa Twin 750 on Ireland's largest motorcycle classifieds site, donedeal.ie

The price was very reasonable, however the bike was obviously not going to be pristine. I really didn't care. I just wanted something in good mechanical shape that would allow me ride relatively reliably. I had my guy in Cork (Martin), travel to Dublin with his van, check out the bike, negotiate the price down a bit and buy it for me. He titled and registered it in my name and purchased a 1 year Ireland tax disk. Cost was around 350 euro.

I showed up on May 17 to get the bike. I had ordered stuff to be delivered to Martin, and brought a bunch of stuff with me. Dry saddlebags, tank bag, camping gear, etc.

After getting the bike situated and everything mounted up, I rode around southwest Ireland for 2 days before boarding a ferry in Cork to Roscoff, France. The ferry was a 15 hour journey, so I also booked a cabin so I could crash for the night.

I arrived in France at 7 AM on Sunday and spent the next few days riding SE through the French countryside. No highways, no toll roads. Just country roads avoiding the cities. Most of the time, I meandered along at 45-55 mph. The bike did great. I alternated between wild camping and hotels.

I crossed the Alps into Italy. Checked out the Cinque De Terra and the coast. Rode to Bologna for a Ducati factory tour.

Headed north into the Dolomites for a couple days of just incredible riding and camping. I love the Dolomites. There were thousands of other bikes enjoying the roads.

I rode NE into Austria, then SE to Slovenia. I've covered all this territory previously in rental cars, but riding on my own motorbike was really something special. The bike did pretty good, but I did have to do some official and not-so-official repairs: A new front tire in Italy. The chain started kinking and making noise because I absolutely could not find chain lube. I eventually found it. It burned a half quart of oil, but I did manage to find the correct semi-synthetic oil, at 20 euro per quart. The front brake master cylinder started leaking. I wrapped it with thick paper towels and used zip ties to secure the towels. Changed that out each day and topped off the fluid as needed. My speedo stopped working on day 3. Bought a new speedo cable but that didn't fix the issue. Its gotta be the gear down in the front hub. I'll replace it next time. The gauge lights are all out. Need to replace those.

I meandered back to Milano, where I stashed the bike in a garage full of other bikes from around the world.

I'll return in September and ride east to the far eastern parts of Europe and stash the bike again in Romania or Ukraine for a spring 2018 trip into Georgia, Russia, Belarussia, Crimea, etc. I would like to eventually make it all the way across Russia and dip south into Asia. Then, back to Europe and into Africa via Morocco. It would be awesome to ride south through Africa to Cape Town, then put the bike on a boat to Tierra del Fuego. Then ride it back to Montana and put it into my collection. Its my long term goal. As long as my wife is on board, it should be doable I am a lucky man.

I ended up riding about 3,000 miles over 2 weeks. All country roads. Slow going

[motion]

A few pics:

[crustychief]

That sounds AWESOME! Thank you for sharing.

[rusnak]

Wow, you must have a very small wife.

[Otter74]

That sounds absolutely fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

[billybek]

Very nice!
Needs more mighty fro wig though...
Had to look up what an Africa twin was. Looks like a cool touring machine for that environment.

[MT930]

Kick ass adventure, your the man!

Were you solo ? Looks lovely.

[recycled sixtie]

Well done and great pics...

[Rick Lee]

Now that is living the dream.

[Bill Douglas]

Great adventure!!!

Motorbikes were popular in the Greek islands and they could take those same (cheap price) ferrys as the backpacker crowd were taking.

[95avblm3]

Motion, would you mind sharing a map or some route notes on where you went? Particularly the Dolomites? I assume the roads are car friendly? We shipped our Boxster over last Fall when we moved to Germany and I would love to find some good routes down into and around the Alps, Dolomites and on South to the Mediterranean coast.

[Paco Anton]

Wow, what a trip!!!

I'd love to have the time to do that.

[LakeCleElum]

Richard - Excellent time of year to avoid the crowds and heat. Good choice on bike also.

If you ever need storage, repair, or transport, insurance, etc; here is a German place a few friends of mine use (One has his old ST 1100 for sale on this site to $1,500 US I see):

Transport

Year around storage for about $300 if I recall. Airport PU, rents you a room and all of that.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Richard - Excellent time of year to avoid the crowds and heat. Good choice on bike also.

If you ever need storage, repair, or transport, insurance, etc; here is a German place a few friends of mine use (One has his old ST 1100 for sale on this site to $1,500 US I see):

Transport

Year around storage for about $300 if I recall. Airport PU, rents you a room and all of that.

That's an awesome service/website.

[speeder]

And Richard, you're amazing. Wish I could have made part of that ride w you but it didn't work out for me. Maybe the next one!

[motion]

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Richard - Excellent time of year to avoid the crowds and heat. Good choice on bike also.

If you ever need storage, repair, or transport, insurance, etc; here is a German place a few friends of mine use (One has his old ST 1100 for sale on this site to $1,500 US I see):

Transport

Year around storage for about $300 if I recall. Airport PU, rents you a room and all of that.

Yes, that is awesome. Good to have this knowledge... you just never know it will be needed

[motion]

Originally Posted by 95avblm3

Motion, would you mind sharing a map or some route notes on where you went? Particularly the Dolomites? I assume the roads are car friendly? We shipped our Boxster over last Fall when we moved to Germany and I would love to find some good routes down into and around the Alps, Dolomites and on South to the Mediterranean coast.

Here's a screen grab of my tracks around the main part of the Dolomites. It involves routes 241 and 48. More info on the road: Dolomite Road in Italy - One of the World's Best Scenic Drives

A hotel that I just can't recommend highly enough: Hotel Dolomitenhof Alte Post in Sesto

[motion]

Originally Posted by speeder

And Richard, you're amazing. Wish I could have made part of that ride w you but it didn't work out for me. Maybe the next one!

Make it happen!

[motion]

Originally Posted by MT930

Kick ass adventure, your the man!

Were you solo ? Looks lovely.

Yes, all on my own. A bit risky when it comes to riding an unknown bike, but fortunately it all worked out.

[recycled sixtie]

It sounded like the motorbike was a fixit bike. Fortunately you have the talent to fix the problems. How many kms to a litre were you getting? I know that French / Ital gas is super expensive - yes no?