Has anyone ever ridden in an European motorcycle rally? I guess I'm asking mostly about Harley sponsored rides.. What type of trouble did you run into such as language, getting a motorcycle, getting gear thru airports,etc..

 

Has anyone ever ridden in an European motorcycle rally?

Do you mean attended a rally on gone on a tour ?

If you mean attend a rally yes, done European bike week at Faakar See a few times , done european and chapter HOG rallies and Hamburg Harley days. Never done an organised tour, I think they are expensive and slow, but for someone visiting from America it might work out OK.
if you want to do a Rally Faak at the start of sept is the one, Swiss Harley days should be good as HOG have finally listened and incorperated the European rally into it with no entry charge.
Faak ( close to Villach in Austria ) and swiss harley days are in excellent locations with many good rides close by.

Most Europeans speak good English, your a southern boy so you'll be polite and that goes a long way, you can rent bikes from dealers probably $150 to $200 a day with insurance and getting riding gear through airports is no problem apart from baggage allowance, just remember NO GUNS in Europe

 

I was thinking about the HOG Posse Ride.. a riding rally where you get to tour through parts of a country.. In the U.S. HOG's riding rallies you are on your own as far as getting from one location to another.. they give you a suggested route but you can deviate as you like.. they ususally have entertainment and food at H-D dealers along the route.. I was wanting to attend the European Posse Ride next year and trying to get an idea what I need to plan for..

 

I didn't realise they did posse rides, so I just googled it. Typical HOG they know how to charge.
http://hogeuropegallery.com/hog-even...de-posse-ride/

Details:

Prague to Rome, July 3-18, 2010

The ride is limited to 120 participants. Guided groups will be limited to 25 bikes per group.

Total price: €2,000 per person (includes: hotels, 13 dinners, breakfast, parking, rally pack, luggage transport, assistance, roadbooks, organised visits, road taxes, chapter meets, and experienced guides. The price is based on double rooms. Single rooms available, total €2,600.)

Special rates on flights are offered by Connections: www.connections.be or email groups@connections.be.

For any further information, email the organisers at info@europeanposseride.com



£2000 per person doesn't seem to include a bike . that's a little over $3000. Personally I think you could do it cheaper and cut out the HD tax. It all depends what you are looking for, I doubt those groups will do any serious riding or take them anywhere too dangerous ( where they could fall of a mountain ) and I'd guess average daily mileage would be 150 to 200 miles, but you do get a tee shirt.

 

Whatever you do, don't say "fanny pack"

JR

 

After putting a lot of discussion on this We have decided that at more than $3000.00 a person we want a little more say in where, when, how,etc.. Probably will try something different than a Harley ride, its going to take a little more planning and honing our language skills on when/how not to say "fanny pack".. Thanks for all the info.. we want to visit Great Britian, Europe,etc but it seems to take a lot more planning than a trip here in the U.S.. We are not using any agency and we are trying to do this ourselves..

 

you can probably save a lot of money organising it yourself, plus you get to choose exactly where and when you want to go somewhere. Time scale and obviously money is going to be the problem, I know a lot of Americans only get about half the vacation time we do unless they are retired. The US $ is a lot stronger now than it was a year ago against the UK £ , as for booking rooms we always use http://www.booking.com/ you can book several rooms and usually cancell up to 6pm the day of arrival, you need to give a credit card but it's only charged with a no show.
If your thinking of a trip of a week or ten days perhaps remember you will get jet lag coming west so i'd consider either doing just The UK or perhaps fly to somewhere like Munich and then you can do the black forest , the Alps and Dolomites and some of Italy ,Switzerland and Austria.
Remember in europe it's hard to cover distance like in the US, 500 miles a day here is hard work on freeways, much better to do 250 and take in the scenery.

 

When traveling in Europe...

always, ALWAYS remember to wear a brightly colored Speedo under your leather ***-less chaps!

JR