European guided tour experiences / suggestions?

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I came across this thread while doing an Internet search. I know it’s old but I want to respectfully correct “beemerdons” and his comments in post #18 regarding my Moto-Charlie Alps tours. He states that the cost of an Edelweiss “Extreme Alps” tour beats the cost of a Moto-Charlie tour “hands down”. That is simply not correct.

I was one of the first, if not the first, person to offer stripped down guided tours starting 18+ years ago. Every tour members pays for their own expenses – so there is no mark up of any kind. The only amount paid to me is a daily fee as guide for arranging the motorcycle rental, hotel reservations and providing daily guide service based on 30+ years of Alpine riding. The whole point of my tour business is to provide new, trouble free bikes, great hotels, experienced like-minded riders and great roads – all at a cost to tour members that handily beats the big tour companies like Edelweiss.

Beemerdons provides a link to the Edelweiss Extreme Alps tour. It is an 8-day tour with 6 days of riding (day 1 and 8 are coming and going). A single rider, in a single room riding a BMW F800 costs $3,210. That does not include gas, lunch and incidentals, which average approx $65 (based on year after year experience) times 6 days means an additional $400 or approx $3,600. Divide that by the 6 days and that equals $600 per day.

My shortest tour over the last few years (excluding RECON tours) has been the “Alps Select” tour. It is an 11-day riding tour and costs approx $4,620, the same amount it has been for several years. That includes the BMW F800, all hotels-single room, all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner), gas, snacks and my fee. Cost $4,620 divided by 11 riding days equates to $420 per day – “hands down” cheaper than Edelweiss. A 6-day tour with me would be $2,520 vs. $3,600 with Edelweiss.

I’ve had numerous prior tour members comment on how the Edelweiss “Ride4Fun” type tours appear to mimic my offerings except at 40% more cost. I do not recollect communicating with beemerdons back in 2012. Maybe he did so by a different name or got me confused with someone else, or perhaps misunderstood my pricing, for which I apologize. But at the end of the day I have always been much cheaper than Edelweiss, Beach’s etc. That’s the whole point.

 
Hi Charlie, many thanks to you for your detailed response. One fact that you failed to mention is that whenever FJR Forum, FJRiders and AZ Beemers ride the Alps and Dolomites: Our groups are NOT paying the rack rates listed in the Edelweiss Catalog or on their website. These are "Custom" Tours, built to our $$$ specifications!

Having worked with Werner Wachter and Rainer Buck for a number of years, I negotiate a rate with them much lower than "rack rate", based upon a minimum # of M/C riders!

Sincerely yours,

Don Stanley

Chandler, AZ

https://alps-tours.com - Moto-Charlie Website. NOTE: There are definitely tours offered here I'm interested in, I haven't ridden Switzerland for a long while now.

 
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Edelweiss
+10, Double Gunny; I have always had a great European riding experience with Edelweiss, I first started riding the Alps and Dolomites in 1969 aboard my 1966 BMW R60/2: Motorcycle Heaven on Earth! BeemerDonS was stationed at Reese Kaserne, US Army Artillery for all of 1969 and 1970: Ach, Beautiful Bavaria!

https://www.ridermagazine.com/touring-and-rallies/learning-to-ride-the-alps-with-edelweiss.htm/ Here is an interesting article on Edelweiss, from a first time Alps Rider: Author is Mr. Jon Langston.

The final group photo of our 2012 EBT FJR Forum Alps and Dolomites Tour …. photo is courtesy of "yamafitter"! JSNS, FUN!

day-6-18-L.jpg


front row left to right - Manuel, Chris & Diane, Tom & Pam
rear row left to right - Billy Fitz, Dave, Bob, Uri, Mike, BeemerDonS, Gary, Bruce & Dan.
 
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Man...that looks fun.
Wheatie, You and Luanne should join us for the Spain and Portugal Tour in October of 2016. I'm negotiating with Iberian Moto Tours for a Group Discounted Rate. Canadians Chris and Diane, plus other couples, have already signed up! JSNS!

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/160530-save-your-euros-fjr-forum-to-spainportugal-october-2016/?hl=spain https://www.imtbike.com/tours/portugal/portugal-central-spain/
Yikes.

Don that looks fantastic. Totally awesome.

I would love to go...in fact I would love to be a professional traveler. If someone would pay me, I would do it for the rest of my life.

Right now, just not in the cards...I'm travelling the US and enjoying that, while saving my shekels for my first overseas bike trip...to NZ.

Awesome trip you have linked to though. Just AWESOME.

 
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