To get a close idea of what this tour is about, try to answer few questions below.

If your answer is “recently” or “just got back and experienced these” this trip is not for you.

• when was last time you’ve burn more than 300 liter/80 gallons of gasoline continuously, with a motorbike, riding it more than 5000 km/3100 miles in two weeks, trough 12 different countries?
• When you last had 13 different accommodations, 13 different places (countries) for dinner during a single trip?
• When was last time you tasted during several days the Vienna snitzer, Slovenian klobasa (sausage), Croatian burek, cevapcici or roast lamb, Montenegrin kacamak and lamb, Macedonian shopska salad and musaka, Greek lamb gyros, chicken pita, olive or baklava, Bulgarian banitsa, kufte, Serbian raznjici, perkelt, Hungarian gulyas, bogracs or palacsinta, and I didn’t mention the local beer, fine vines, rachia, palinka and so on?
• Had you ever made a motorbike trip involving Vienna elegance and culture with, insane Plitvice waterfalls, dramatic scenery of Adriatic shore, post Jugoslav war scares of Sarajevo, Mostar, Vukovar, mine fields, stunning mountain hairpins of Montenegro and Macedonia, tunnels of Egnatia Odos highway, breathtaking Greek Meteora and Korintos channel, antique Athens Acropolis, Aegean shore, Mount Olympos, majestic Danube river narrows, Balkanic Belgrade, lake Balaton with Tihany vine cellars, all in one trip?
• Had you ever worried going in the bushes (to pee:) because of land mines, or felt butterflies in your stomach at Serbian or Kosovo border?What was the last adventure movie with you as main character?The answer to all these questions is the Vienna to Athens motorbike tour, the only motorcycle adventure incorporating the whole SE Europe Balkan region.

  Is a guided motorcycle tour, accompanied by several action cameras plus a crew member with another camera so nothing is lost from the adventure, at the end the montage is sent to you.

  Tour has its starting point Vienna (capital of Austria), we deliver the rental bikes or you can participate with your own, and turn back point in Athens (capital of Greece). The way south starts towards Slovenia (Postojna cave), than out to Dalmatian shore at Trieste (part of Italy), continues to Rijeka, than inland Croatia to Plitvicka Jezera National Park, getting in Bosnia to Sarajevo and Mostar, out to the shore again to Dubrovnik, Kotor Bay, to Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia inland again, getting in Greece to Meteora region, down to Athens on western side. In Athens is a resting day before turning back to north, following the Aegean Shore, Mt. Olimpos and Katerini, crossing in Bulgaria, ride its western side to Sofia, crossing in Serbia, heading towards Danube river, follow its shore to Belgrade, and further to Vukovar and Osijek, crossing to Hungary, heading to Balaton lake, ferry crossing it, and back to Vienna. This is the whole loop.

  Itinerary is customizable, this is the most extended (full version), it can be reduced, as well as the riding days also.

  There are also 3 options regarding the style and cost of this adventure.

  The low budget version is for the pure adventurers, consists of: medium cc rental motorcycle that carries the luggage, hostel style and champing style accommodation, no breakfast or dinner included, no support vehicle, a guide on motorcycle taking care of the tour movie (yes budget version contains the full tour movie), knowing the best places to accommodate and eat, best scenic places, best combination of back roads, etc. Choosing this is 30% less than standard version. Group riding needed. In many ways, is more interesting and popular than standard because of more spontaneity and freedom, and is exactly the adventure style most of the riders like and can afford. The resulting tour movie worth no advertisement.

  The standard version is for usual tourers, consists of: big bore bikes, free of luggage, as there is a support vehicle, 3 and 4 star accommodations with breakfast and dinner included, a motorcycle guide with camera, most of the bikes also equipped for a full day with action camera. This version is only by 30% more expensive than budget version, but way more comfortable and relaxing, goes with single participant also.

Exclusive version consists of: rental Harley-Davidson over 1200 cc and BMW R 1200 R/GS motorcycles, free of luggage, 4 -5 star accommodations with breakfast and dinner included, support van/car with trailer, camera man and guide on motorbike, all bikes equipped with action camera. This is with 60% more expensive than standard version, but you get the best. Goes with single participant also.

For full details, pictures, prices go to http://www.fthmotors.com/balkanmotorcycletour.html

Insa are si cateva neajunsuri, consuma destul de mult, devoreaza bujiile, anvelopa fata este greu de gasit, din cauza cadrului este greu de ajuns la carburatoare si alte piese pe bloc motor, faza scurta destul de slaba, etc.

Dar ce am vrut sa va impartasesc este un obicei rau al acestor bestii si solutia prin care se poate rezolva problema.  Dupa ce motocicleta sta pe loc cateva zile sau saptamani este foarte greu de pornit, nu au acumulatoare puternice si dupa 4-5 incercari esuate sa zis cu pornitul de pe sursa proprie. Interesant ca nu se ineaca, chiar mai mult, nu primeste benzina, nici cu socul deschis. Daca porneste, o face numai pe un cilindru, dupa care porneste si celalalt. Discutam aici de modelul cu carburatoare (TDM 850).

Cauza: atat “pompa” (este o valva actionata prin vacum) de benzina cat si robinetul este situat mai jos decat flotoarele din carburator, in plus carburatoarele sunt inclinate in fata. Este de ajuns ca acele flotoarelor (sau una dintre ele) sa nu inchida perfect de la cea mai mica mizerie ce a ajuns acolo si benzina din carburator se evapora (daca simti miros de benzina dupa ce opresti motorul, cel mai probabil ai acest sindrom). Cand se incearca o pornire dupa cateva zile, carburatoarele nu au deja benzina, motorul incearca sa suga benzina in carburatoare prin valva amintita mai sus, insa carburantul ajunge prea tarziu, acumulatorul e pe jumatate mort, scanteie imperfecta, motorul nu porneste, sau cu putin noroc porneste la una din ultimele incercari.

Solutia: verificarea si curatarea jiglerelor, acelor de la flotoare, sa nu aiba nici cea mai mica mizerie, sau montarea unei pompe electrice de benzina cu debit mic in locul valvei.

Iata un TDM recent reparat de noi:

A fost cazuta pe partea dreapta, indexul rupt, carena dreapta rupta, cadrul metalic de sustinere a carenajului rupt, simering telescop curgea destul de tare incat sa inbibe cu ulei placutele de frana dreapta.

Jamba a fost zgariata, acesta freca buza simeringului care in sfarsit a cedat, polisare+simering+ulei nou, cadru sudat, carena lipita, index nou= gata de plecare.

Simptomatica: se ineca in mers din moment ce era tinut la turatii joase, consuma cam 8 litri la 100 de km, scotea fum cu miros de benzina (amestec prea bogat). La decelerare exploda in esapament. La accelerare in treapta a doua si treia sarea de parca ar fi intrat in urmatoarea treapta.

La 160 000 km cat are deja, aceste simptome pot fi considerate familiare. Este un model din 1995, cu cutie de viteze M95.

Remediere: au fost reglate valvele de admisie si evacuare la valorile fabricantului

Au fost sincronizate injectoarele si TPS (senzorul galeriei de admisie amestec) resetat la valorile fabricantului. Cu acestea a inceput sa mearga rotund fara miros de benzina, fara explozii, consum de 5l/100km . A inceput sa traga din nou puternic.

Sa trecut la dezmembrarea cutiei de viteze intu-cat la M95 simptomul de aruncare a treptelor devine ceva obisnuit dupa 70 000 km. Incepe cu treapta 3 apoi 2 si eventual 4. Defapt nu arunca dintr-o treapta in alta ci in aceeasi treapta sare o pozitie. Pe axul intermediar se afla ansamblul pentru treapta 3, cea care de obicei are cainii foarte rotunjiti si odata ce intra sub forta, dinti rotunjiti sunt nevoiti sa se retraga si sa sara in pozitia urmatoare, agravand uzura lor si a furcii selectoare care ii forteaza sa ramana conectati.

Un ax intermediar la dealer oficial BMW costa 4000 RON, nu au ansamblu separat pentru treapta 3, o furca selectoare costa 520 RON, ambele exagerat de scumpe, v-ati gandit ca sunt poate aliaje speciale, ei bine sunt cele mai obisnuite materiale, otel respectiv aluminiu. Furcile au fost umpute la cota initiala, dintii au fost slefuiti in unghi pentru a nu se desface sub forta chiar sa se traga unul in celalat.

Cutia a fost asamblata din nou.

Cutia si transmisia aliniate si montate inapoi, ulei nou in ambele. Gata de plecare.

De atunci motocicleta a facut o excursie de peste 5000 km in Turcia si inapoi.

Problema rezolvata.

Csak jó minőségű fogyóanyagokkal dolgozunk, és bármilyen eredeti illetve OEM vagy bontott alkatrészt rövid időn belül be tudunk szerezni.

Amit vállalunk:

• telyes körű festés és matricázás (gyári szinek, verseny replika, egyedi vagy testreszabott szinek, matricák http://www.fthmotors.com/autocolantemoto.html stb.)
• vizátviteles (hidrotrasfer) karbon és sok mas minta szinte bármilyen felületre
• fogyóanyagok (olaj, gyertya, szürő, légszürő, teleszkóp olaj és szimmering, fékbetét, fékolaj, hüttőfolyadék, lánc kit, kábelek, slagok, benzinszürő, tömitések, gumik) cseréje
• karburátor tisztitas, szinkron, ijektor tisztitas
• motorblokk javitások
• vázszerkezet javitás
• elektrónikai hibák javitása
• bármilyen mas javitás

Tudjuk hogy minden motoros szeme fénye a saját járműve, ezért mindig gyorsan, tisztán, precizen dolgozunk függetlenül attól hogy milyen vastag a pénztárca vagy milyen kaliberű a motor. Nálunk a legalacsonyabb a munkaóra ára 13 RON/h.

Elérhetőségek: FTH Motors, Kovaszna

http://www.fthmotors.com/vopsitservicemoto.html

e_mail: contact@fthmotors.com

Tel. 0740349443

Lucram cu cel mai mic tarif ora manopera, 13 RON/h

Executam:

• reparatii mecanice, reparatii carene
• reparatii bloc motor,
• sincronizari carburatoare, corectari softuri
• vopsit integral motociclete
• reconditionari motociclete
• vulcanizare moto
• tunning optic, dispunem de toate stickerele de fabrica sau race replica, tank paduri personalizate, imprimari hidro si multe altele.

Nu conteaza ce motor ai, ce varsta, ce stil, ce calibru, ne contactezi, explici problema, decidem daca mergem noi sa-ti ridicam motorul (1 RON/km) sau o aduci tu, primesti un Yamaha TDM 850 sau BMW F 650 pe perioada reparatiilor, noi iti rezolvam problema, atat de simplu.

Stiim ca pentru fiecare, motocicleta este ca un ou fabrge, ai face totul pentru ea. Unii dispun de mijloace financiare mai generoase altii numara banutii, noi nu facem diferenta, rezolvam fiecare caz cat mai rapid ca sa va puteti bucura de placerile voastre preferate.

Mai multe detalii pe www.fthmotors.com pagina service & paint

Ne contactezi pe:

www.fthmotors.com

contact@fthmotors.com

Tel: 0740349443

Just before start it became obvious that the BMW F 650 is too tall for the small girl, even with the lowering kit on. After she tried out the bike, she told me she can handle it, as the bike is a forgiving machine. Next morning, right at the start she didn’t wanted to ride the beemer. Convincing her wasn’t easy but finally we started. At the first stop at gas station she almost dropped the bike on herself, luckily I could hold her and the bike and she kind of started to enjoy the trip. Of course where are Japanese there are a lot of pictures.

We were heading to old Saxon town of Segesvar, tough the Hungarian populated Szeklerland. I had to take them to a local pottery shop where the girls made traditional ceramics with this old guy

Late afternoon we were in Segesvar, taking pictures from the clock tower.

Had a nice dinner and accommodation in medieval stiled rooms. The morning caught us riding trough the Saxon region of Transylvania heading to another wonderful city, Hermanstadt (Sibiu).

Amongst other interesting places in this town there is one called the bridge of liars. This showed a special interest to me as I knew Japanese really don’t lie, I still had to make the girls lie as the superstition says if you don’t lie on the bridge you lose your luck, finally they told they hate riding motorcycles, so there was the lie. After a pizza and some refreshment we started to ride up on famous Trans Fagaras road, really scenic, the Yamaha XJ600 girl was fast and taking pictures while riding the twisties, the beemer girl felt uncomfortable because of deep insights and high altitude but they made it up to the glacier lake at the top.

The dark tunnel was really scary for the girls, than we had just a little downhill twisty to the mountain lodge. Here we met this local shepherd and the girls tried his “sleeping bag”

Next morning we rode down near this huge dam lake and checked the 160 m dam.

Soon we were at the foot of this mountain and walked up to Poienari ruins. Almost an hour exhausting walk but the view worth it.

What is worth knowing of Poienari ruins is the fact that this was the fortress of Vlad the Impaler, also known as Dracula. Of course there is nothing related to Dracula as he was born in Hollywood.

Than we came to Bran region, very scenic ride and went up to the mountains again to accommodate at a genuine peasant house owned by a 80 years old lady.

While I went to get some beer, the old lady called the girls in her small garden, they dig out some potatoes, onions, picked tomatoes. With some home made fried sausage and potatoes with fresh vegetable salad, polenta and cheese, fresh milk from the neighbors we didn’t needed the beers. The old lady was amazing, at her age she was faster than us, the girls still ask me sometimes if she’s still doing fine, they were amazed.

We payed a visit to Brasov’s Black church

than headed back to Covasna, my base.

Nobody believes me, not even this day, if I tell I toured Transylvania with Japanese girls. The locals did not believed either they see Asiatic girls getting of the motorcycles, the waiters, other hotel guests, everybody was just starring at us when showing up somewhere. If I wouldn’t have these few pics I would even doubt myself, ))))))).

Of course this is why I do this job, and still run fthmotors.com

The road nearby is a tarmac road leading to a mountain village, with a soft enduro is a real pleasure to ride it as it has a lot of switchbacks and steep sections, surrounded with wild pine forest.

Pushed the F650 beemer to its limits and made the 20 km. length up to Kommando in a few minutes.

This village is at 1100 m to the sea level, it was established by the Austro-Hungarian army, as a border defense point named initially Grenzkommando (border commando), today its villagers make out a living from harvesting mushrooms and forest fruits, some work in the local timber factory, its a nice village. I didn’t spent much time here as I decided to ride up to the nearest peak Lakoca 1777 m so pushed forward. The road was nice, only the water level in the creek was a bit lower than usual.

I met a few horses while riding, the big stallion was just starring at me. After a few turns I was deep in the forest, just the muffler was ripping the silence, road turned really rocky, had to fight with the bike and the rocks, when the engine started to splutter than died on me. The silence was even deeper. So back to the good road.

I knew there are a lot of brown bears. It was obvious I was running out of gas. Started to figure out when was this bike refueled last time, I mean who brought it back last time, cause at return the rental bikes must be refueled, if it wasn’t, who was in charge to let me know the bike has no full tank, after a few minutes realized the only person who is to blame is me, switched to reserve, I had 3 litres of gas, with this, had no chance to go for the Lakoca peak. Even if I was close, had more than 10 km of rough road uphill meaning full throttle. So I turned back while counting the rest of kilometers to be done, resulting around 40 km forest road conditions plus 15 km asphalt. Too much so switched of the engine and rolled downhill, starting the engine when I was slowing down, than killing it again.

Had to open the throttle when meeting the horses again as the stallion tried to chase me this time, than with no engine I was back in Kommando again. Picked another road down from Kommando, the one shorter but harder to Papolc village, it was late afternoon but fine.

Refreshed myself at this spring made for the horses to drink. Started to go downhill, men, …. it was a hell of a job, used engine break front and rear, both, engine again, a lot of combinations but the bike was still sliding, was top heavy for that road with huge rocks, dust and too deep.

Than I saw smoke coming from the village in the valley. It was encouraging. Still had to go in forest a lot, having just a few drops of gasoline.

When I reached the asphalt the cows were coming back to the village, meaning it was late in the afternoon.

If you feel a “call” to Transylvania you can do trips like this in half a day.

www.fthmotors.com

Budapest is the city where’s lot to do and see, we spent here two days. Going to a thermal bath                               or funny shopping                      walk in the city                                                                         have dinner in a fine restaurant . Truth is that heavy clouds were gathering in the evening and we knew the next day will get very vet. We had our bikes parked under the Erzsebet bridge next to the hotel, a few homeless guys were keeping an eye on them. In the morning, ….. rain. We left the city heading south near the Danube river. I wanted to show the boys some of the good vine regions of Villany, or genuine Paprika manufactures at Baja, but we were just too slow because of the heavy rain and dropped the idea. Late afternoon we reached the Croatian border and shortly arrived in Osijek. This area was under heavy fire during the recent war, Serbs wanted to erase especially the next town, Vukovar. Instead rolling down on super touristy Adriatic shore we picked this way to see the war scars, and there are still many . Most of the houses were re-built, still we had a bad feeling after seeing those bullet holes everywhere. Therefore we had an excellent dinner in Osijek in a small traditional restaurant where a group of teachers were celebrating something, still the venison perkelt was amazing. Next morning we were heading to Serbia and its capital Belgrade. The weather was better, still the road was dirty because of the lorries coming out from fields and covering the asphalt with slippery mud. Despite its power shown during the war, the country itself looks desolating and boring, fields are not cultivated hoses and fences are ugly, small tows not attractive, Croatia is at the top of development related to Serbia, so what was the reason for that war? Belgrade!? Ha-h funny city, my troubles started here, and I mean serious trouble. My GPS started to go up side down, than was guiding me wrong direction, me ending up bottomed street. Here the big city off road started, had to jump back on the main road from a really high sidewalk, heard my exhaust felt down. In the next 50 meters we stopped second time to fix the car’s exhaust . As the GPS was confused, we saw a biker couple and asked them to guide us in the city center, from here I was chasing 3 motorbikes with the car in Belgrade traffic, managed not to lose them. We just had to search for the hotel, the GPS was re configuring from minute to minute and we went circle for 3 times same place, was becoming really funny, “kids- the opera, dear kids- the opera, well kids- the opera”. The boys get bored of this game and picked a bar for some beer, while I took a walk, as the desk of the hotel told me I am 5 minutes distance to them, let’s see, I was thinking.  My 5 minute walk turned into an hour. Found all the hotels but not ours. The guys were telling me they know where our hotel is, I still didn’t know the place. Had luck with the bartender who shoved me the right Kosovska street out of 11 streets of same name in Belgrade, I was sure that time, but the boys told me they make a U turn and don’t follow me, well I reached the hotel finally and waited and waited and waited, as once, a yellow cab with two bikers appear, they got lost once again, of course I was the blame. If the place wasn’t booked before, I’d change in a second our hotel for that night, this is a big inconvenience if you have pre booked accommodations. As about the hotel, if you want something that really represents communist era go to Union Belgrade, here’s a pick of a phone set in our room, ha-ha . In the evening we found a pedestrian street full of restaurants and terraces, every one had a live band playing some Serbian music, I was thinking: yes, this is already the Balkans. Had very good Italian dinner, house vine, than sat on the hotel terrace to a cigar and noticed the hotel guard. He was not speaking English, but with some gestures and sounds showed he’s the authority, I’d bet he was former military, was not a pleasant guy but accepted the price of two packs of cigarette when we told him keep an eye on our bikes.

Next day caught us heading to Romania alongside the majestic Danube, showing his immensity from time to time, entered Romania, showed the boys how to do some twisties with a usual car, than came the gas station. We entered for refueling and fun, one of the guys started to clean the dust from his jacket with the vacuum cleaner, the other one making pictures, the dump pump man went there and told for the guy with the vacuum “no pictures”, “what do you mean no pictures” and so on, they were arguing meanwhile the other guy was clicking the camera, resulting a comic strip. We spent the day near the gorgeous Danube. View is fabulous, road changes from new asphalt to no asphalt, in a blink of an eye. . By the evening, when we arrived to the ghost town of Herculane it was raining. Had the typical Romanian speciallity: wait long, get else than your order, bad taste pay more. Next day we were moving slowly towards the Bulgarian border because of at least 200 stops at road fixing. Than suddenly we got the best asphalt on whole trip, it was time to race  . Than we took the ferry across the Danube to Bulgaria, early in the noon. When they checked the papers at Bulgarian side trouble was on again. J. one of the boys, told me he lost his insurance paper, after he checked again, he found the paper, than I asked him to keep that paper together with the bike registration, “- oh, that’s what I don’t have”, at that point my brain was burning the fuses. So we had to wait for the ferry to go back to the Romanians, we made some detective work, the border police said they saw both registrations so the paper isn’t lost, I phoned the other guy B. , he checked his passport and ” hey, guess what felt of my passport”, than we had to wait for the ferry to take us back to Bulgaria again, it was late in the afternoon when we started to roll again ’cause Sofia was still far away, but we had a few nice ferry trips on the Danube. Still daylight, we were speeding hard Became really hard to go in the dark, I tried to help them with the car’s tail lights, leading them, but even me, sometimes doubt about my freshness especially when I saw tiny little violet lights in the dark near the road, than big fire and lots of girls, things got clear when I finally saw four-five naked lady butts shaking in the dark, it was obvious, the girls were working. In Sofia we found our hotel really quickly, checked in, went to our rooms, than when J. wanted to grab his towel we noticed his suitcase was missing, after 5 minutes of wondering in shorts in the hotel he found his suitcase next to the elevator door. It was to late for dinner so we ate all the chocolates and drunk everything from the minibar, laughing on the search of the never lost document. Next day we had to get closer to Turkey so we simply pushed on the highway, stayed in Stara Zagora, fine city, beautifull girls, good ice cream & cigars, good food. The boys were telling me by two o’clock in the noon we’ll be in Istanbul next day, well, I told it will be evening, I was right again. Everything was fine except I missed the road once, than the Turkish border, I counted at least 7 checkpoints, passport, visa, vehicle, luggage and so on. Right at the border you know you are in Turkey. On the highway again, it was fast, when the first gate for highway tickets came I almost missed it. We got our cards, was very funny to use them. The F650 was burning fuel as it was pushed to its limits, the R 1100GS was in his best shape, after a while the boys were doing this high speed push in absolute left side wind, it was hard but late in the afternoon we spotted the Bosphorus, the chaotic traffic, than the narrow Sultanahmet old center of Istanbul.  The hotel wasn’t the best but the city was amazing, it is totally different than you will aspect, I mean, you will walk near things thousand years old without even noticing it, as you will search for the two big mosques, grand bazar, or the bridge connecting Europe to Asia. Here are the sweets, bazar, mosques and of corse there is a McDonalds if you don’t like Kebap.                                                                

We left the bikes at the hotel, cats were sleeping in the saddle. For two days we had fun in the city, while in Istanbul don’t miss the Sisha.

After the wonders we saw in Istanbul we had to leave and picked the Black Sea direction, to Bulgaria, again. Turkey has good highways we had fun making pics each other, here is one. , Bulgarian border once again You can get confused easily in Bulgaria, as road signs are many and showing same place both way, see here Balchik  Than the Black Sea  We stopped in Burgas, after we lost each other at the entrance and took us two hours to find each other, we checked in the worst hotel on the trip, beds were super hard, breakfast came in box, never go to Bulair hotel in Burgas. Though the city is all right, good food and cheap but good Bulgarian vine. After we crossed Romanian border, we saw a few brides by the Black Sea and in Bucharest we met her.              Next we entered Transylvania, not on the famous Transfagaras high mountain road (it became such a big deal since the boys from Top Gear made a show on this and named the best mountain road in Europe), we took some of the less touristy roads, ending up in Bicaz canyon, at least as beautiful as Transfagaras. Here we met some guys with hay wagons between deep rock walls , I mean, where were they going? Than when we tried to leave the canyon two lorry  drivers crush their vehicles on that narrow line, we just asked who goes first , we passed them . Rest of the day was just amazing as the scenery was changing from ten to ten minutes, scenic ower load all the time, Transylvania is just everything you’d wish for. Here’s a mineral water bath, ancient Hun style, the water was too cold to take a bath.

Next day’s aim was Hungary again. Just before leaving Romania problems appear. This time is a white vehicle hiding in the bushes in the middle of nowhere with the Politia inscription on it. It was a rail crossing, I ensured myself no train is coming than crossed the rails, the boys did the same, after a few seconds I saw the police car in the mirror with warning lights and sounds on, it was clear they were after us. Well, they told me I didn’t stop at the rail crossing and this is a huge penalty check and a lot of penalty points, I told, I did stop and if they consider I am guilty of something just write that check, it was more than obvious they were after money, so they tried to get the boys involved also, but when it turned out they were speaking just English the two highly qualified policeman resumed just to my person, as I was speaking Romanian, than when their masterpiece was ready one of them told me, the check is not for not stopping at the rail (huge amount of money and points) but for not wearing the seat belt and speaking on the phone (small amount and less points), in this way they were taking care of my money and penalty points, thanks, but they didn’t got a penny, not even today. I wear the belt and had hands free set. In the next five minutes I was about to get the second check at the border for not taking the right line. We stopped in Debrecen had a tasty dinner (food is excellent in Hungary). Next day we rode trough the Hortobagy meadows and arrived back to Budapest. . Soon the boys told me I am just like Dracula, hate garlic, speak slow and with accent and look like this .

The scout team looked like this, bikes were from fthmotors.com

Soon I post the itinerary map also.

http://fthmotors.com/budapest-istanbul.html

This is a 9 country 4200 km motorcycle tour, starting and ending in Budapest, running 14 riding days. The tour leaves Budapest (Hungary) and after Croatian, Plitvice lakes, is following the Adriatic shore, than Montenegro and Macedonia comes inland, in Greece out to the Aegean shore, than Turkey with Marmara Sea and the city of Istanbul on Bosphorus, turning back to Bulgarian Black Sea shore, cutting trough Romania and Transylvania arrives back to Budapest. The specific info, like detailed itinerary, accommodations, tour dates lots of pictures and prices is listed on fthmotors.com

We are very proud of this tour, specially because it confirmed our guess that bikers will love this area. The reasons we designed it were multiple, first the two amazing cities: Budapest and Istanbul, they attract millions of people, than the unbelievable mix of scenery and cultural heritage. We also wanted a “big breath” tour that incorporates major highlights of South East Europe. This specific area of the European continent became free of prohibitions, thus a new destination  after ex Jugoslavian war ended and the Balkans revealed their value once again. Many still doubt the safety of these places, some are still afraid to “risk” a holiday on their own, so we’ll offer them a chance to come. It proved to be a success as lots of people showed interest to participate. Soon you’ll understand why.

Here is the scenery, is hard to describe it as it must be seen, just to make an idea imagine, that there are 3 major mountain chains ( Dalmatians, Balkans, Carpathians) the tour is cutting trough, or follows, 4 different lakes (Balaton, Plitvice, Ohrid, Balea) with breathtaking views, 4 different seashores (Adriatic, Aegean, Marmara, Black Sea) with coastal roads.

People of this region make the difference, as they are the most warm and honest in Europe, some of them may be a bit lazy, but because of their honesty and straightness a lot of conflicts can rise. Balkans and whole SE Europe is inhabited by a huge number of ethnic groups, each with its own identity and cultural heritage, sometimes, differences are too big. The languages and temperament you will meet here, are not Anglo-Saxon, not even Latin, not even real Slavonic, it is different from the rest of Europe, you will understand this particular area and its people once you meet them. You will have to deal with languages like Hungarian, Croatian, or Turkish and Bulgarian, you will notice a constant change in people’s physiology as you head from North to South. Same changes in way of building, living, eating, drinking. You will realize that starting from one world in Budapest, you arrive in few days, in a totally different one, Istanbul. You will travel in a space with incredible mixture of cultures and religions, starting from authentic catholic Budapest arriving to Islamic Turkey and Istanbul, the way down here leads trough Orthodox region. In reality these 3 major religions mix with ancient local heritage and give a unique religious environment (for example, once the biggest Christian church, of Konstantinopole, became the Blue Mosque under Islam, examples are many). The beauty, is the journey between these two pillars of this region, as well as the two cities, of course.

The road conditions of this tour are excellent, coastal roads can be sometimes crowded in Croatia, roads signs and directions are confusing in Bulgaria, the two major cities are absolutely crowded.

Some aspects of a journey like this can be really stressing if on your own. The tour implicates a lot of border crossings with all the issues related to visa, health insurance, vehicle insurances, road taxes, highway tickets. As you travel 9 countries there is a currency issue, as each has its own currency. Languages differ a lot from country to another, writing also, you will find non Latin character indicators, and as you live the crowded touristy areas English is no more an option. Sometimes scams can happen also. Fitting the budget and still having good fun is almost impossible without a detailed acting plan. Also keeping the desired itinerary and picking good accommodations sometimes can be difficult. During such a long trip tech failure or unforeseen event is always at the next corner, a rescue transport in Turkey can cost more than 1000 $ easily, a fork seal change in Turkey is more than 200 $, things like this can ruin your trip. We already had to deal with problems mentioned above and more, so our service became really professional, we handle issues with ease and you enjoy the trip, is that simple.

See related travel stories on this Blog.

Now I’ll describe in details, what this motorbike tour is about, why and how we are doing it, plus some interesting facts about Romania. Specific details like itinerary, prices, conditions, pics you find on our web site. Usually, people have an idea about a motorcycle tour like this, especially the ones who already took a guided motorcycle tour, even so, this tour can differ from what they experienced before. Here comes the question: why we are doing it? Because it is our job )))), and bikers like it more than we believed. This can be one part of the truth, we’d say there are plenty of reasons we are on our way to discover. So far we discovered that there is  a specific number number of bikers, who can be easily called adventurers, and really they aren’t because they are short of spare time, they love to travel on motorcycles and discover new destinations, still because of short time they don’t risk and go for the best, hire a professional local guide, several bikes and the party is on. We’re here because of these people. We do this tour in Transylvania and Romania ’cause we live here, my speciality is geography, history and tourism, and here is no one square km left in this country, I didn’t scouted on motorbike. Transylvania and Romania is still a “fresh” destination, it’s amazing what we have here: scenic overload every 10 minutes, magnificent mountains concurring the Alps, seashore, great rivers and delta, wildest forests in Europe, wildest traffic in Europe, less highways than Europe. We do this tour because when you hear the word Transylvania it rises the fur on our back, even if Dracula was born in Hollywood, Transylvania is the misty, dark place he would choose for living. Because you have the feeling of a time travel , back with a hundred years, when you meet the locals and see them working on the fields with horses, speaking, dressing, eating, thinking. Because you can find old cities similar with their western European sisters, but more charming, more ethnic groups than any other country in Europe, each with its habits and behavior. I think this can be enough for the why? question.

How we are doing this tour? We always do our best, you have to know, this motorcycle trip is customizable to the last detail (start-end points, itinerary, number of days, tour dates, rental bikes, prices, conditions). We run the tour even if just one participant is willing to do it, with the same enthusiasm as for a big group. You can see the bikes we use on our site, but there is a huge number of logistical instruments involved: cameras, communication gadgets, maps, phones, tools, backup vehicle, trailer, spare bikes, a group of people, good relations. The tour contains pre arranged, unique accommodation, tour guide on motorcycle (road captain holding the group together or letting “gearheads” have fun), support vehicle carrying the luggage and passengers & bikes, in case of big group on the tour. When we roll just a few bikes, the guide is in the car, leading the group and staying in touch with the last biker (gathering biker) so nobody gets lost. We can handle groups up to a maximum of 8 bikers. So far we’d done this tour in many different ways, and most of the time it was bigger fun than we ever imagined. Participants were bikers coming from Japan, United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Israel. To make an idea about the fun, read some travel stories on this Blog.

Here are some interesting details you’d best notice about Transylvania and Romania:

• there is snow in June on Transfagaras high mountain road, is not always open in June,
• in Transylvania there are about 40 km of highway, starting nowhere and leading nowhere
• when you are doing 120km/h remember that sometimes the main road can switch to gravel in a blink of an eye
• road fixing everywhere, people with ping pong styled tools will try to stop you
• everybody has a fancy new car but it’s frustrated paying huge monthly rates to the bank, they’ll try to prove their car is more powerful than your bike
• horse and cow drawn wagons, pedestrians, bicycles, wondering pigs, dogs, horses and cows are using the same road with lorries and you
• hotel rooms are overpriced, family run pensions are better
• tip is included in price, all waiters will try to trick you with a sch-fi note
• gypsies are everywhere
• locals don’t speak foreign languages but they are nice and honestly guide you
• in the towns, youth is speaking English
• mortuary vehicle like, white police cars, have high tech radars, they hide in a bush at the end of a long stretch of nice road
• brown bears are entering even big towns not only camp grounds
• there is accommodation in several monasteries and the monks speak English
• Bran (Dracula) castle is super crowded, fake myths don’t worth a visit.

• the country holds an incredible amount o UNESCO world heritage sites

Knowing this post is far from being  complete, I end it right now. Pics are to come.