These are my recollections of the first two Transalp Rallies. The first was a re-run of the original Honda rally through the
Alps, and included a lot of off-road work through the mountains (nothing too technical, but very, very fast as there were a
lot of motocross riders there I also had a passenger and it was very, very wet in Italy). The second rally was much longer
and included a lot of road work. This time there were a lot of born again bikers who had never riden off-road and certainly
never at speed. There were a lot of accidents this time because the rider skill level was much lower and basic mistakes
were made (like trying to take corners at 60mph when on gravel, as though they were riding on tarmac)
So, how come I was riding a Transalp anyway?
Quite simply, on my way to work a teenager driving his fathers car had pulled out in front of me and had written off my
Yamaha XS650 US Custom.
Passing over his bonnet upside down, having bent the ape bars into an upright position, I decided that I had enough of the
poor handling of the XS (the rear wheel used to rub the inside of the swinging arms on hard corners). Later that day, I bought a
Honda CB350S from the local showroom. I didn't keep it long, it was a bit small and did nothing for my back, which still was
not too happy after rolling down the road after landing on my feet the other side of that car (I guess I was still doing about
40- 50 mph when I hit the car). But the main problem was that
unless you were doing 70mph+, it felt like you were going slow, and the second time in a week I smelt the disinctive smell of
burning ceramic brake pads from the front disks, I decided that this was not the bike for me.
At the same time I had been reading the bike mags with the features on the launch of the new Transalp, and I wanted one! I
dithered for a couple of weeks, but there was one down the local bike shop and I didn't even need a test ride, so a quick
part exchange of the CB and the Transalp was mine!
I loved that bike! It was just what I wanted, aside from a couple of minor niggles, like the way the front grill panel used
to unclip from the fairing and melt against the exhaust. I had to fit panniers as I didn't drive a car and my job as an
auditor involved arriving at clients in a suit and commuting in all weathers I was not stupid enough to try riding in a suit,
so I used to do a striptease in the clients car park, taking off my leathers and putting on the suit, which I kept on hangers
in the panniers (kinky huh!)
My average commute was about 30 miles each way all over Kent and sometimes into Essex. Since I was also a member of the Trail
Riders Federation, I also knew many of the green lanes in Kent and it meant that sometimes in the summer on my way home I would
deviate and ride the lanes instead. Another reason for not wearing the suit, but care has to be taken when riding on your
own with a heavy bike and panniers, especially when riding on clay - very slippery and tends to clog the front mudguard, which
has the immediate effect of locking the front wheel and dumping you on the ground.
Here's a fault most of you won't know. Honda had to issue a carb rebuild kit on those first bikes - after 5-10,000 miles,
they used to start stalling for no apparent reason. Cost me a fortune in garage bills trying to find the cause before Honda
realised what was going on. They kept it pretty quiet too, just a note to the garages to use the kit next time the bikes
came in for servicing. I know they kept it quiet because on the second Transalp rally one of the Austrian bikes that was riding
with us started displaying the symptoms, when I asked, his bike hadn't had the modification, and that was nine months after
mine was done. I don't know what the problem was, but it went away once the kit was installed.
Soon after the launch of the bike Honda (actually Honda France I suspect) decided to re-run the Transalp rally. Now I don't
know if the name was a co-incidence, but I suspect not, and they decided that it would be a great idea to re-run the rally
as a promotional gimmick. It was open to all the European countries where they were selling the bikes and would run from
Vienna (Wien) in Austria to Nice in France, following the Alps from one end to the other. Naturally Honda UK were no more than
lukewarm in their enthusiasm and although they wrote to all the owners inviting them along, thats about as far as they went.
All the other countries sent mechanics etc to back up their riders, all Honda UK did after sending the invitation letters
was to ask someone from MCN to go and cover the rally.
You can find more detail about Transalp 87 rally here.
The first rally was organised by a French company, Action Loisirs who specialised in doing that sort of thing and given the
amount of hype the first rally attracted in Europe (updates on the evening TV news etc) it wasn't surprising that they
organised a second rally. This time it was longer, because there was more fast road work, running from Paris
to Nord Kap at the very top of Scandinavia. A lot of the roads in Norway were unsurfaced gravel but quite flat and straight,
a contrast to the narrow mountain tracks in Italy and France where there weren't even crash barriers between you and a drop
off the mountain (something to slow you down just a tad and take more care!).
You can find more detail about the Nord-Kapp 88 rally here.
There was to be a third rally from Strasbourg to Spain, but I never went as I was in the middle of my professional exams at
the time and couldn't get the time off. I still rode the bike, but having become more senior at work and sometimes needing to
take staff with me I had had to change to using a car for work. Now I become more interested in off-road work and the Transalp
was simply too heavy for the technical nature of the riding and that close fitting front mudguard made mud a specific issue.
I was also beginning to find that the bike lacked power. Road tests at the time placed it faster than all of its competitors,
even the bigger engined ones. I tested a Dominator becuase it was lighter but even with a slightly bigger engine it was
slower. In fact it wasn't until the BMW GS1000, that anything was faster (and I talk about accleration not top speed here).
My brother had come with me on that first rally and we missed the mountains in Italy and France, where you could ride off-road
for hours in stunning scenery and without getting stuck in the mud. So we decided to revist, and now my brother had started
to ride (but not passed his test so it was only mopeds) we decided to take along a friend who was another new convert to bikes
but was running a DT125 he had rescued from a scrapyard. Since my brothers heavily modified Honda C70 and the DT weren't
going to get down to Italy and back in anything less than a month we decided to buy a van, stick the bikes in the back and
drive down. The van would give us flexibilty to drive continously swapping drivers, allow us to move quickly the small bikes
from riding in Austria, through Switzerland and Italy to France, and allow us to sleep in the back if necessary. Because the
Transalp seriously outclassed the other two bikes, I had been rebuilding a Suzuki TS90. It wasn't ready however so I ended up
taking the Transalp, although I had to take the screen off to get it into the van.
As you should have realised by now, my Transalp was no pampered cruiser, make no mistake, it was well maintained and never
thrashed, but it was
more likely to be covered in mud than polish.
Sorry, if it offends but you are not likely to find photos like this here!
So, how come I was riding a Transalp anyway?
