Went for some twisties in the Ardennes and Luxemburg (plus pics)

[mastakilla]

Last weekend, I went for a ride through the Ardennes here in Belgium, and through Luxemburg. Me on my FZ6 and my brother in law on his FZ1 were looking for some killer twisties, and I can tell you we found them!

Here's a brief description of the route:

*) from Brussels take the E411 towards Namen
*) take exit 18 off of E411 towards Marche-en-Famenne
*) get on the N4 towards Marche, and take exit La Roche (first exit after Marche itself)
*) follow La Roche. This road between Marche and La Roche had the best twisties I've done in Belgium before. Definitely go check that out if you're in the neighbourhood!!
*) in the center of La Roche, follow Ortho, and then Bertogne, and on to Bastogne
*) in Bastogne, follow the signs to the "Bastogne Historical Center", continue on that road through Mageret and Longvilly towards Wiltz.
*) in Wiltz, find the road that goes to Kautenbach and on the Consthum. This road between Wiltz and Consthum was the ****!!
*) then continue to Vianden. We closed the loop by going past Dasburg, Clervaux, and Houffalize back to La Roche and Marche-en-Famenne. From there we took the E411 back to Brussels and then back home.

It was a killer ride.

Highlights:

1) the road from Marche-en-Fammene to La Roche
2) the road from Wiltz to Consthum
3) the area around Clervaux

But all other roads are awesome too. Hardly any traffic, beautiful scenery, and lots of differents kinds of twists and turns.

I did 618km that day (385 miles), and didn't feel sore or tired at all. YAY for the FZ6 We took the highway to and back from the Ardennes, because we wanted to get to the good stuff as quickly as possible.

I didn't take too much pictures, because it was too hot to stop and get the camera out every time, plus I just wanted to keep riding and never stop

 

[gmickey2001]

What is the structure with the names of the US states on it?

BTW - Thanks for the pictures, sounds like you had a fun ride :thumbup:

 

[hunterfz6]

you were on the fz6, he was on the fz1. did you have any trouble keeping up with him, or did he have to keep his speed down? i know the fz1 can do 180 MPH, and the fz6 is gonna get around 150ish MPH. Who had to stop for gas the most?

 

[Troubl]

Sounds and looks like it was a great ride! I too would like to know what that monument was. Thanks for posting! :thumbup:

 

[stevesnj]

What is the structure with the names of the US states on it?

BTW - Thanks for the pictures, sounds like you had a fun ride :thumbup:

That is the Bastogne Monument to the the USA for liberating Bastogne...I think

 

[tolgatt]

i love your tank pad...i need to get me one of those...any links for me? :thumbup:

great pictures

 

[reiobard]

nice pictures, thanks for sharing

 

[codeblue]

Thanks for the post and sharing some great pictures.

 

[mastakilla]

you were on the fz6, he was on the fz1. did you have any trouble keeping up with him, or did he have to keep his speed down? i know the fz1 can do 180 MPH, and the fz6 is gonna get around 150ish MPH. Who had to stop for gas the most?

Actually he had trouble to keep up with me When you're doing twisties like that, everybody will agree that the rider makes the difference, and not the bike. I usually took the lead (and took the biggest risks), he kept his distance and followed at his own pace. We are friends, we don't compete on the road. The whole point is to have fun, not to get in over our heads and crash.

Obviously he had to refuel more than me, and even though he adores his FZ1, he's very disappointed about the fuel economy... He gets about 8.2 liters per 100 km (I'm too lazy to convert to mpg), I got around 6 liter per 100 km.

 

[mastakilla]

i love your tank pad...i need to get me one of those...any links for me? :thumbup:

great pictures

It's an official Yamaha tank pad, it's in the Yamaha accessories catalogue... I ordered it at the dealership where I bought my bike.

 

[mastakilla]

That is the Bastogne Monument to the the USA for liberating Bastogne...I think

Correct. It's the Mardasson Monument in Bastogne.

The Mardasson Memorial was built in 1950. It stands as a token of gratitude by the Belgian population for the liberation of the country by the American Army and the allies. The construction of the memorial was suggested by the Belgo-American association (a panel of several eminent Belgian personalities). By erecting this monument they wanted to remember the young Americans who came to liberate Belgium at the cost of their own lives.

So yeah, thanks guys

 

[Cloggy]

Thanks for the pics Matt, I love the ardennes, great scenery, lovely twisties.

IMHO the belgian roads can sometimes be badly surfaced with potholes and bad repairs and a lot of tar snakes, this can be pretty scary when leant into a corner and all of a sudden there is pothole across half of the road . How were the roads you rode on?

Luxembourg is a great ride, went there last year on a ride organised by my work, lovely scenery, twisties and great roads :thumbup:

Pleased to hear you had such a great ride :rockon:

 

[mastakilla]

Yeah, the roads in Belgium can be in pretty bad shape. But I guess we've all gotten so used to them that we consider it to be normal.

I have to say, when I cross the border into Holland, I always notice how great your roads are, the difference is remarkable. Unfortunately Holland is kinda flat (at least in the southern part where I've been) and not so interesting to ride...

The only thing we struggled with, was debris on the road towards Consthum. We had to look out for leafs, gravel and stuff like that in most corners. Other than that, it was pretty smooth.

 

[grumpy1luvs2eat]

Riding in Europe! Cool, just don't be that ugly American that we have all heard about, stateside. Like the fact that you ride the super cool RED FZ6! GRUMPY

 

[BranNwebster]

I really envy you guys that have these cool places to ride. Living in south Houston I have to drive pretty far to get to a nice place and it's still hot.

Maybe this winter you'll be envious of us that can ride all year long.


Great post/pics thanks

 

[CrazyBiker]

Actually he had trouble to keep up with me When you're doing twisties like that, everybody will agree that the rider makes the difference, and not the bike. I usually took the lead (and took the biggest risks), he kept his distance and followed at his own pace. We are friends, we don't compete on the road. The whole point is to have fun, not to get in over our heads and crash.

Obviously he had to refuel more than me, and even though he adores his FZ1, he's very disappointed about the fuel economy... He gets about 8.2 liters per 100 km (I'm too lazy to convert to mpg), I got around 6 liter per 100 km.

Multiply the metric kpl by 2.365 and thats your mpg: mpg = kpl*2.365 which gives an economy of 29 mpg and 39 mpg for the FZ1 and FZ6 respectively.

 

[sPin0011]

i love your tank pad...i need to get me one of those...any links for me? :thumbup:

great pictures

Interesting. Heres a pic of the offical Yamaha Australia tank pad I just put on my bike.:rockon:

 

[Cloggy]

Yeah, the roads in Belgium can be in pretty bad shape. But I guess we've all gotten so used to them that we consider it to be normal.

I have to say, when I cross the border into Holland, I always notice how great your roads are, the difference is remarkable. Unfortunately Holland is kinda flat (at least in the southern part where I've been) and not so interesting to ride...

The only thing we struggled with, was debris on the road towards Consthum. We had to look out for leafs, gravel and stuff like that in most corners. Other than that, it was pretty smooth.

While we have the better quality roads you have many more twisties (especially in the east) which is much more fun on the bike :rockon:.

Bluenova and I came to the conclusion that the Belgians could better use the money spent on lighting all their motorway system to lay some better roads .

IMHO the Dutch are also more considerate to bikers on the road, I travelled down to Dinant on my bike in June, I split traffic almost all the way from Amsterdam to the Belgium border without incident, when I hit the Antwerp to Brussels stretch of highway I had to split traffic again, but this time it seemed like everybody was out to kill me. Even when I was travelling behind several other bikers I had several car drivers change lanes in front of me whilst I was splitting , maybe they noticed it was a Dutch motorbike :justkidding: