Motourama Part 1: 70 km/h Top Speed?!

Hello family, friends and followers! Welcome to the first tale of our adventure; the trip through Germany, with a somewhat shocking revelation of our top speed. But first, a short recap of our time in Berlin leading up to our departure.

Berlin, Berlin!

After having handed over the keys to our rented apartment to the landlord, we still had two weeks in Berlin – now without a roof over our heads. Luckily enough for us, we have the bestest of friends, who let us stay with them the for the remaining days. This was our room:

Their kindness gave us the opportunity to get some of the last details in order with minimum stress. Thank you again, Till & Yasi!

Slow Advance

On the 13th of April we finally got to pack the bikes up with more than we needed (as we found out very soon), and awoke the beastly beasts for the first stretch of open road towards Münster; the hometown of Denise.

Ready to start off from Berlin

We knew we had a long day in the saddle ahead of us with 470 km from Berlin to Münster, but we hoped that the smooth, German tarmac would ease the hurdle. This was not going to be the case. The whole way we had strong headwinds, which resulted in Falkor and Phoenix topping out at 70 km/h at times, which was a far throw from their expected top speed of 117 km/h. Instead of the allowed 100 km/h on German country roads, we were struggling with this relative snail’s pace while cars and lorries overtook us like it was nothing. With their ears twisted to their maximum, Falkor and Phoenix also got thirsty. The bikes were not getting more than 20 km out of a litre of fuel. Normally, they would be sipping the golden drops at a rate of 30 km/l. This was a bit of a reality check for us, as the fuel tanks only hold 9 litres, and a reach of 180 km is a bit worrying when compared to the theoretical 270 km. We have since gotten a few fuel canisters together to allow for extra fuel for particular remote areas. In the following days, we had more normal wind conditions, and 100 km/h was reached without much sweat, while the fuel consumption was very close to 30 km/l.

We ended up spending 11 hours on the road –  a whole 3 hours more than initially planned. The funny part was, that we had a constant view of heavy rain clouds and rain fall on the horizon, and got into our rain protection gear when a shower was particularly close by, but somehow we ended up driving in between the worst parts, and only ever experienced a few light drizzles.

When we finally arrived in Münster, our butts were well sore, but we were not overly exhausted from the trip. We had nice music to listen to through our fancy Bluetooth headsets, and we could talk to each other with ease. All in all, a successful first leg of our journey.

Having just arrived, the mood was high despite fatigued behinds.

Until next time, enjoy life wherever you are.