Just wanted to follow up & comment on a couple of things that Greg talked about & wanted me to put my $.02 in on. Having done both Edelweiss tours & a "fly by the seat of your pants" trip with him, they both do have some pros & cons. I did a 8-day "Alps Extreme" ride, which is only 5 actual days of riding & 1 day off the bike with the other two days on the ends for picking up your provided bike & returning it at the end. That one I did with Don Stanley & friends. There were 10 riders plus our guide, several riding 2-up which was too many for my liking but it was with our own personal group that was put together, a mix of Don's FJR friends & AZBeemer friends. We had an absolute blast & stayed in very nice hotels. The other Edelweiss tour was the "Adriatic Rollercoaster Extreme". That was another 8-day tour but sadly only 4 days of actual riding with 2 off-the-bike days. It was still a great trip, just too short for me. That one was another group of personal friends with only 6 riders & the guide which was much better, size-wise. So pros for those are the meals (breakfast & dinner only; you pay extra for lunches), hotels & bikes provided (although total cost is also based off which bike you choose; the bigger the bike, the more it costs). Plus having the guides that speak multiple languages & know exactly where to take you. The cons for me on Edelweiss are being in larger groups, having to just follow along at everyone's pace (the cattle barge syndrome) & not being able to stop where & when you want to for pics or breaks. To me they are still worth doing for someone that has the cash & doesn't want all the hassles of navigation logistics or having to book your own hotels. Both Edelweiss tours, all inclusive, including airfare were around $6,000 each.
After doing my trip with Greg I am definitely sold on doing it on my own vs. the tours. It also has its ups & downs though. I mean, let's face it. Living with 'my way or the highway' SkooterG for two weeks is like enduring nails on a chalkboard for that long!! If you notice how many 'girlfriends' he brings over there you'll figure out they never want to go back!!
OK enough bagging on Skooters non-lovelife; I just had to kick him in the balls once for calling me a wuss!
There honestly weren't a whole lot of cons going this route, other than the F800 I rented from Knopf had a couple of mechanical issues (a non working gas guage & an aftermarket center stand that would drag in hard left turns) & the hassle of having to take the time to find your hotels on the fly at the end of a long day. The definite pros are riding where you want as long as you want & stopping when you want especially for pics or a cafe. With just the two of us that was all easy to do. Obviously as you start adding more bikes those choices to stop or go decrease. I would not want to be in another large pack. Everyone here knows the consequences of that. This trip set me back the same amount as the Edelweiss tours, about $6000 but I got a full 14 days of absolutely spectacular riding in. And I still stand by the quote Greg posted of mine; Everyone should do this at least one time in your life!! But I'll warn you, if you do, you won't just do it once! So plan on spending your kids' inheritance; I mean what the hell are you giving it to them anyways?? You made it; go spend it!
Big John, I do prefer the lighter bikes for throwing around those tight ass hairpins; bigger is better on the open road or two up for sure but those smaller ones are just as fun in the tight stuff if you are solo. Everyone will have their own opinion about that. Everyone here is a rider, some great, some need work (me included). This is where you insert the pic of my bike laying on the ground at the end of the Dragon after my front brake grab u-turn!
Go to a parking lot with your FJR & do a bunch of extremely tight 180 u-turns & see if that's something you want to navigate on the switchbacks of the Alps. On top of that you have to add 30 degrees of off camber to that in many places; which in theory you think, this would help. But in another probably untold story, Skoot had a car stop right in front of him on Stelvio on one of those switchbacks while he was on that 30 degree off camber & had to stop his bike. We'll leave the rest to your imagination.
