First bike you took onto the Continent

[johnnyboxer]

I didn,t go biking on the continent until relatively recently 2000. I took my Kawasaki KLX300 to Potes and the Picos mountains,we took motocross gear and didn,t realise how cold it was up in the mountains.

I did that too, great times............went with George Cherry in about 1996

[johnnyboxer]

1991 for me, year I passed my test for a big bike - to Normandy and Brittany on a VFR750

Bike wouldn't start when we disembarked at Cherbourg, had to push it down the ramps and then got it going on the dockside

Hooked then and went to Picos, trail riding in mid 1990's on Honda XR's

When I got my 1100GS in 1996, that was when the foreign travel trips bug, really bit me

Went down to Bol D'or at Paul Ricard too, crazy times, then did ever European country as far as Romania in the late 90's

It has been fab, love touring Europe

[ggp59]

Brilliant thread, and a bit sobering when you think of all the kit we now think is essential! (thumbs)

Mid 80's on an XBR 500 with a mate on a GPZ 900 that he built from a pile of bits
Portsmouth to Cherbourg, then mooched around the Louire area for a week,

Leaky 20 quid Belstaff panniers (still got the useless things!) crap plastic water proofs worn over jeans but worse of all Argos tents we dubbed the Wendy houses that leaked so badly we kipped in the campsite bogs in the end!

Fantastic, naive times that sadly can never be repeated B)

[AustinW]

1979 Plymouth to Roscoff overnight and a few days around Brittany on a Honda CB250G5. I think the ferry was a special offer at £5 return but the times were shite - we got off at 4am in France I do remember. Panniers were ex-army shop canvas rucksacks strapped together hanging over the seat and a black bin bag with tent and huge sleeping bag on the rack. Camped at the road side a couple of nights before finding an open site near all them standing stones at Conconarneau (sp?). Got shit faced in the bar one night speaking very bad Franglais with the locals while eating tons of salami and other garlicky cooked meats they kept plying me with. Happy memories. great thread.

[Allan F]

Aprillia Futura. Ended up in Monaco .

[almar]

1977 MZ 150, went to bike rally in Bruge.travelled from Sheffield to felixstow rode though the night in pouring rain (6v system) Lewis leathers one piece waterproofs Derry boots and bargin bucket gloves. Cheap 60 hour pass. Spent two nights in wet tent with wet sleeping bag. Great times I just didn't know any better ! Back to basics ? Not for me.

[sven]

I was working in Germany in 1999, so took my YZF600 Thundercat over there. It was pretty impressive on the Autobahn returning 45mpg at a steady 110mph and topped out at 168mph on the speedo

[Steve T]

In my 50th year I took a new too me (I'd had it a week, it was 10 years old) 1999 Honda Varadero 1000 down through the UK, into France via Dover, then down to the Med in the south of France over the following 3-4 days. Then I rode down to my sisters place near Alicante (Spain).
Headed north-east a few days later via the many small roads and a couple of days and several mountain ranges, to a pals place near Pau.
West towards Santander a little while later, event free ferry back to Blighty a day later, then the 600 mile plus journey home in the north of Scotland via South Wales.

Steve T

B)

[mark vb]

Suzuki GT380B, in 1978, circumnavigating France with a friend on his Honda Dream 400 - Le Havre to Biarritz, along the Pyrenees to Perpignan/Sete, then up the central/east bit to Paris and on to Calais, over 3 weeks or so. Cool bike gear then - Levis, leather jacket & cowboy boots, plus cheap nylon rain trousers. Happy days, and the beginning of loads of continental adventures on all sorts of bikes.

[BigRedUn]

My first continental trip was on a GT380 too. Problems with a faulty regulator meant I spent half the trip running on two cylinders.