MrKiwi's Road to and from VIM 19

[MrKiwi]

Hi all
I plan to write up my trip to Europe to attend VIM 19 and the road trips I undertake to get to and from VIM 19.

It is quite an exercise in planning logistics to travel so far from NZ and to look at travelling around the EU and into Russia when one is not from the area. Doing the planning and and organization is part of the fun and anticipation is now building as departure date for me is less than three weeks away.

[MrKiwi]

My write up is going to be in three parts:

• the planning and logistics undertaken prior to leaving
• some write up while on the road
• completion of the write up once I return back to NZ.

I will start the stage 1 write up later this week.

[MrKiwi]

Part one - Doing the planning and logistics to get ready for a tour.

This year I plan to do two trips. The first trip will be a small group of four bikes and five people as we head to and from VIM 19.  I will then undertake a second, shorter trip probably by myself for 8 days. 

The first trip, the group of five, will depart the Netherlands on Sunday 28 May. To make that I depart Wellington on 21 May to head to Auckland for three days of work meetings and then I jump on Singapore Airlines to fly to the Netherlands on Thursday 25 May, departing midday. Because of the direction I fly in, I arrive in the Netherlands around 8:00am on Friday morning 26 May.

[MrKiwi]

The Group of five plan the following route - Netherlands to Germany to Denmark to Sweden to Gotland Island. We will arrive at VIM 19 on Friday 2nd June.

Following VIM 19, we will travel to Stockholm, then catch the night ferry to Finland, then through to St Petersberg, Russia, then Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and back to the Netherlands. We arrive back on Monday 19 June.

I will then most probably head off again on Wednesday 21 June back to Germany to visit the VW assembly plant in Wolfsberg, then head down to Munich to catch up with a friend from my university days before riding up Stelvio Pass, through Switzerland to either France or the Black Forest on my way back to the Netherlands, returning on Wednesday 28 June.

I depart the Netherlands on Friday 30 June.

[MrKiwi]

As you know, my bike of choice is Red. A 1998 Honda XL600V, which I rode to VIM 18 in Winterberg.

Red has undergone some modifications since VIM18.  As it turned out, Red struggled a little with me and my gear, I'm not the smallest of people  . The riding position was a little uncomfortable, partly because a little before I came up last year I had dislocated my tail bone. But the lack of comfort was exacerbated by poor riding position. On return from the trip last year, Two Plugs and I hatched a plan to modernize the bike to suit me. The bike's suspension was old but functional for a rider a lot less my weight so I needed to change that. I went for Wilbers progressive on the front and Wilbers 640 on the rear that comes with pre-load and rebound adjustment. The bike suspension was then tuned to my riding weight without luggage.

The seat also came in for some attention, and we had this completely rebuilt, including creating a soft spot for my tail bone (just in case). The engine had a flat spot in mid range, so we installed a K&N fliter and also dynojets. 20mm bar risers were added. The seat build raised the seat height by 1cm at the rear and then we went straight forward at that height. The front bit of the seat is raised by 4cm.

Finally I needed a better luggage solution. Buying racks and panniers for bike 19 years old is a bit of a mission. But Two Plugs found some, Heavy Duties. We ended up purchasing two pairs of side panniers as these have also been fitted to one of the other rider's bike that is coming on the trip this year.

The bike with the new seat, and panniers is now looking the part. So when I turn up to VIM 19 the bike will look like this (Bernard's in the background)


(I'll need lots of stickers to put on those panniers).

Two further changes will be made between now and when I arrive which is explained in the next post.

[MrKiwi]

Like all good trips away from home, getting ready for this year's ride is requiring a little bit of effort.

Booking flights and getting to the Netherlands is easy, but not cheap given the distance.

After last year's ride I left my helmet, a pair of gloves and a pair of boots with Bernard. That rationalises a little bit some of the gear I need to take up with me this year. No boots and no helmet makes a big difference in carting gear to and from an overseas destination. The next choice comes down to whether or not to take my leather jacket or my synthetic jacket. The leather one is more comfortable so I will probably take that, although it is heavy. I will not take my leather pants, sticking with riding jeans instead. I may yet buy myself a new pair when I arrive. Either way the important stuff is the wet weather gear to throw over these should I need it. Clothes are more straight forward, I have the luxury of taking five sets of underwear, woolen undergarments and t-shirts. I will use two zip up cardigans, one woolen, one poly prop, to layer up or down. I long ago stop using the winter layer of my bike jackets, preferring to use instead clothes that can double for wear under the jacket and for wearing at night when not on the bike. I use one pair of three season gloves and if these get wet I use thin poly prop bicycle riding gloves as under gloves for extra warmth should I need it. One pair of shoes, two pairs of longs for evening wear. I can go lighter if necessary, but with two 39 L side panniers this gear will easily fit in.

The bike has a small 20 L top box, and in this goes my one pair of walking shoes, one extra layer of clothing for under the jacket should I need it and all my electronic gear. I will not be running with a tank bag this year.

I will be fitting a new GPS to Red, a TomTom Rider 450 (the latest version just released) which Bernard has ordered for and arrived today I believe. We can't get the either the 410 or 450 models in NZ, only the 400 which has NZ and Australian maps only. The 450 is worldwide. Since TomTom is a Dutch company, buying the 450 in the Netherlands is cheaper than buying it here. I will purchase two wiring looms so I can fit it also to my Africa Twin back home. I will also take my old HTC phone without a SIM card as a back up GPS. I have Sygic GPS running on this and recently reloaded maps of the countries I will be visiting via WiFi.

Red has hopeless headlights. To be easily seen by other road users I have to run with the headlights on high beam, but that irritates some of the constabulary in various countries. Time to fit some LED's. I've sent up a set of Touratech LED's by courier ahead of time so these can be fitted with the GPS when the bike gets it pre-trip service, timed for when I am coming up on the plane.

All of the countries I am visiting except for Russia are part of the EU. The thing I like with how the EU is organized is one currency and riding from country to country is easy, no border checks. All I need is my passport, an international driver's licence and my NZ licence. Getting an international driver's licence is easy from the NZ Automobile Association, you just need a passport size photo and a little bit of cash. Takes about ten minutes.

Travel insurance is more problematic. Most travel insurance will not cover you if you are riding a motorbike above 200cc. Fortunately the company I use does, but sadly they changed their policy recently so next time I will need to find a new travel insurance provider. I managed to buy my travel insurance for this year ahead of the policy change.

The most challenging bit of organisation for this trip is getting into Russia. As most of you know, this requires time and a number of approvals. I made visa application several weeks,ago and this came back to me in two weeks later. For this I needed a valid passport, a completed application form and supporting information. The supporting information is a full itinerary of your trip from leaving NZ to coming back. This can be challenging as for me, a part of the trip will not be decided until two thirds of the way through the time I have up there. But the Russian Embassy seemed happy that I just provide a broad outline of my possible intentions for that bit of the time I am away, the critical bit are the dates I intend to be in Russia. More importantly, the visa application is made much easier if you get an invite to Russia. The easiest way to get an invite is to prebook and prepay for accommodation. The trick here is prepaying for accommodation is non-refundable. So if your visa application is turned down you are out of money! Once the accommodation is booked and paid for, the accommodation owner sends you a certificate to confirm your stay and invitation.

Since I was a little boy one of the places I have wanted to visit is Saint Petersburg. That ambition is finally going to be realized.

And then there is the motorbike!

While it is my bike, technically I don't own it. Two Plugs has the bike registered in his name as I can't road register the bike in the Netherlands as I am not resident there. The bike is also insured in his name and I am a named rider. For the trip we need a copy of the ownership papers, copies of certificate of full insurance for the bike and for me I need Two Plugs to formally (officially) authorize me to use the bike. This needs to be prepared by a public notary appostillized by a court. The cost of obtaining this is not that significant but it is another pre-trip expense and another bit of the exercise to get into Russia.

So all going well, the paperwork is almost completed and that will be the last of the administrative bits baring finalization of accommodation for the to and from VIM 19 route. The team of five have been busy chipping away at this over the last three weks and we only have a couple of nights accommodation left to arrange.

[Jyrays]

See you soon David!

[Two Plugs]

Who's your EU / Dutch Agent? Can I rent him too? 

[MrKiwi]

Who's your EU / Dutch Agent? Can I rent him too? 

Ha,ha, ha. Yeah, nah as we say in this part of the world.

Decent bloke really 

[Grass]

Hi!
If You need any help when driving through Latvia, just let me know.
Or just to have a beer together.
Grass

[MrKiwi]

Hi!
If You need any help when driving through Latvia, just let me know.
Or just to have a beer together.
Grass

Thanks Grass. Our plans have us departing Estonia on 13 June (overnight stay in Mustvee) and then heading to Riga for two nights (arriving 14 June, departing 16 June). Looking at your profile, I see you live in Riga?  Maybe we can catch up for that beer? 

[Grass]

I am in Riga city center. Will be nice to meet You!
If You need help with accomodation or sightseeing just ask. i am willing to help.

[Jyrays]

Sorry to make mess but we plan the same route 2-3 weeks later, without Russia!

[Grass]

Perfect! Will be glad to meet You! 10th of July I start my motorcycle trip to South of France.
Until then I am in Riga.

[Jyrays]

Perfect! Will be glad to meet You! 10th of July I start my motorcycle trip to South of France.
Until then I am in Riga.

How long you are going to stay in France? I will not be back till end of June...