WSB Monza 2012

[kevj]

Has anyone on here ever rode to Monza from the UK before?

Me, my dad and uncle are riding to Monza on 2nd May and we can't decide on a route after we get of the channel tunnel.

If anyone has done this trip or something like it before some suggestions on a route would be really helpful.

Cheers

Kev

[phuk72]

Yes - I did it in 2010 (although we only rode 1 way and had the bikes delivered to the hotel in Milan).

A few things you need to know:

1 - it's an effing long way

2 - some of the mountain passes may still be shut (and it gets effing cold up there)

3 - realistically it's (at least) 3 days each way

Assuming that you don't just want to blitz up the toll roads, you have a number of options - depending on which Ferry you plan to catch? But in France you are unfortunaltely faced with boring quick roads or fantastic slower roads

[kevj]

Hi,

We have allowed 3 days each way and we will using some boring roads and some of the more fun ones. We will cover blighty on the wednesday then channel tunnel to calais(spelling?) that night and stay over. Then on Thursday we will crack out as much as France as possible then on friday do the last bit of the journey over the alps.Stay in a hotel on Friday, Saturday and Sunday then head back home on Monday.

What route did you take and how for was it roughly?

Cheers

Kev

[phuk72]

Personally I'd recommend getting down to Portsmouth and doing a crossing to Caen or Dieppe or wherever. The roads from Calais are plain boring and it is a right slog down to Dover / Folkestone.

Your thinking about getting across france in a day is sound - the decent mountain passes are hard work and take a long time - so you want to be aiming for somehwere like Strasbourg. We stayed in Mulhouse.

Now I working from the top of my head so get a map in front of you but from the Dieppe, head south to Rouen and then onto Reims via Beauvais and (this is a route I have done lots of times and the roads are quickish and police free).

Staying on yellow roads is what you want in france

You then have a number of options to keep heading east - a chance to knock out miles on a toll road to metz (or all teh way to strasbourg if you want - nice place to stay) or more winding routes. One of the roads pretty much runs parallel with the toll roads towards metz but the route we took was across toward nancy and through a national park to Mulhouse.

You can also push through to somewhere like Berne which is a route a couple of mates have done in a day. Or even Zurich or lucerne?

It's a good 500 miles from Caen to Basel but you can easily break teh back of it in teh morning. Big breakfast on teh boat, in france at 7am and then ride solid for 5 hours before stopping for lunch. By which time you shoudl easily be half way there without touching a toll road. That gives you the afternoon to do the rest and options of toll roads all the way if you want to just get there.

Your route across the hills teh next day is you own then. Plenty of options but I'll say again, allow plenty of time. It may only be 250 miles to milan but when you average 30mph on the moountain passes, it takes a long time and is physically and mentally draining.

[kevj]

Thanks for the advice. We can't wait to set off it seems like we have been waiting forever. We aren't planning on going at break neck speed and if it takes longer than 3 days then so be it. Just want to go for the expeirence and the chance to ride some awesome roads. I've never ridden abroad before so I will be taking it steady to get used to being on the other side of the road.

Cheers

Kev

[phuk72]

Thanks for the advice. We can't wait to set off it seems like we have been waiting forever. We aren't planning on going at break neck speed and if it takes longer than 3 days then so be it. Just want to go for the expeirence and the chance to ride some awesome roads. I've never ridden abroad before so I will be taking it steady to get used to being on the other side of the road.

Cheers

Kev

I find it much easier riding aborad versus driving abroad - hardly takes any time to get yourself orientated.

Don't worry too much about speeds on the yellow roads but make sure you slow down for villages

[kevj]

Well the Monza trip hasn't gone according to plan!!!!!!!!!!!! We set of on Wednesday morning on lovely dry roads. Went all the way down the A49, stopped for a bit of brekkie then carried on. Jumped on the A40, then the M40 and trundled the motorways to make a bit of time up. Got to Folkestone and me and my Dad got our tickets and went through the barrier, turned around and my uncle was giving us the sign to say his Tuono had died.

We tried to get it going with no joy but got it jump started, turned it off and tried to turn it back on but it was properly dead. Rac came out after 2 hours of waitng and confirmed, as we thought that something in the charging system was shot and then took him and the bike back to not so sunny Preston!!!Because we were meant to be going together me and the old man decided that we would do the decent thing and not go either. So we set off back home in the rain all the way back to Preston.

Absolutely gutted.

[Killerwhale]

Well the Monza trip hasn't gone according to plan!!!!!!!!!!!! We set of on Wednesday morning on lovely dry roads. Went all the way down the A49, stopped for a bit of brekkie then carried on. Jumped on the A40, then the M40 and trundled the motorways to make a bit of time up. Got to Folkestone and me and my Dad got our tickets and went through the barrier, turned around and my uncle was giving us the sign to say his Tuono had died.

We tried to get it going with no joy but got it jump started, turned it off and tried to turn it back on but it was properly dead. Rac came out after 2 hours of waitng and confirmed, as we thought that something in the charging system was shot and then took him and the bike back to not so sunny Preston!!!Because we were meant to be going together me and the old man decided that we would do the decent thing and not go either. So we set off back home in the rain all the way back to Preston.

Absolutely gutted.

The decent thing would have been going and told him all about it...and not being gutted!

[Mincehead]

These things happen, my TRX in 2009 got me to the Bulldog Bash (from Scotland) fine and dandy. Turned her off at the gate while I waited with others for it to open but the battery was as flat as a witches tit when I tried to re-start it!
The alternator stator had cried no more.
My battery was tested on site after being on charge overnight and found to be devoid of the ability to hold a steady voltage so I replaced it before my return trip. I JUST managed to get home on a fully charged battery, Stratford-Upon-Avon to Edinburgh and had to rip the alternator stator out and replace it. Happy days.

[phuk72]

Feckety feck - not nice

Has he got his Tuono staretd again yet? Not strating for no apparent reason was a common fault with the early RSVs - cured by disconnecting (and then reconnecting) the ECU.

[Killerwhale]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sNPG9CI ... re=g-all-u

[kevj]

He hasn't even got the bike home yet!!!! The RAC will return it next week but at least he got a courtesy car off them to get home in and he can use it until they return his bike.

After watching what has been going on in Monza today it doesn't look like I've missed alot.

We are now thinking about where we can go next year.

At least my TRX performed perfectly and the ride down there was great.