Italy

[CD]

These were taken in summer 2003 up in the Italian Alps. Its actually the road where they pushed the minis out of the bus on the original Italian Job. There is no road immediately below so they simply(?) had to collect the bits from the lake. At least I hope they cleared up the mess.

View from the top


Its about 8,563 ft. Air felt normal until you try to run more than few steps. Level(ish) road feels like a steep hill. The ridge behind me is the French border.


This was the transport. Perfect tool for steep hairpins. It got so rich it would hardly pull 2nd gear, but I was perfectly happy with 1st. The Aprilia Pegaso 650 ran like it had the choke full on.


When I got home I went out and bought myself an MZ stroker.

PS How do I get the pix to display rather than the url
Yippee sussed it :-)

[teejayexc]

That first picture is one hell of a view .

Not sure about the patriotic boots in the second piccy though

trev

[CD]

Bought those Alpine Stars motocross boots in 1982 and only stopped using them last year after a minor tumble left a toe chewed (boot not foot). I tried modern crosser boots, but they were too stiff to work the gears/brake. Ended up with Hein Gericke touring boots (equally patriotic).

[Pooh(c)]

to display the pictures click on the picture symbol on the bottom row of the add tags icons. 4th one in

(img)(/img) comes up but with square brackets and not the round ones

just insert the url of the pictures in between the two sets of square brackets.

(img)http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u187/Divi900/DSC00049.jpg(/img)

Superb picture

[suzukikidontheloose53]

Love the first picture. I want to go there now

[CD]

Thanks for the url tip. I also want to go there but it will be at least 10ft of snow right now. Somewhere I have a pic of the MZ with snow banks either side. Scary stuff

[Dame judgejools44]

I'd have an overwhelming desire to lob something off the edge........dunno why! ;D

[alpaholic]

Outstanding! Not mentioned on Alpineroads.com either.

I don't carry Italian maps and I've always assumed the only way down from the tunnel/Pte St Bernard was through Val d'Isere! Outstanding tip. Got ferry booked for end of July so might try and take it in! Mind you it takes you right out of the mountains. So maybe not that practical. :-(

Stunning and just goes to show that in Europe even the whites rock!

[2old2boogie]

Excellent shot of the Italian Alps. Does make you want to add it to your 'must go' list.

I am an MZer. Have had most of them. Got the bug in the early 70's couriering on one.

Have just sold my old 251. But no doubt will get another soon. They are an itch you can't scratch!

[beeblemaster]

Nothing worse than seeing that pic first thing in the working day....

That's stunning....

[Deleted]

Absolutely fantastic pic ;D

[knight]

Isn't that picture annoying, we weren't going to go away this year but!. I wonder if I can scrounge an extra weeks holiday. It would have to be unpaid. The tight gits only gives us 15 days.

[CD]

I have to admit I get confused about exactly where it is as I followed my brother (who lives in Ivrea at the end of the Aosta valley). It is near Val d'Isere. if you look at the map there appears to be an unmade road back to the Aosta Valley, but its actually an alpine footpath that a full on trials bike might just manage. Except vehicles are banned.

I just looked at Autoroute and think I found it but will check with Bro & get the route so you can take a ride up there. June might be snow free. July Aug and Sep are ok, but the weather changes suddenly at end of August so Sept can be snowed up again.

When I'm earning a again I want an MZ GE250. They were totally barking full on crossers, with lights and made about 42bhp. Love that powerband. :-)

[CD]

Sussed it
This Autoroute map shows a lower lake which is out of sight behind the small hill the opposite side of this lake. The road ends about 1/2 a mile further on and that is on the Autoroute map. I think its not possible to get at it from Val-d'Isere. We came along the SS460 and S50. I'm amazed roads so small actually have road numbers, but its also shown on the road sign so must be right.

A fuel injected bike should be ok, but a Divvie 900 could be a handful running rich etc at such altitude. On his MZ my Bro screws the pilot jet right out and sometimes drops the carb needle. Hardly practical on a Japanese 4. But why worry about that its downhill all the way to thicker air so who cares if it splutters to the top.




This is taken at the lake which does appear on the Autoroute map. We came up the valley below and the dam is just out of shot to the right. The higher lake is off to the left.



This was taken in June 2002. The road was still unpassable, but apparently clear a couple of weeks later. My pix were late June 2003 during that extremely hot summer..

[alpaholic]

tinyurl.com/28ykrz

Nivolette. Easy to do from Chamonix, but like most of the Italian side, just takes you right out of the mountains. :-(

[CD]

I simply followed the local bloke, but might be able to find it from the Aosta Valley side.

To anyone who's not been over there... Graham says DON'T use the tunnels especially Monte Bianco. Its a narrow 2 way road 12 miles? long (can't remember). The toll is costly and its dangerous with lorry slipstreams. That fire some years ago will probably happen again. The Italians have built a M-way up to their side & want to drill a 2nd bore, but France wont share the cost. However now Berlusconi has gone the cash will get siphoned off again so forget that from either side.

[alpaholic]

chirodave said:

I simply followed the local bloke, but might be able to find it from the Aosta Valley side.

chirodave said:

To anyone who's not been over there... Graham says DON'T use the tunnels especially Monte Bianco. Its a narrow 2 way road 12 miles? long (can't remember). The toll is costly and its dangerous with lorry slipstreams. That fire some years ago will probably happen again.

I'd say the opposite! Obviously with no view and costing a packet you only want to do it once but riding through an endless tunnel is quite a hoot and something everyone should try once.

Another advantage is that the Chamonix side is usually wet or cloudy and the Italy side is usually sunny and dry.

So if it's pishing it down you can save yourself the St Bernard which is is a long way round to ride to find some sun.

Agree that the standard route south should be the rather excellent Gde St B.

[apricot]

Stunning pics Chirodave. I toured Italy about 16 years ago, but did it in a car (Alfasud Ti Cloverleaf, my pride and joy at the time!). Not the same I appreciate. Would love to take the bike over there for a second trip.


"I'd have an overwhelming desire to lob something off the edge........dunno why! "

Blimey Jools, you've only been with him a coupla weeks...

Ady

[CD]

Perhaps thats why the film makers lobbed their minis over the same point. I'll be back but maybe not this year. Depends what work contract I can come up with for the summer. Really want to ride down on my D900 taking French main roads rather than M-ways.

On the tunnel note, G did do it on his MZ 250. A fine tool for alpine hairpins, but maybe too light for coping with the tunnel slipstreams. I've never tried it so leave comment those with personal experience.

[alpaholic]

chirodave said:

MZ 250. A fine tool for alpine hairpins

Not a sentence you see every day but having seen them at Brands and f**King loving the Marque I just can't help but agree!

CovertCodger was kind enough to lend me his fine book on MZ and their origins in DKW.

The tunnel is a little unnerving but that's what makes it a novelty and I bet in reality it suffers few accidents. (Straight road with a well observed 50kmh (IIRC) limit.)

Looking over cliffs scares me but it's still a great rush!

[CD]

Graham's is probably the only MZ stroker in Italy. Really gets noticed & its not pretty. He keeps it on UK plates & rides to UK each year to get its MOT. 900 miles or so each way. It would be incredibly costly to register in Italy and due to emissions rules probably impossible to register over there.

You will know from that book that Walter Kaaden invented the 2 stroke expansion chamber and for a time blew everything off the race tracks. Suzuki's racing success began when they copied the works bike the MZ race rider defected with at Nurburgring. A close look at a 750 Kettle reveals three MZ 250's strapped side by side. Power output of 70bhp also ties in quite neatly. The GT500 is obviously MZ inspired.

I did have some pix (where are they now?) of a Jawa 350 racer from about 1967. They had side mounted carbs, rotary valves, twin crank V4 and made about 65bhp (not bad for those days). But poor materials meant poor reliability. Those soviet bloc guys weren't short of good ideas.

Back onto MZ ideas... I can't help thinking that if Diversion engines had rubber mounts at the front, allowing the engine to rock up 7 down (like an MZ), the vibration issues would go away. Actually, probably not they have 2 bolts at the back

[Deleted]

Just been having a play on Google Earth planning a possible visit.

Love how it says near the destination

SHARP LEFT!

[knight]

I did that last night. The quality on Google earth for that region is as good as it could be but it's not bad.
By the way Gordy I use google earth to look at places I'm delivering to sometimes. The quality is that good on some areas you can see loading bays etc quite clearly. It gives me an idea of what to expect.

[justso]

If you want a better quality satellite photo of the area you can go to microsoft's maps.live.com. You can just about see individual cars on the roads.

I have added a map pin to the area but I am not sure if will work.

maps.live.com/?v=2&sp=Point.rkbnwmhkvrtg_SP50___&encType=1

That looks like an awesome road to ride.

[CD]

That's the one :-)

The lake in the middle of Gordy's map pic is the one seen in my first picture. It eventually peters out in a flat area with a cafe. Some maps show a road going right through to the Aosta Valley, but this is a footpath through a nationla park so illegal to ride even if it were rideable. No problem though as you get a better view on the way down.

PS Small correction... The layby where I took my first pic is aparrently the spot where the Italian Job bus was left balanced on the brink.