Biketour in 3 states - 5 passes - 1 day

Hi guys in other regions,

today I will show you some pics from July 2016, when I climbed 5 passes with my enduro bike BMW G650 XChallenge, before I bought my GRiSO late October.
I like this bike for pass routes very much (low weight (130kg), powerful single with a lot of low end torque, excellent handling). Forget about all BMW 1200 GS drivers - they have no chance against us!

Besides my house in Upper Austria i own a house in Imst/Tyrol in the heart of the alps. I spend every summer there for biking. And what I show you below is just a portion of all possibilities you will have...

Enjoy the pictures I made on a sunny day end of July:


First from Imst via "Piller Höhe" to Prutz:

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Which provides a nice wide view into the valley of the river Inn:

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Following the "Reschenpass" route we ented Italy with it's famous flooded church in the barrier lake at Graun:

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The Vintschgau valley is the area with the highest density of mid-age castles and church's.
Here shown the village of Burgeis:

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In the village of Spondinig we left the Vintschgau and turned to the west ramp of the Stilfserjoch.
The background shows the mountain Ortler, with 3905m, Italy's highest summit:

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Starting from this point one of the most spectacular pass routs is in front of us...the west-ramp of passo dello Stelvio (Stilfserjoch).
That's the Challenge and me close to the top with good inclination turning a reversement:

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Tremendous view from the top of passo dello Stelvio to some of it's 48 reversements:

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Never miss the famous "Tibet Restaurant" on the elevation of 2757m - it's unique:

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From there entering the border of Swiss (no EU Member State) and going via Umbrailpass and Ofenpass into the Engadin valley:

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Following the upper Inn valley we entered Austria again and looked to one of the oldest bridges of Austria.
The bridge is out of the middle-age and can still be passed by walking. As it is located on the roman Via Claudia Augusta (60 anno domini) the base of the bridge seems to be from this epoch:

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I hope you enjoyed the pass tour.
For sure this summer I will be back there with my GRiSO.

I would appreciate very much, if you from other states could also show us sightseeing's from your area. Maybe as motivation to spend my old days in crocodile land!

In this sense, take care of you!

Great pictures Il GRiSO you are lucky to have this type of mountain roads with such fabulous scenery in your back yard.

I am really looking forward to traveling through parts of your beautiful country of Austria as well as southern Germany, Switzerland and Italy this June. One of the highlights for me is to ride the passo dello stelvio with my orange goose (MG Stelvio).

This trip has been on my bucket list for a while and I cant wait

We also have some nice scenery here in Ireland, which is great if you are lucky enough to get fine weather I only have a couple of pictures (sorry with Stelvio not GRiSO) to post at the moment but the west coast of Ireland has a route called "The Wild Atlantic Way" that has some great scenery and twisty roads which is well worth doing. I rode a part of it last year and intend to do more of it later this summer if I have any money left after my trip to your part of the world.

Oh Yeah and welcome to the Ghetto

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Shame over me!

The described ramp is for sure the east-ramp of passo dello Stelvio, which was build by the Austrian empire during the years 1820 - 1826.
The complete pass route is about 50 km. During world war I this street has been the frontier between Austrian and Italian troupes.
The current street is more then less the same since then.

Hello Guzzi Cat,

I can imagine what you mean by the Wild Atlantic Way,
I have been to Ireland with my family in end of July 2013 for 2 weeks.
Due to the family visit we have got a rental car in Dublin airport and have visited Dublin and surrounding area, then drove to the south coast Bantry, Valentia Island, Killorney national park and then up to the cliffs of Mohar.
Me and my family loved this countryside, the people and the coast roads.
AND: 2 WEEKS WITHOUT RAIN!!!!

Below a picture from our rental car in the Killorney National Park (for sure with an "A").

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My wife is biologist and she got completely crazy by the beautiful old thick trees there.
And I loved the Jameson Irish Whiskey to forget, that I have had to drive an Audi instead of a bike!

Give me an indication when you come over to us, maybe we can meet in the Tibet Restaurant.
It is a MUST for you to go with your Stelvio to where the name belongs to!

Il GRiSO,

Thanks for the inspiring pictures.

fantastic pictures!, this was the state of the Stelvio Pass last time i tried it on the GRiSO!

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Sidrat,
My personal respect to you!
From Lincoln/UK to Stelvio/I, that's a really long trip down. And the weather looks not really warm too.
Either in October or May/June (I lean more towards spring).
Depending to your route, maybe you passed my home town Imst (Hahntennjoch?).

I conclude for myself, that the saddle of the GRiSO provides much more comfort then the one from my enduro.

Is you tank-bag a Givi one, using an adapter from Okuraner?

Il GRiSO wrote:

Sidrat,
My personal respect to you!
From Lincoln/UK to Stelvio/I, that's a really long trip down. And the weather looks not really warm too.
Either in October or May/June (I lean more towards spring).
Depending to your route, maybe you passed my home town Imst (Hahntennjoch?).

I conclude for myself, that the saddle of the GRiSO provides much more comfort then the one from my enduro.

Is you tank-bag a Givi one, using an adapter from Okuraner?

Yes we went in May to Mugello to watch MotoGP, so a bit early in the season. Okuraner is a wonder with the adaptor, wouldn't use anything else now!

We must have gone close to where you live, we went to the Guzzi Factory and then around Lake Como and up to the Selvio pass, I have now tried to go over the Stelvio pass three times and it has been closed to traffic every time. The temperature was 20 Celsius at hte bottom and minus 2 when we had to stop, but what a great part of the world to ride a bike :-)

Sidrat,

There are no fixed openings on passo dello Stelvio. It depends on weather conditions. Over winter time the pass is closed for traffic. Look to internet in front, to find the openings.

I add some pictures from the "Hahntennjoch Pass", which is the pass connection from the Inn valley (S) to the Lech valley (N). It is practically my "home tour" in Imst. Very nice, but a challenging alpine bike tour (the right one for my XChallenge).

But never do it over weekend (Friday-Sunday around 10.000 bikes (!!) and up to 5 helicopter rescues).
During the week recommendable - but extremely dangerous.

South ramp from Imst to the pass. On one side the rocks, on the other side down to the groove w/o safeguards - but that's what gives you the kick:

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Mid section:


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At the summit, elevation 1894 m:

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