on a scooter into the lower alps in eastern austria

[Franz]

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Being on holidays in Austria and not wanting to rent a car, my 72 year old father offered me to take his new Honda SH300i scooter around eastern Austria for a change. So i decided to visit a friend from mining university times and off i went on 300 cc. i must admit that from 0-100 km/h this thing has an amazingly refreshing acceleration; of course nothing compared to any sports bike but still cars will struggle to keep up.
took the A2 southern highway and was on my way. luckily had a warm waterproof jacket with me as the weather is something 'autumnish' right now with patches of cold rain and then dry again.
so here's my father's newest toy:

with the original topbox, some storage compartment under the seat and an aftermarket puig german-made windscreen this scooter is good enough for longer tours. amazing 3.5 liters consumption of regular 95 even i had to squeeze him a lot on uphill stretches but it hardly fell below 120km/h. another good feature like on any t-max are the big 16" wheels which makes this scooter handle much more like a sportstouring bike than a scooter on small go-cart wheels.
made it to Leoben, a steel/university town and had a go at the local speciality Goesser beer............
next day saw me riding back but not without one ride up into the styrian mountains and a small but nice skiing area called 'Hohe Veitsch', attached some pictures:




Whenever i come back to main Europe, i never had any issue with changing the sides of the road we ride, but hell, i nearly crashed into one oncoming car while going downhill on this small road as automatically i was again on the left......nothing happened but the driver of the car looked at me with some expression of "why aren't you in a mental institution"...........555555
as rainclouds were gathering again i had to cut this pleasure ride short again and headed home in the late afternoon, again some fotos of the scenic highway with loads of tunnels and huge bridges:


and as always my luck ran out near Wiener Neustadt, a town close to my home where a good shower on the road awaited me and soaked me to the bones. in such downpours it's better to ride and not to stop as the windscreen and fairing still keep some areas of your body dry, some others of course soaking wet, but hey, i'm biking and that's what it comes with, rain and shine......cheers, franz

[TonyBKK]

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Nice one Franz! Looks beautiful!

[johngooding]

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Good to see some pics of the land of my birth. Looks great. Thanks for the report.

[Franz]

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Hi Tony & John, thanks & yes, beautiful roads and nice to ride here as obviously the local BiB have cut down on their radar traps on open highway stretches. Weather is a mess but that doesn't keep me from taking the scooter or my fathers newest toy an open Fiat Barchetta 1.8 out onto the smaller back-roads.....fotos to follow....cheers, Franz

[Franz]

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......and that's the vehicle I borrow from my dad once it's pissing down heavily, uses an exchangeable numberplate, means you can register 2 cars on the same plate but you are also only allowed to drive only one where currently the plates are fitted, comes with individual "green books", would also be a good idea in Asia.......
What a fun this small roadster is, power is just mindblowing while steeping on it.......:


Just waiting for the weather to improve and being able to do a mountain loop with the roof removed.........cheers, Franz

[mbox999]

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Hi Franz, Very nice report and it's nice to be in good ole' austria once in a while . I usually come back with a few kg's added looking a bit closer like "Michelin" man
I too like styria , we used to have a Holiday Bungalow in the mountains not far from Zeltweg (which where the F1 racing used to be held) .

Anyways hope you have a nice vacation and hope for better weather.

John, so you are austrian ?


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[Dougal]

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Hey Franz,

Nice one. I had forgotten how lovely some of Europe can be, but I'm quite happy to settle for what we got over here and let you guys post the photos.
Keep 'em coming. See you in CNX in December.

[Rhodie]

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Thanx Franz.
Beautiful pix and holiday report.
The vistas are a welcome change to those with red dust/burnt crops hanging in the air!
Especially impressive to read that your Dad is stylishly growing old [dis]gracefully.
Cheers
Rhodie

[Franz]

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Dear Peter, John, Reinhard, thanks for your nice comments.
Same for me, I think I will return with a little more kgs on my belly.......same same every time, mother's kitchen is still the best, but once Peter comes up in December I should have reduced my weight by then considerably and maybe, but just maybe quit smoking, I know, wishful thinking..........555555
As for my dad ageing in style, well when they visited me in January in CNX he saw all my motorbikes and I said to mom, wait until you return, will take no more than 3months and you'll have a bike at home and so it happened, what I did not expect was when I told him that I have had a look at an old Maserati in BKK and an Volvo Amazon in CNX that he would go for a Cabrio too......good that I didn't tell him about the old battered Cessna in Laem Chabang at the private airfield......555555555.......
Luckily on my last "full day" here the weather changed for the better and I took my nephew in fathers open Fiat a little east to the beautiful Lake Neusiedl which extends into Hungary. This lake is no deeper than 2.5 meters and quite large, we call it the "Sea of the Viennese". In summer perfect for a swim in the middle of the lake or some small scale sailing and in winter for ice skating as it freezes all over.
It's only an hours drive from Vienna or 20 minutes from my parents'. There's a nice little lower mountainrange on the western side with perfect roads for biking. The lake's surrounded by some high grass which the farmers cut in wintertime with their tractors (on the ice) and use for building traditional roofs or mats for your fences.
Here's 2 fotos from one of the plenty harbours/beaches around it and of course a new eatery which we tested to our full satisfaction......:


As everything has to end, I hope for good weather tomorrow so I can do one more trip with either the scooter or the cabrio before returning home to Chiang Mai.
Cheers, Franz

[cdrw]

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Sounds like your father is still a 'kid' at heart and enjoying life...with his convertible roadster and new bike.
Obviously Franz inherited his sense of joie de vivre..

Good pictures and lovely countryside....
I really miss pine forested mountains; you can keep the frozen lakes...

[Franz]

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Hi Jay, yesssss he is and so is his offspring 555555.

Was very lucky to have at least 2 hot days before my holidays in Austria came to an end.
Here's another foto of lake Neusiedl from afar; sorry all pictures are not the best of quality as taken with my old Nokia phone........:

As this is a very shallow lake with at least a 1 kms wide reed-belt around it, naturally there's a lot of wildlife and their hunters, stork.
Most of the surrounding villages pride themselves on a healthy population of storks, residing usually on any chimneys, sorry for the bad quality but here's one on top:

Some nice little roads go all around this lake plus a biking trail:

The neighbouring 'mountains' with some nice turns:

And coming near to my parents place a view into the Viennese plains:

Was sorry that this trip was short and the weather hmmmm-hmmmm, but better 3 sunny days than none.
Now back in LOS and working on my bikes again........cheers, Franz

[Davidfl]

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Franz great to see you still having a great time riding & driving in Europe.
Life on the road gets to be pretty good at times eh?
I bet you enjoyed some nice farang food while you were away too - Mum's cooking!
Good to know you're back in Chiang Mai now too.
'

[Franz]

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Yep, find myself now 3kgs heavier as my mom naturally looked that I had every day an authentic austrian lunch, my brother had a family party and I can't resist the small restaurants all over the country called "Gasthaus or Wirtshaus".......need to work out now every day.
Life and the BiB treated me well, my dad not yet received any letter with a nice little picture of mine speeding through a Laser-speedtrap......but that might still be possible......cheers, Franz

[Ian Bungy]

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Great Photos and What a Great Looking Place to ride! That Scooter looks pretty Small for a 300cc. The PCX here looks Bigger, no wonder it was fast! Hope You had a Great Trip!

[Franz]

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Thanks Ian, yes, the more south or west you go from Vienna, the more spectacular the landscape gets. Roads are in perfect shape. Don't be fooled by the fotos, SH300i is only a tad smaller than the T-Max500, best of it it has 16" wheels, handles perfect for a scooter. Cheers, Franz