And for the next trip…

My friend on the Splugen pass. Hairpins inside of unlit tunnels. WooHoo!!
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This day was particularly fun. Rode from Andermatt to Zernez. Passes included Oberalp, Corzonesso, San Bernardino, Splugen, Malorja, Albula, and Fluela.

If you haven't been, but are planning an Alps trip, Andermatt is a good place to stay for a few days and do day rides out of there. The passes that UP mentioned, and several more, are nice day rides from there. Too much fun!!!

Here is a YouTube of the old St. Gotthard pass (called the Tremola). Gives a nice view of what the passes are like there. We couldn't get on it as it was closed due to snow. This would not be a lot of fun in the wet as a significant portion of it is cobblestone surface.

 
2023...

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Lysebotn, Norway...
 
Alps is the motorcyclist's Mecca. You can go for days on end and the twisties never end. You'll dream of riding a straight road :).
That said, I think the hairpins are overrated especially at Passo Dello Stelvio. 48 hairpins become work after 10 or 15 especially when climbing up. And it is the most commercial pass.
Tremolo we climbed in a drizzled rain and the cobblestones were no problem at all. But I liked more the smooth paved twisties on the other side.
Austria has beautiful passes, but the only country to charge tolls for them, and not cheap I must say.
My favorites so far are Galibier in France and Gavia in Italy.
 
FastST said:
Alps is the motorcyclist's Mecca. You can go for days on end and the twisties never end. You'll dream of riding a straight road :).
That said, I think the hairpins are overrated especially at Passo Dello Stelvio. 48 hairpins become work after 10 or 15 especially when climbing up. And it is the most commercial pass.
Tremolo we climbed in a drizzled rain and the cobblestones were no problem at all. But I liked more the smooth paved twisties on the other side.
Austria has beautiful passes, but the only country to charge tolls for them, and not cheap I must say.
My favorites so far are Galibier in France and Gavia in Italy.
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When our youngest daughter got her PhD at Stanford (yes, I am unabashedly bragging! :D ), I took the opportunity to ride my F800GT south Hwy 101 from the Seattle area. There was one point where I hit one corner after another for hours on end. My GT was great in corners, an absolute delight to fling around. But eventually, I was hoping for a straight stretch to get a break.

Chris
 
FastST said:
Alps is the motorcyclist's Mecca. You can go for days on end and the twisties never end. You'll dream of riding a straight road :).
That said, I think the hairpins are overrated especially at Passo Dello Stelvio. 48 hairpins become work after 10 or 15 especially when climbing up. And it is the most commercial pass.
Tremolo we climbed in a drizzled rain and the cobblestones were no problem at all. But I liked more the smooth paved twisties on the other side.
Austria has beautiful passes, but the only country to charge tolls for them, and not cheap I must say.
My favorites so far are Galibier in France and Gavia in Italy.
Click to expand...
I agree that while Stelvio is the most famous and one of the coolest to look at with all the visible hairpins, it's not particularly the most fun to ride. I've traversed a bit of the paved Alps and Galibier and Gavia are two of my top favorite passes too.
 
Moto-Charlie said:
I agree that while Stelvio is the most famous and one of the coolest to look at with all the visible hairpins, it's not particularly the most fun to ride. I've traversed a bit of the paved Alps and Galibier and Gavia are two of my top favorite passes too.
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I can tell you on a ST1300 with a 'notchy' throttle, it's a lot of work! :biggrin:

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Moto-Charlie said:
I agree that while Stelvio is the most famous and one of the coolest to look at with all the visible hairpins, it's not particularly the most fun to ride.
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You've to go very early or very late in the season... clogged up with RV's and MC groups from the flat-lands with 20+ bikes during the holidays you'll go nowhere...
Uncle Phil said:
I can tell you on a ST1300 with a 'notchy' throttle, it's a lot of work!
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Yup, smooth throttle and 2nd gear through the back-sweeps... ;)
 
Uncle Phil said:
I can tell you on a ST1300 with a 'notchy' throttle, it's a lot of work! :biggrin:
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ST1100Y said:
Yup, smooth throttle and 2nd gear through the back-sweeps... ;)
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That's a big part of why I downshift an gear on the twisties: less on-off of the throttle.

Keep the RPMs up and you never close the throttle, you just modulate the engine torque.
 
Larry Fine said:
That's a big part of why I downshift an gear on the twisties: less on-off of the throttle.

Keep the RPMs up and you never close the throttle, you just modulate the engine torque.
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Perhaps you should go ride Stelvio - it's a kettle of a different sort of fish.
You cannot stay in your lane on the way up - you have to swing out into the other lane to make it around the hairpin.
So you are constantly on the watch for down coming traffic - especially buses (IIRC) who have the right of way - which sometimes requires a complete stop a ways back from the hairpin so the bus don't get you when they swing around.
Just a little more complicated than just keeping your RPMS up and using engine torque. ;)
 
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IF you ever want a tight set of steep hairpins then the Hardknott and Wrynose passes in the Lake district in Cumbria in the UK are an absolute hoot....

Did them on an ST1100 and was glad not to have had to stop on a hairpin as there would have been no way to keep the bike upright!
 
Firstpeke said:
IF you ever want a tight set of steep hairpins then the Hardknott and Wrynose passes in the Lake district in Cumbria in the UK are an absolute hoot....

Did them on an ST1100 and was glad not to have had to stop on a hairpin as there would have been no way to keep the bike upright!
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Have to agree.
When a group of us were going up the Hardknott, the guy in front of me stalled on one of the hairpins and I had to stop. I had a devil of a time getting going again as the front wheel kept on wanting to come up. :oops:
Had to be a bit hard on the clutch! As steep, or steeper, than anything I have encountered in the Alps.
 
Firstpeke said:
IF you ever want a tight set of steep hairpins then the Hardknott and Wrynose passes in the Lake district in Cumbria in the UK are an absolute hoot....

Did them on an ST1100 and was glad not to have had to stop on a hairpin as there would have been no way to keep the bike upright!
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Been there, done that on a ST1300 - the 3 hairpins on the 30+% grade were very interesting! :biggrin: -



 
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