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+--- Thread: Germany on my FZ1S (/showthread.php?tid=64713)
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Germany on my FZ1S - Strifae - 26-07-13
Well just got back from my trip to Cologne/Bonn on my 08 FZ1 and it didn't disappoint! Was great fun on the autobahn and the great country roads.
The seat mod I had done wasn't bad but was still uncomfy after around 350 miles on the bike so went to Louis in Cologne (Brilliant shop!) and bought a gel seat pad for €49 which is fantastic! Did nearly 600 miles on way back in 1 go and barely got a numb bum towards the end on the m4 and I think that was probably left over from trip over lol
The bike performed flawlessly, great power - good luggage accommodation and great handling.
Downsides - seat and TANK RANGE! I got sick of filling the bloody thing up! ESP as had a tank bag... When on autobahns used up entire tank in around 110 miles :/
Bike all clean now as was filthy when got back - will def do it again, just wish was a way to get a bigger tank
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - fireblake - 26-07-13
There are a few guys with FZS1000's who have modified their tanks to hold more, although I think they lurk on the other side
Mickey
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - AyJay - 26-07-13
Germany's great fun isn't it? You always know you're then when you're doing 110 and a diesel estate wangs past flat out.
That tank range is one of the reasons I didn't upgrade to a Gen 2 and still the manufacturers put tiny tanks on their machines, MT-09, for instance. Are they dense or what? They're losing sales and the VFR1200 forum is hoaching with people desperately trying to pretend they are happy with 120 miles to a tank. One guy was saying he managed 200 miles, but if I rode as slowly as he must have, I reckon I could get 270 miles out of a Gen 1.
Who made the gel seat pad? Sounds good. And what did you make of Bonn? Worth a trip?
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - ChristoT - 26-07-13
(26-07-13, 09:49 PM)AyJay link Wrote: and still the manufacturers put tiny tanks on their machines, MT-09, for instance. Are they dense or what? They're losing sales and the VFR1200 forum is hoaching with people desperately trying to pretend they are happy with 120 miles to a tank.
Handling vs range. On a test ride, you won't find out about the bike's range, but you would notice a big heavy tank messing up the handling.
Is that the reason so few bikes now have fuel gauges, I wonder?
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - Strifae - 26-07-13
Bonn is a very nice place I would highly recommend a visit - in some ways it has more charm than Cologne as not quite as busy and nice cafes etc.
Yeah the tank range is frustrating, I guess it's just one of those things unless you buy a touring motorcycle which isn't my cup of tea.
I did love Germany - cant wait to go again
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - Strifae - 26-07-13
The gel seat was Louis own brand - it's a company a bit like Hein Gericke but its a lot better in my opinion. They had a large and extra large - www.getgeared.com sell it as they stock Louis stuff but quite a large markup - I think they well the gel seat for around £75? When it was €49 euro from Louis direct
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - AyJay - 26-07-13
Cool thanks for that. Might get one for my next euro trip!
And as for tank range, yup, I'm not into tourers either, but if they can stick a 24 litre tank on an Isle of Man TT racer or a 21 litre on a MotoGP bike, it's obviously doable.
I don't know for sure, but I suspect it's down to the pitiful annual mileage that most bikes do - around 5000 miles. Still infuriating to have your choice of bikes limited by something so basic. It relegates bikes to toys and when you're abroad, you want to stop for a break at the top of mountains not petrol stations.
Enjoy your next trip!
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - Tmation - 26-07-13
Just back from my germany trip also, Gen 1 so no range problems :lol , I did 1800 miles in 6 days.
Did a couple of days just to the East of Bonn in the Westerwald [size=78%]. Big ride out to Limburg then down the Lahn alley to Koblenz, then along the Mosel to Cochem then back across country to Wissen. I stayed at Vine Cottage [/size][/size][size=78%]http://www.vinecottage.de/[/size][/size][size=78%] a B&B run by an English guy called Bob, not bad but a little out of town for night time drinks etc although Bob will run his guests in to Wissen.[/size]
I then rode to the Harz Mountains for a three day stop at Pension Roseneck which is in Bad Lauterburg [/size][size=78%]http://www.harzbiker.co.uk/[/size] I can recommend this place as it is in the middle of town, the British owners give you maps or GPS routes to follow[/size][size=78%]. The Harz is a biker paradise, check out this one little ride up the Kyffhauser 38 bends in 4.5 km. [/size][/size][size=78%]http://youtu.be/NoHxbMwFEhU[/size][/size][size=78%] [/size]
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - slimwilly - 27-07-13
It is very odd why you get such short ranges from your tank, mine is on a 57 plate and on the same roads as you doing 80 -90 mph mine was doing 125 then the light comes on and i did 25 miles on it once to get to the next fuel stop.
I have made some significent changes to my bike, is this why i get more range? or has your bike got a problem?
Billy
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - Strifae - 27-07-13
I was doing well in excess of 100 sustained on the autobahns when I used up tank that quickly - back in blighty doing 70 from Folkestone (just wanted to cruise) I actually got 52mpg - which surprised me - got 150 miles till it dropped to 2 bars left
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - Phil - 27-07-13
I love Germany for biking, some great well kept roads in nice areas all over the country. Accommodation is usually excellent too, they wouldn't put up tat. Good beer/wine and food as well. Thrash it down the boring motorway to Aachen or Liege and turn off and hit the good roads.
I think I might get one of those gel pads, now £64. http://www.getgeared.co.uk/Motorcycle_Gel_Seat_Pad_Large
or from Louis
http://www.louis-moto.co.uk/index.php?topic=artnr_gr&artnr_gr=10008405 €59.90 direct inc p&p
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - nick crisp - 27-07-13
Germany visitors - photos of your trips?
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - Phil - 27-07-13
(27-07-13, 09:40 AM)nick crisp link Wrote: Germany visitors - photos of your trips?
I've got 100's but not in albums of their own, except for these.
Nurburgring WSB 2011 then down to Black Forest. I was going to go to Switzerland but the forecast was bad so headed north up the the Eder dam area
http://www.photobox.co.uk/slideshow?album_id=891822444
Assen for WSB this year then headed to north Germany for a change around Schwerin with its castle. Very flat but still nice.
http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/1878131502
Photo 160 onwards on this one is Germany heading back home, starting in the 'Saxony Switzerland' area I think they call it SE of Dresden
http://www.photobox.co.uk/slideshow?album_id=1304754568
Any area ending Wald (forest I think) is generally a nice area, National Park sort of place. So SchwartzerWald (Black Forest), and onwards to Lake Bodensee to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Westerwald SE of Cologne then all the way to the Harz mountains.
Thurlingiawald (including the whole the area NE of Frankfurt though Schweinfurt to Hof bordered by the A4 motorway to the north).
Plus the Eifel Mountains of course, and the area south of there to Saarbrucken and onwards to Landau, where it then gets flat around the Rhein.
The area SE of Frankfurt to Heilbronn.
The area next to the CZ border from Weiden to Passau in the SE of Germany, and the area next to CZ further north, Hof to Gorlitz.
I might pic out a few photos of those areas later.
Not all of Germany is ace, the area around Munich is flat and not that interesting generally. Leipzig east to the Lausitzring near Cottbus where they held WSB a few times is also less interesting.
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - Phil - 27-07-13
..
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - nick crisp - 27-07-13
Wonderful slide shows Phil. Lots of questions arise as I'm considering a bit of a Euro tour for next year. What kind of prices were you paying per night for hotels, and did you pre-book any? How did you choose - just on price/what looked right when it was stopping time? Was your route planned in advance, or did you just go with the flow?
And being a bit of a computer idiot, how do I go about setting up slide show links like that? :rolleyes
Looks like you had a great trip, thanks for sharing :thumbup
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - Strifae - 27-07-13
I pre booked hotels and it was around £50 a night which wasn't bad - I didn't take many photos as I always forget to! Lol
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - nick crisp - 27-07-13
A missed opportunity there Strifae - now you'll have to go back and do it all again, this time taking lots of pics!
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - Phil - 27-07-13
http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/2005043003
A collection from over the last 8 or so years. I forgot that I'd changed cameras so the jpeg names all starting IMG have shuffled them up. A lot of Black Forest, Eifel and Mossell valley. Colditz Castle is in there. Nice place, but the surrounding area near Leipzig isnt great, but not too far from the Harz or Sachsenring MotoGP and worth a visit.
I tend to only book up if going to a race weekend as accommodation is sought after. A lot of my trips are made up on the go. Last year I was going to go to Italy but when I got to Austria as the weather was bad in Italy so went to Slovakia.
Finding accommodation has been ok to find in most places, but I rarely travel in school holidays. There have been a few times where I've struggled to get somewhere. In the Harz once there was a trade fair/show going on and everything was booked out for 40 miles. Same in the Frankfurt area where there was a big motor show on.
Now I have got a Nexus tablet I can check roughly the area I am heading next day for accommodation and make sure I get somewhere nice, or at least dont worry about not finding somewhere when I get there if there is still plenty available. I use www.booking.com. Its easy to look at the review comments and avoid the duff places. It also says if there is parking available which is handy for use bikers. Most of Germany in the areas I mentioned feels safe for keeping bikes out in the street but its better to have somewhere off road for piece of mind. I've found most places offer you a place for the bike in their garage when I check-in anyway, without me needing to ask. The only place I was told to make sure I park in their garage was in Aachen, the receptionist said 2 bikes had been nicked from outside the hotel this year. Very biker friendly the Germans.
A lot of cheaper B&Bs aren't on there though. B&Bs can be had for £25 in the Black Forest and other areas away from big towns. Hotels vary depending on the town/city, but most places up to €60 you can find some where good.
For photos I use www.photobox.com as they dont limit you on the number of photos you can hold. I've kept an album of tours where I stick 10-30 from each trip in.
I down size the photos to make it quicker to upload them, and the quality doesnt suffer if you just run throgh the slideshow.
Register there, click on my photobox tab, and create new album, then add photos. An upload box appears which you point at your photos and select add all, upload and away it chugs. Once uploaded, there is a tab saying 'this album is private (change)' , if you click on change then click on 'share on the web' it should give you a URL which you can copy and give folks.
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - nick crisp - 27-07-13
Thanks Phil. Was considering photobucket, as MickVP has done a good little guide on how to set it up too. I wonder if it'll do the slide show thing too? But that's two to look at now, so helpful comments have been appreciated.
I've started a Touring Europe thread in "general" now, as I thought it might be useful to others as well, if, like me, they haven't really done it (I spent 3 years in Germany with the RAF, but only had a bike for the last year of that and didn't really do much with it then), but are considering it. For the last couple of years I've really been thinking about it, gotta do it one day, the sooner the better!
Re: Germany on my FZ1S - Phil - 27-07-13
I tend to search out the quieter back roads on my trips, as you can see from the photos. The autobahns are great for getting somewhere quickly, if a little dangerous when someone is passing you at 140 mph.
I was heading to Sachsenring via Gera and the scenic route and thought the bit of road felt just like a race track. Then a grandstand came into view, it was a race track :lol An old road circut in Schleiz they still close off and race on, pic IMG_3319.