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#1 | The B500 Black Forest datum

Sun Jun 03, 2018 10:49 pm

Finished day 2 of our 2 weeks in Europe. Day one was the 480miles slog from the UK, under the channel, through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and back into France, very boring dual carriageway and motorway.

BUT that meant we hit the B500 at 9am this morning, what a road, despite some very slow speed limits you can still have the bike leant all the way over on the power out of bends and there are some seriously fast section too. And the bends just keep coming, what a road.made the tediousness of Saturday worth it.

We were blessed with 22C and dry roads right from the outset, made it perfect. By late afternoon it was over 25C and when we dropped out of the mountains on to the flater lower land it was a roasting 30C.

Sorry no photos as hotel WiFi too slow, but also didn't take a lot, too busy riding. But if you are thinking about the B500, stop thinking, just go and do it.

We're headed to the French Italian boreder but have already started talking about spending time in the Black Forest on another trip.the only thing is we had superb weather, think we'd of been v.unhappy if it had of been wet all day. Did have one section of rain, speeds dropped dramatically, but was only 15minutes, and we were sort of lost anyway, but that's another story.

The bike has been brilliant, fully loaded panniers and a tail pack plus smallish tank bag and I didn't find the handling wanting at any stage. Mate I'm riding with has a KTM 1290 adventurer and commented that he wasnt so happy with the front end on his at certain points, but we are talking some fast cornering.

JasonQ

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#2 | RE: The B500 Black Forest datum

Sun Jun 03, 2018 11:53 pm

It's a great area - if you do go back, you have the Vosges Mountains on the other side of the Rhine in Alsace. This area has its own microclimate and is one of the drier areas of France. Any rain from the east falls on the Black Forest and the Mistral from the Alps pushes wet air south. So, pick a base near the Rhine and then check daily weather reports to decide where you ride for the day.

Perhaps ride through Alsace on your way home.

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#3 | RE: The B500 Black Forest datum

Mon Jun 04, 2018 3:26 pm

Zitat von JasonQ im Beitrag #1
BUT that meant we hit the B500 at 9am this morning, what a road, despite some very slow speed limits you can still have the bike leant all the way over on the power out of bends and there are some seriously fast section too. And the bends just keep coming, what a road.made the tediousness of Saturday worth it.

The B500 "Black Forest High Road" is a very nice road, but I do not drive in the Black Forest anymore. In recent years, the very many speed limits have set up, the B500 has almost everywhere 70 km / h, we can drive this backwards with the RS! I do not want to race, but on the very well-developed road 70 km / h are much too slow. In many localities only 30 km / h and still some roads completely closed to motorcycles are even more. I think they do not want motorcyclists in the Black Forest.

On the return trip I would really recommend the neighboring region of Alsace and Vosges. I like driving in this area.

Regards,
Holger
Moderator and Admin

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#4 | RE: The B500 Black Forest datum

Mon Jun 04, 2018 6:46 pm

Zitat von Holger im Beitrag #3
Zitat von JasonQ im Beitrag #1
BUT that meant we hit the B500 at 9am this morning, what a road, despite some very slow speed limits you can still have the bike leant all the way over on the power out of bends and there are some seriously fast section too. And the bends just keep coming, what a road.made the tediousness of Saturday worth it.

The B500 "Black Forest High Road" is a very nice road, but I do not drive in the Black Forest anymore. In recent years, the very many speed limits have set up, the B500 has almost everywhere 70 km / h, we can drive this backwards with the RS! I do not want to race, but on the very well-developed road 70 km / h are much too slow. In many localities only 30 km / h and still some roads completely closed to motorcycles are even more. I think they do not want motorcyclists in the Black Forest.

On the return trip I would really recommend the neighboring region of Alsace and Vosges. I like driving in this area.

I think you might be right.

On the way home from a few days in Austria my touring group planned to stay overnight in the Black Forest in a small village just off the B500 a few km south of Baden Baden. Oberau I think it was. Pretty boring place with a private hospital.

I set off by myself on my R1150GS as the others were very hungover from the night before. They were riding two GSXR1000, a MV Agusta F4, a ZX10R and an FZ1. I was taking a longer route via a bit of Switzerland and Koblenz at the southern end of the B500. I had expected to be last to arrive at the hotel but I was 2nd to arrive after another solo traveller who took the autobahn. She got fined by the Austrians for not buying a vignette but the major excitement was that her husband and the other sports bike riders were texting her from Balingen police station. They had been stopped by a roadblock after some residents had reported some anti-social hooligans abusing the very strict rules they have in Baden Wurttemberg. Apparently an unmarked R1200RT had joined their group and was filming their antics and letting the roadblock know where to set up.

They spent 3 hours in the police station filling in forms. The MV rider was very anxious as the noise testing equipment came out. They could not get it to work so he was told to ride quietly and leave Germany as soon as possible. Their fines were huge. I can't remember the exact amounts.

I like the Black Forest but stay away at weekends and use roads other than the B500. Like you, I prefer the Vosges where the police are more relaxed and the local people love motorcyclists. The only problem in the Vosges is that the area is used for the Tour de France so a lot of wannabe cyclists in their lurid Lycra are often clogging up the roads.

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