Touring · 16 August 2024
Touring abroad: over the Grossglockner
A summer tour through Austria and over the Grossglockner High Alpine Road — high passes, long days, and what a touring bike actually needs.
Every summer we take at least one proper tour, and 2024 was the Alps — out through Germany and into Austria, with the Grossglockner High Alpine Road as the centrepiece. It is everything it is claimed to be: surfacing like a billiard table, switchbacks stacked on switchbacks, and views that make stopping compulsory.
Tours like this are also research. Riding a motorcycle 2,000 miles in a week tells you more about its condition than any inspection on a ramp, and several of the machines in our care have been shaken down on exactly these roads before being offered for sale.
For clients who fly in to ride, we can arrange the whole thing — the motorcycle prepared and waiting, routes planned, and the bike collected and returned to storage afterwards. Europe is close, and the riding is worth it.
