Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton

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OK, the evil eye of the Soup Nazi caught me. “No Soup for You”…while discussing a thread about Tires, which got side tracked, slightly …my fault. I would like to start a new thread, from when I put it into the cornfield, now back to good traveling roads on a theme which is: The Best Roads you have ridden with your Norton. Seeing this is an International site, I encourage everyone everywhere in all parts to contribute. Pictures are welcome and goggle map locations or road numbers to help others who may wish to travel down some roads you took that you found to be excellent. Interesting stops and good restaurants, warnings and hazards discussions are encouraged. I think this will help those who like traveling and give ideas to other travelers for planning. Who knows I might visit IOM or Germany, Italy or the Swiss Alps one day, or someone from there may show up in North America? I say this because last year I was traveling to the NYNO June get-together at the Finger Lakes with our President of the ONO,s, Manse who was NOT riding his Norton with mine, but on a V-Strom. He had a Norton T shirt on which made him feel a little bit Norton. During a Meal stop in Batavia we parked beside a Harley and while waiting for our meal, along comes an older rider in leathers with an Australian accent telling Manse how much he like the Norton parked outside (Hence the T-shirt). Manse blushed and said I have the other bike. We got to know each other and that this Australian rider, who flew to New Jersey rented a Harley and was traveling all across the US for his adventure. We discussed roads and places to see. That got me thinking. If I were not riding with my Norton, would this guy from halve way across the planet even stopped to talk to us? So I will start.

If it goes into the cornfield or South bound or nowhere at all I will leave it in the Pub.

I was talking about Deal Gap, Tail of the Dragon US 129. It is quite the road and to Ludwig who didn’t like my term “technical road”, I will rephrase it as very challenging. You must drive your line and if you are unfamiliar on the dragon don’t follow the local riders but take it at your own pace. The Smokey’s have really great M/C roads The Blue Ridge Parkway is very pedestrian but has great scenery, nice lookouts cool riding even with leathers because you are up high in the mountain range. It will have the Q-tips in caravans i.e. “retirees in Motor homes” traveling a sedated pace mostly during weekends. If you get caught behind one of them wait for the pass opportunity or pull over at a overlook and chill out for a spell. Park Rangers and Police keep your speed in check. I was approaching an Explorer not knowing my speed and the Blue and Red cherries fired up. I backed off…he was telling me to slow down… I got lucky. The Skyline PW is even worse as the speeds are set at 35 MPH.

Deer, snakes, black bear and Butterflies will cross you pass. It is basically a scenic route. Here in Canada I would recommend the Cabot trail which is in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island on the Northern tip. https://www.tripsavvy.com/driving-the-cabot-trail-2972640

I had lunch at the Rusty Anchor Restaurant, which had great seafood. Traveling around the Gaspe’ in Quebec and the north shore on 138 after Quebec City was a lot of fun. The food was great. That was a recommendation by Jeandr from Montreal, who I haven’t seen on line lately but gave me great advice.

Ok what’s out there? Let hear it.

Cheers,

Thomas
 
just giving the thread a bump, a good excuse to post a picture :)
Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton
 
Iain B,
Its good to start pictures. Without them it never happened.;)
Jeandr one of our forum members invited me to stay in Montreal at his humble domain and gave me good advice for road in Quebec. 2012.
Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspé_Peninsula
on the second day after leaving Jeandr in Montreal I am at the tip of the Gaspe
Forillon National Park where I set up tent and then head for a humble supper in town.

Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton

peasant food to some but boy was that Halibut dinner so good. White wine for the trail dust from a good days ride.
Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton

Breaking camp at the Provincial Park.
Some may know where this is,
Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton


and a top of the hill shot,
Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton
 
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I'm not riding any more, so my "interesting" roads may not suit motorcyclists, but from a scenic viewpoint there are two in NW Washington that are worth a look.

First off is the road from Bellingham to Burlington, highway 11 (not sure if it's a State Route or a US highway). It was hacked out of the shore-side cliff many decades ago and was originally the "main" road between the cities. Take it south-bound to get the views.

The other one is US2 from Sedro Woolley across the Cascades to Winthrop. Yes, it's mainly a 4-lane freeway nowadays, but the scenery is spectacular and it does get to 5200' above sea-level at the look-out at the top of the pass.
 
Totally agree. I was able to ride this road in July. In three hours I saw only 4 cars and no motorcycles. The only bad part about it is starting near Morenci where the open pit copper mine has left a veritable waste land where there was once beautiful desert. The road surface is good in most locations and the sheer quantity of curves makes every ride a master class in cornering!!!
 
I use my 2 bikes ( Commando , N15 ) almost exclusively for traveling .
2 –4 trips a year , all over Europe but mostly mountains .
I could post about countless beautifull, twisty , scenic roads , but over the years , I’ve become more inclined towards smaller , traffic free roads .
The narrower , the trickier , the more I like them .
On each trip , I try to include some unpaved sections .
In the Alps there are many old military roads , like Assietta , Ligurian ridge road , Parpaillon , col de Tende , Jafferau , etc ..
Far more challenging and rewarding on a road bike than any paved road.
For ex :
Col de Vars (Fr ) connects the Ubaye valley with the Durance Valley .
It is an average Alpine road : nice sweeping bends , scenic , nothing wrong with it .
But parallel with col de Vars is col du Parpaillon , connecting the same 2 valleys .
Do c.d.Vars 10 times , and a year later you may hardly recall what it was like .
Do c.d. Parpaillon only once in your life , and you will NEVER forget .

Vars :


Parpaillon :

5.30 to 7.00 + is really tricky .
Amazing that the road is still open to traffic in this state .



These signs tell me that I am going to have a good time :

Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton
upload photo

Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton



So , if I have to pick one memorable 'adventure road trip ' , it would be the Stella Alpina Rally , 2nd sunday of july .
There is no real organisation , no fee , just come and ride .
Most participants ride up to the base camp above the tree line on saturday , and try to reach the top on sunday .
The road climbs to a little over 3000 m , but often you can’t go all the way up because of snowfields .
The year I did it (2008 ) we where lucky to reach the top .
I would like to do it again , but there are so many other roads waiting ..
The only sad thing is that more and more offroad riders see it as their thing , while the original idea was a rally for road bikes .
Now it is flooded ‘'( and spoiled ? ) with GS –es and KTMs .
With todays cameras and drones , one can shoot some impressive footage :


Put it on full screen , and imagine ( dream ) riding your Norton up there .

These guys stopped well before the top because of snow .
You can see at the end that the road continues to climb for a few km .
With a little determination you can struggle trough smaller snow fields .
On other videos of 2018 , you can see that many riders pushed trough , and reached the top .
Onboard cameras give a false impresssion of the road : the moving camera smooths out the rocks and potholes .
In reality the surface is much rougher .
I had no camera with me , but I knew people took pics of my bike , so with a little search I found one on a British GS forum .
The writer concluded his trip report with a line that I felt was a nice compliment .
Something like :
“ I thought I did well getting up there , till I saw the Norton ..” :

Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton





Next july : Strada del Cannoni , Italy ..
Probably with the N 15 .
 
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As I previously mentioned, this is the Texas hill country route called the "Three Sisters", "Twisted Sisters", or "Texas Trinity" FM335, 336, and 337

Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton
 
Thanks ludwig,
Nice roads. I would love to do that trip. Second video well that would be a tough one! Even on a modern AV rider
Cheers,
Thomas
 
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Second video well that would be a tough one! Even on a modern AV rider ..

All it takes is a little skill and determination .
I did that road in both directions , with my Commando and my N15 .

The famous ( and feared ..) tunnel :

Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton


Last year ,with my brother and an English friend , who stayed in an hotel , so he carried no luggage .
We where on our way trough :

Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton


Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton



My brother on his Bonneville , going up :
Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton


On the Assietta :
Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton
 
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ludwig,
How long is that tunnel?
Great N15 in the foreground and the scenery behind is just grins , I am curious on your Commando front end disk brake and what looks like Peashooters ? Also would like to know if you attach the tank bag via the cross bar on the handlebar? when you turn does it drag or ride across your fill cap? Lovely bikes by the way.
Cheers,
Thomas
 
ludwig,
How long is that tunnel?
Great N15 in the foreground and the scenery behind is just grins , I am curious on your Commando front end disk brake and what looks like Peashooters ? Also would like to know if you attach the tank bag via the cross bar on the handlebar? when you turn does it drag or ride across your fill cap? Lovely bikes by the way.
Cheers,
Thomas
The tunnel is a little over 500 m long and in poor shape .
It has metal doors on each side , which are closed in winter , so as long as the doors are open , you can ride trough it .
Because of its elevation , there is always a risk of freezing , so what looks like innocent puddles , can be water on ice .
The trick is to gently roll trough it in a B line , no brakes and NOT try to ride around the puddles .

In this video , around 3.40 ' you can see that even a KTM can have problems with traction :

Note the icicles . (nice vid. shit music ..)

Amazing that it is still open , without restrictions .
Typically French : first way too lenient , and then after one accident too many , the road will be closed for good .
The grandeur of the scenery can not be captured on film :

Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton


The tank of an N15 is too small , so I made a larger copy of the original .
Still too narrow for a regular tankbag , so I use a bicycle type handlebar bag .
It rests/slides with a felt pad over the tank cap, and swings forward for refueling .
It's only one of many mods to make the bike a reliable and practical tourer .

Best Adventure roads you have ridden on your Norton
 
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