All,
I will be moving to Germany in a few months. Please provide any help and advice, from storage and riding while there. Also looking for contacts for riding and so on.
Thanks to all
Bryan

 

You get some traveling orders from Uncle?

Advice.....lemme see. Learn the language as best you can. When you can communicate with folks the world opens up.

Develop a taste for thick, room temp beer. You will learn to love it.

Do not be afraid of schnitzel. It's basically a pork tenderloin and pretty good.

Can't think of anything else. Be smart and good luck.

 

Congrats on the assignment. You're going to love your time in Germany. Do you know where you're going?

Germany (Bavaria in particular) is a beautiful place. Let me say up front that I've never ridden there. Many of my friends have and passed on some info to me. Germany can be cool and rainy for much of the year. Invest in some cold weather riding gear if you don't already have some. The climate is a lot like the Pacific Northwest but not quite as wet.

I know there are some military sponsored poker runs in the Garmisch area a few times a year. There's a military resort area down there called Eidelweiss that's a great place visit.

 

One word: Autobahn!

 

Former CO Sprgs assigned guy here, now back in Germany for second time, but north of the majority of US bases, (NATO Airbase), but shoot me a pm if you have any specific questions.

Couple quick tips:
Bring a letter from your insurance providers giving you past history and hopefully no clams (go as far back as you can go) as this comes in handy to reducing your premiums over here, at least for most providers. Garages are SMALL here, and space is limited all around.

Leave your Supercharged Crew Cab Truck at home if you can, because you will not enjoy driving it over here,and parking ...forget about it !

Did not say what model bike you have but riding can be tricky over here, and parts and accessories are priced quite a bit higher ! SO if you have any mods in mind get them done before you pitch up here. Dealers are ok, but prices are across the board are much higher.

Hope this helps and drop me line if you want.

Scott

 

Check on the licensing requirements. I have been back a couple of years now but if you don't have a MSF card less than 3 years old you can't get a license. They offer the classes on base but the schedule can be hit or miss and the classes fill up.

Make sure your motorcycle endorsement is valid or no license.

The riding SI great in parts of the country. The drivers are a lot better.

Great deals on Harleys from AAFES.

I hear every night from my wife how much she wants to go back, she only went over because of me.

Get the bike out and travel. I spent a lot of money seeing Europe. I don't regret a penny of it. uncle is paying you to live where people spend their life dreaming of visiting.

 

It's a harley davidson, no need for the Autobahn.

 

Dont leave Europe without a good trip to Ireland. Lots to see and do.

 

Watch out on the autobahns, when no or little traffic, you have to ride on the rightest lane. Once you've passed a slower vehicle through the middel or left lane, you have to get beck on the right lane. By staying on the middle or left lane at the speed you ride, you'll annoy people behind you wanting to pass you. Some portions of those autobahns have no speed limit, but you have to know your insurance probably won't cover you if you provoked an accident while riding above the 120 km/h speed limit, at least if they can prove it. Where there is a speed limit, just follow it, fines are expensive over there...

Watch out either those fixed speed cameras, certainly in towns where the speed limit is set at 50 km/h (almost 30 MPH).

Don't know where you'll be stationed, but they probably have in the neighborhood some cafés where they brew their own beer, most of the time down below in the basement, you can check the process while going to take a leak at the WC's. They have there what they call the "Reinheitsgebot", surprizing for the people not aware of this, some beers served in cafés are tapped in three times. If you buy beers at the mall, get the Bavarian ones, my favorite being the "Spätenbier"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot

Some cafés during the weekends do a whole roasted pig on the spindle, just delicious. Other meals I enjoy in germany are venison during the winter, and for the rest, austro-hungarian food is also delicious (Gulash, roasted meat)

Most germans are really open minded, are really caring people, but try to avoid any discussion about the second world war and nazism, they are kinda touchy about it. By the way, the **** Svastika and its use is forbidden by law there.

the cities I enjoyed the most were Flensburg, near the danish border, Lübeck which is a wonderful looking hanseatic city, Monschau near the Belgian border. Big cities were all wiped out during WW2, but there are some interesting buidlings and monuments at Berlin, certainly on the former eastern ex-DDR side.

Enjoy your stay there

 

Im kinda jealous lol...id love to go there