revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I've just returned from a five night stay in Transylvania, Romania and there is too much for me to remember and recount already, but here are some of the highlights.

I flew direct from Luton to Sibiu and was picked up at the airport by my host at 2am in the morning. We drove 40 minutes to his village, Garbova, where we sat down to cold meats and cheese and a few glasses of wine, a local Riesling. At this point of the holiday I lost count of the day and time. The next thing I know, it's daylight and I've completed the paperwork for the loan of a Husqavana Svartpilen 401 (KTM 390 engine) and we headed out for a few hours of twisties and home for more food and wine. About then the palinka came out - homemade, double distilled, pear brandy . I had to start posting on Facebook every few hours, not because I wanted to share my experience with friends but because that's the only way I would have any recall once I got home The following few days were a wonderful mixture of laughing, eating, drinking and riding twisties.

The main facts...
Romania has zero tolerance for drunk driving.
The Transylvania region is mostly twisties - there really aren't any straight bits.
It is being tarmacked as we speak. The tarmac on most rural roads is no older than six years and it's perfect and beautiful.
They have a good infrastructure of 4G, petrol stations, accommodation, cafes, shops and English is widely spoken with most people pleased to get in some practice.
They only have one fixed mobile speed camera and no CCT cameras. The public complained about these as being an invasion of their rights and they were all removed. The only fixed camera is on the main road north of the capital, Bucharest.
The only police I saw were at an accident that had already happened.
The UK is more dangerous to ride in with the roads in the state they are in and the volume of traffic. There's very little traffic in Romania outside of Bucharest and the standard of driving was no worse or better than here. The roads are in excellent condition.

I'd encourage anyone to go and check it out - I had a thoroughly wonderful time. Here's some pics.







*I'm being a little dramatic about the alcohol consumption though it was certainly part of the experience - I didn't ride under the influence at all - I'm not that silly.

Looks amazing. I followed on FB.

Looks ace ! Who did you book with?

ChrisW wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 6:10 pm Looks ace ! Who did you book with?

https://www.thesaxonhouse.com/

Do they supply riding gear?
How many in riding group?

Yorick wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 6:13 pm Do they supply riding gear?
How many in riding group?

They don't supply the gear - I took my helmet on the plane as hand luggage and had check in luggage also.
The guy who does it has three Svartpilens and also a Sportster but we'll forgive him that. He rides a Svartpilen himself and it says on the website that there's never more than three in the group.

That looks absolutely ace. Definitely like to hear more.

As I get older I get a bit bored with the long drag to the Tunnel, followed by France and Germany to get to the interesting bits. This sounds like a contender for 2025.

Sounds very good, roughly what does it cost?

Le_Fromage_Grande wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 8:19 pm Sounds very good, roughly what does it cost?

I paid £765 for 5 nights fully inc (accomodation, all food, drink, bike, airport transfers) excluding petrol and flights.

Sounds like you had a great time and the roads look fabulous.

Did thee sleep with a garland of garlic around thy neck?

Did you do any of the Transfăgărășan, thats a proper bucket list road?

Skub wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 9:47 pm Sounds like you had a great time and the roads look fabulous.

Did thee sleep with a garland of garlic around thy neck?

Nope. I went to Vlad The Impaler's birth place in Sighișoara though. I took a photo and got out of the way - typical tourism isn't my thing. I saw a bat flying around the Saxon house and asked if that was included in the price or an extra

KungFooBob wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 9:55 pm Did you do any of the Transfăgărășan, thats a proper bucket list road?

No. It's still on my bucket list. The day we were due to do it it was raining in that region and the other opportunity was a Saturday when it gets busy. There are also brown bears on the Transfagarasan because the tourists keep feeding them I was asked if I wanted to do the Transapuseni instead, which isn't on the map yet, and opted for that. The Transapuseni was 90% complete and had only a handful of local bikers on it. There was one particular right hand hairpin that was interesting - I realised afterward that the roadsigns and barrier hadn't been put up yet so it was a last minute save "Brake! Brake! Brake!". Yeah, that was fun - picture below of where the road surfacing ended and the off roading began.

Not forgetting the Transalpina which is an older alternative to the Transfargarasan, the highest road across the Romanian Carpathians. It's more varied and pretty.

What did you think of the bike?

Count Steer wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2024 6:53 am What did you think of the bike?

Great for that area and for a mix of on road, off road. I've never ridden a bike with that engine and I've limited experience with singles. It had a surprising amount of torque available at higher speeds (+100kph) so it didn't feel slow, the brakes were "okay" and I have nothing to say about the suspension so that must have been ok as I'm quite fussy about that. It was a lot more comfortable than I thought it was going to be and I like the look of them. I would certainly like one in my garage.

Thanks. I rather like the look of them and they look like they'd be just the thing in this area. Pretty good if you covered all that mileage and didn't feel that they were lacking in cc's.

Trinity765 wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 9:05 pm

Le_Fromage_Grande wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 8:19 pm Sounds very good, roughly what does it cost?

I paid £765 for 5 nights fully inc (accomodation, all food, drink, bike, airport transfers) excluding petrol and flights.

I reckon I pay that for bike hire alone in Italy, so that it includes accommodation, food, etc., that's bloody* good value.


*No Transylvania pun intended.

Cousin Jack wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 7:16 pm As I get older I get a bit bored with the long drag to the Tunnel, followed by France and Germany to get to the interesting bits. This sounds like a contender for 2025.

Yorick wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 6:06 pm Looks amazing. I followed on FB.

Think we can organise a meet up there in 2025? Sounds bloody brilliant and once my apartment is sold I'm looking for a cool holiday to do after the winter!!

Noggin wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2024 10:08 am

Cousin Jack wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 7:16 pm As I get older I get a bit bored with the long drag to the Tunnel, followed by France and Germany to get to the interesting bits. This sounds like a contender for 2025.

Yorick wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 6:06 pm Looks amazing. I followed on FB.

Think we can organise a meet up there in 2025? Sounds bloody brilliant and once my apartment is sold I'm looking for a cool holiday to do after the winter!!

I am going back next year. June is wet, July and August are very hot.

Count Steer wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2024 6:53 am What did you think of the bike?

Forgot to mention that the quick shifter kept failing so that was a waste of time.

Noggin wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2024 10:08 am

Cousin Jack wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 7:16 pm As I get older I get a bit bored with the long drag to the Tunnel, followed by France and Germany to get to the interesting bits. This sounds like a contender for 2025.

Yorick wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 6:06 pm Looks amazing. I followed on FB.

Think we can organise a meet up there in 2025? Sounds bloody brilliant and once my apartment is sold I'm looking for a cool holiday to do after the winter!!

Oh shit. I think I'm washing my hair that day. Honest.