Thrills and Turns: Riding in Germany

Every time I travel to Germany, I end up on a motorcycle, whether it is loaned or rented. When it’s loaned, I happily accept whatever is offered as it happened this time (see the picture below).

On a borrowed Harley Fat Boy with some of the boys… and girls

There are many things to like about riding a motorcycle in Germany.

Its beautiful countryside, which is always clean with no litter and, once out of the cities, no graffiti.

The small towns and villages looking like picture perfect postcards with their neatly manicured farmlands and forests that alternate between the towns.

Rides of a lifetime

Bavaria, where I’ve mostly ridden, has rolling hills everywhere, so the roads are always winding and flowing, left, right, up and down, like a smooth river of asphalt. It is rare to go straight for very long unless you are on the Autobahn, and that is a whole ‘nother adventure.

Riding all day is normal, whether a long scenic loop or a one-way trip.

One year we rode to the town of Regensburg which has a history going back two thousand years. A few years ago, it was Bamberg, another beautiful city with a thousand-year history.

Another memorable ride was to Weimar (as in Weimar Republic), which was behind the Iron Curtain of East Germany until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. After lunch in the city square, we toured the former concentration camp at Buchenwald—a grim piece of history that needs to be remembered in a time when too many want to forget. Almost as unpleasant was the ride home, mostly in heavy rain. No one had rain gear.

Follow the leader

It seems literally everyone in Germany is a good driver. That could be partly because it costs three thousand euros or more to get a driver’s license and or motorcycle license. That’s about thirty-three hundred American dollars and can take up to a year depending on how much training is required. It’s also nice that they drive on the right and proper side of the road, unlike the UK countries who drive on the left and wrong side of the road. Of course, the Brits say we are backwards. But the word right means right for a reason. I love to pick on my UK buddies.

Still… I always feel quite safe while riding in Germany.

For me it’s always “Follow the Leader,” since I never know where I am, or where I’m going.  And I don’t ride alone. We frequently stop somewhere in some old town to sit at a sidewalk cafe under an umbrella and have some great German food for lunch and maybe a Radler, half German light lager and half sparkling lemon soda. Usually just one; they are very careful about drinking and riding. A lesson I could learn.

A nice break in a scenic German town with friends (I never seem to know where I am.)

Adventures on BMWs

I’ve rented Road Kings and Heritage Classics and borrowed Fat Boys (Shilling) and Street Bob’s (Ronnie), but one time my rental was a BMW R1200 RT. When I picked it up at the dealership, I found it was brand new and had only one kilometer on the odometer. Hangmen Lance had driven me to pick it up and when I saw the odometer I told him, “Maybe we should take it easy on the way back to break in the new engine.”

He said, “Nah, it’ll be alright.”

The new BMW R1200 RT

After threading our way through traffic out of the city of Wurzburg we got on the Autobahn and by the time there was 16 kilometers on the odometer I found myself doing 240 kilometers per hour, trying to keep up with Lance’s Audi. I had to, since I didn’t know where I was going, and how to get back to Poppenlauer.

Later I did the math and realized I was flying along at 150 miles per hour, on a brand-new motor.  I rode that bike for a week and really enjoyed it. If I didn’t own my K1600, I’d have an RT like that one. I finally dropped it off back at the dealership and was surprised the motor wasn’t smoking or making any suspicious noises. BMW builds those engines quite well.

On the most recent trip last month, I was again generously loaned a bike by my friend Thomsen, this time a BMW R1200C. It was very comfortable with lots of power, and I am a big fan of that flat opposed ‘Boxer’ engine. In Europe it’s as famous as the Harley V-Twin. With a shaft drive and ABS brakes, it was a smooth ride. Putting on about 300 kilometers over two days with Hangmen President Spreco and some of the other boys, we had a fine time as usual and were lucky to enjoy dry skies. I have a series of short videos of me riding in Germany on my YouTube channel, and you might particularly enjoy this one or this one.

I would highly encourage riders to make a trip to Germany or Europe to rent a motorcycle. There are many rental outfits that offer all kinds of bikes, and some have group tours that you can take. Where you can make friends for a lifetime. There is fantastic country in Switzerland, the French Alps, Italy and Spain. It feels different from riding in the US and would be the trip of a lifetime.

Or just keep reading my blogs… “stick with me kid and I’ll show you the world.”

PS-Was it Bogie who said that?

The BMW R1200C