[Tom the Cabin Boy]

A friend and I spent the last week enjoying a 'Scramble' thru the Alps, him on an UE and me on an Icon (my own FT is back with dealer for a new engine). Anyway we covered 1200 miles in 7 days only having one longish stint of 250miles in a day. The bikes were superb for the Alpine roads and were the envy of many an adventure bike rider who were fully loaded up with metal pannlers, big tanks, tanks bags etc. We did cheat a bit as we had the bikes shipped over / back from Ireland to Geneva thus started our trip from there.

The scramblers were the ideal bike around the mountain passes - nimble, light but having enough punch to make exiting some corners a bit of a hand full.

Tank range thru the Alps was 150 miles before the fuel light came on. Bear in mind though that average speed through the mountain passes in 40 - 50 mph.

My only complaints and very minor at that were:

1. The seat on the Icon became uncomfortable after 150 + miles
2. The rear tyre did protest a few times bit when cranked over - more a slight wallow than the feeling it was about to let go

All in all a great trip on bikes that were fun and enjoyable to ride. A couple of pics

 

[zswickliffe]

Beautiful!

 

[Armo]

Well jealous! Looks fantastic, mines not left the garage for 5 days due to rain:BangHead:.

 

[The Duchess of Desmo]

Will have to do this nxt year. This year it's on the multi.
Curious what has happened to your engine onFT?!!!

 

[Tom the Cabin Boy]

I would thoroughly recommend the trip. I probably wouldn't do the blast thru Northern Italy next just to get to the Stelvio pass as I think it's more about saying you been there than riding the pass itself. The Furka, Grimsel and Susten passes in Switzerland are much better (IMHO) and I'm sure there are many more great passes. The roads in Switzerland had the least amount of traffic and the best road surfaces.
The Route Des Grand Alps is also worth doing provided that the Tour de France is not around.

The oil pump drive failed at 158 miles on the clock. Ducati are providing a new engine as they want the original engine back for investigation. Although the engine was stopped immediately for piece of mind I'm glad that Ducati are providing a new engine.
Cover this happening in another thread.

 

[The Duchess of Desmo]

I would thoroughly recommend the trip. I probably wouldn't do the blast thru Northern Italy next just to get to the Stelvio pass as I think it's more about saying you been there than riding the pass itself. The Furka, Grimsel and Susten passes in Switzerland are much better (IMHO) and I'm sure there are many more great passes. The roads in Switzerland had the least amount of traffic and the best road surfaces.
The Route Des Grand Alps is also worth doing provided that the Tour de France is not around.

The oil pump drive failed at 158 miles on the clock. Ducati are providing a new engine as they want the original engine back for investigation. Although the engine was stopped immediately for piece of mind I'm glad that Ducati are providing a new engine.
Cover this happening in another thread.

Quite agree re: Stelvio left Dolomiti 2009 to meet my husband in the Jura ( love riding there) some of the guys wanted to do the Stelvio, it's an achievement to do it ( saw 2 bikes fall) was surprised to find loose gravel surface in parts! Some of our group wanting to go from our base this yr but it's not very scenic getting there and a long way. Me thinks they'd be better doing it when/if they happen to be closer.

Susten I stayed some years back great roads ( nice Eurocamp in Susten).
Thanks info

 

[ELVISTO]

Nice Trip, How do you get to sit on it for 150 miles Tom, do you get in flight top ups,

 

[Tom the Cabin Boy]

On the motorway blast through Italy we stopped every 110miles or so to fill up. The fuel warning light had not come on at that stage. When riding in the Alps I did get 150 miles (and a numb bum) before the fuel light came on.

 

[ELVISTO]

Looks and sounds like you had a great time, well done , envy, !