MOTO-CHARLIE.COM

<body><h2>MOTO-CHARLIE.COM</h2> <P>My marketing friends tell me that it is essential for my website to have a few kind words from people who have toured with me, so I show several below. They are unedited. <i><b>Jim – Vermont Tour - Intermot September 2004 Personal Motorcycles - Ducati ST2, Ducati M750 Rental motorcycle: BMW R1100S</i></b> If you have always wanted to do a motorcycle tour of the Alps, Moto-Charlie is the way to go. Charlie’s laid-back approach, knowledge of the great roads of the Alps (big and small), the selection of comfortable hotels with wonderful food and a small group of riders, all make his tour feel like you’re out riding with your buddies. The scenery is just unbelievable, the roads both fun and challenging and the cappuccino is outstanding. And attending the Intermot was an added plus. Charlie rides a good pace, makes sure that no one falls behind and really knows the roads and passes that make this tour so much fun. Each day was an adventure and this trip is one I won’t soon forget. After spending 10 days motorcycling in the Alps, it is easy to see why people can’t get enough and want to return. Prior to the trip I had never met Charlie, even though we’re from neighboring states, but I can highly recommend this tour to anyone. Feel free to browse my pictures of the tour at <a href=http://anatra.smugmug.com>anatra.smugmug.com</a> <i><b>Wilber – West Virginia Tour – Intermot September 2004 Personal Motorcycles – BMW R1150RT Rental Motorcycle – BMW R1150RT</b></i> Traveling with Charlie was a great experience! Weather and personal choices caused us to deviate from the planned itinerary a couple of times and he was readily able to make route modifications so that we got to where we needed to be at the end of the day. From a price/value standpoint he knows the best hotels, restaurants, and rest stops. He also knows the best locations to stop for photographs. His great sense of humor and depth of knowledge were instrumental in building a cohesiveness to our touring group, and he took a personal interest in seeing that our individual interests were accommodated. If you're interested in riding the Alpine passes, great and small, you can't go wrong if you go with Moto-Charlie! <i><b>Jeff and Susan – Washington Tour – June 2004 Personal Motorcycles – Honda CBR954, Honda Blackbird Rental Motorcycle – BMW R1150RS</b></i> We took a 12-day tour with Moto-Charlie to the Alps in June 2004. This was one trip that was the most breathtaking adventure we have ever taken. Charlie was both professional and pleasant. He went above and beyond in making our trip the most memorable experience we could be ever imagined. We had all of our accommodations prearranged by our host, and we were pleasantly surprised, and in awe of every place we stayed. His knowledge and suggestions ordering our food, selecting the shops, and where to go for entertainment was never a let down My favorite place that we stayed at had the most spectacular view of the water, as well as a very quaint room. It was like a picture in a magazine. The view was the most spectacular, breathtaking sight that I have ever seen, and it still leaves me in awe when I even imagine it. The owner of this spectacular place is Adrian; he is the most wonderful and pleasant gentleman that I have had the honor to meet. His kindness and generosity to us gave me the warmest welcome that I have ever experienced. I just want to give you ladies a heads up on the definition of the time frame for shopping. Charlie took me to this awesome town to shop; which was called duty free, but the definition time for my shopping is not the same definition time as my fiancée. For example: My definition time is all day, and my fiancée’s is two hours (be sure to pack your sneakers). This trip was one that I would definitely do and want to do yearly. There is still so much more to see, and I am so looking forward to our next trip. I will definitely be wanting to visit Adrian’s place. Charlie, you are the greatest host. Your pleasant personality and stories of your personal adventures you shared with us were enjoyable. You gave me the most memorable and pleasant experience riding in the Alps, and I am enjoying sharing my experience with friends and family. Thank-you and I look forward to more trips and hearing more stories from you. <b>Susan</b> Charlie, you did a wonderful job setting up our itinerary with this tour. The shop you used for the rental bikes was a great selection that had a variety of bikes to choose from, as well as meeting any ones riding style. Very convenient to have the starting hotel right across the street from the bike shop, pickup and return went smoothly with your help. The roads and the scenery were the best part for me, definitely the best I have been on. I was most impressed with the skill level of the average auto driver. I felt much safer there then here in the US. We never had a complaint about the hotels or food so that speaks for itself. I also liked how flexible you were in the day’s events. My time riding with you was like riding with a good friend back home, felt confident with your expert skill level. Thanks again and hope to do this again soon. For anyone entertaining a tour you may contact Charlie for my contact info if you wish to talk to me directly. <b>Jeff </b> <i>Here are the links to the tour pictures taken by Jeff and Susan</i> <a href=http://community.webshots.com/album/160595261TIDBah>Picture Set 1</a> <a href=http://community.webshots.com/album/160608801QoJODF>Picture Set 2</a> <a href=http://community.webshots.com/album/160620308ZhnzIX>Picture Set 3</a> <a href=http://community.webshots.com/album/160662283ZiFBSo>Picture Set 4</a> <i><b>Bob and Margie – Florida Tour – June 2002 Personal Motorcycles – BMW K1200LT, Honda Blackbird Rental Motorcycle – BMW R1150RT</b></i> Taking an Alpine motorcycle tour with Moto-Charlie was a well managed and designed tour with both a congenial and most accommodating host. Charlie is a wonderful person. He is concerned about your safety, your happiness on the tour and that your needs are being met in terms of your expectations in traveling the high Alpine country of Europe. Having all of our first-class accommodations pre-arranged by Charlie made our hotel arrivals effortless and pleasurable stays. Being a great conversationalist, and Charlie’s “local knowledge” having ridden these roads for 20 years, makes him an outstanding Alpine motorcycle tour guide. Right from having the BMW bike ready in Munich through our return to the states through the airport, Charlie delivered. The single most important factor to us was that we never had to navigate through the Alps. We just followed Charlie, which when and if you go – you will learn is a godsend. For first timers like us, navigation would have been a real challenge and resulted in countless frustrations, wrong turns and endless miles to nowhere. It is not easy to follow the signs and get to your destinations on the back roads of Europe. Secondly, the riding is challenging and requires a lot of concentrated driving effort – at least for a first time cycle tourist in this region. Looking around and appreciating the scenery is best done from a full stop. Be prepared for long dark tunnels, endless blind curves and 100’s of switch-backs in the mountains with tour buses and trucks coming at you while riding next to sheer drop-offs – often without guard rails. The tour is not necessarily for the faint of heart, but the scenery is both a breath taking and awe-inspiring vista of the natural ruggedness and beauty of the Alpine countryside. Even though it was June, we experienced everything from rain, sleet and hail to burning hot weather in the mid-90 degree temperature range. That made it difficult to pack, being limited to a tank bag and a pannier each, as were two-up on the bike. If you were alone, you would have additional room for a vented jacket along with a cold weather alternative, or a multi-purpose jacket and we would highly recommend this approach as we only came with leathers. In closing, I’d say we look upon our Alpine Tour with Moto-Charlie as an adventure of a lifetime, and one that I’m sure not many of your other motorcycling buddies will have experienced. Margie and I would be happy to talk to you personally about the tour. Give us a call at 561-740-2528. <ul><li><b>NOTE: They’re serious about talking to them. Feel free to call Bob or Margie if you want a first hand account of my tours.</b></ul> <i><b>Carl – New York Tour – September 2000 Personal Motorcycles – BMW K1200LT, Suzuki GSXR 750 Rental Motorcycle – BMW R1150GS</b></i> Just returned from a 10-day trip through the Alps with Moto-Charlie. Decided about 6 weeks ago that I would be able to ride the Alps and was lucky to find a reference to Moto-Charlie in the BMW rag. I viewed his web site (Moto-Charlie.com) and contacted him. He was able to make all the arrangements and include me on his September trip (Sept16-26). Charlie has been riding in the Alps every year for the last 16 years and has a wealth of knowledge about the Alpine roads. His tour is a low-key affair. For a fee, he arranges for the bike rental and hotel accommodations. He does not use a van, and everyone carries their own luggage. The cost is considerably less than the more established tours. One can go off on his/her own, but the smart move is to tag along with Charlie, who took us on a most interesting tour of the Alps. We rode most of the better known passes but also took routes that only a real Alps aficionado would know about. Charlie is a great rider and kept a pace that was always exciting but sane. A great time was had by all. If you are interested in riding in the Alps, check out his web site. The usual disclaimers--I have no involvement with the business and only know Charlie through this trip. P.S. Riding in the Alps is a major riding experience that all serious riders must experience. It's unbelievable. <i><b>Willie and Urs - Washington Tours – September 2000, June 2002, September 2003 Personal Motorcycles - Yamaha DT360, Ducati ST-4s Rental Motorcycle - Ducati ST-4, Ducati ST-4s</b></i> When Willie and Ursula left the United States for Europe together we had absolutely no experience in motorcycling touring within that environment. In fact, our only tour prior to this together was a short trip to the eastern part of our beautiful state of Washington. While Willie was out on a kayak trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Ursula was cruising the Internet. She landed Moto-Charlie. The seed was planted. Upon my return, Urs was gone on a fishing trip to a lodge in Canada, passing the baton to Willie. I sought advice from Charlie pertaining to his comfort of having a couple of elderly folks joining him for a portion of his planned journey through the most beautiful motorcycling turf offered on our planet. Charlie responded by heartily welcoming us to join his merry band. This was subtly followed by a definitive form to fill out pertaining to the expertise of this throttle jockey and his back seat driver. Willie responded by suggesting to Charlie that it might be a cold day in hell before we were going to hold them up, but on the other hand we were mellow folks. I did manage to slip in all of my motorcycle racing experience in days gone by. Now, we are really old people within the realm of motorcycling. We had rented our motorcycle from BIANCOBLU in Milano and it was a ST-4 Ducati. Charlie favors BMWs on his tours. So we came in with a whole different mind set. Here is young Charlie (in Willie years) on his German steed, and there was Willie and Urs on our Italian stallion (two up, as it were). What a great time we had pushing and pulling between the offsets of Willie and Urs with more horsepower plus age and Charlie being one-up on a bike of lesser ultimate horsepower, but more torque. What we did is cruise, and we did that as rapidly as conditions permitted. Because we were on a different pace, we allowed the rest of the group to lead. This occasionally left us chomping on the bit, but Charlie knew the routes (plus many more) so we were charitable and didn’t pass him. In a nutshell, Charlie paces the group to challenge them, but will not leave anybody behind. He was our Mother Goose. No one knows the routes better. Thank you Charlie for the great trip! <ul><li><b> NOTE: Willie and Urs stay for a month or so every year at an apartment just outside of Lugano Switzerland. They chronicle their European adventures, plus other exotic trips, on Willie’s website. WIllie and Urs are interesting people and a treat to ride with. Their website can be found below.</b> <a href=http://www.weathergod.com> www.weathergod.com </a></ul> <i><b>George - Massachusetts Tours – September 1997, September 1999 Personal Motorcycle - Ducati 916 Rental Motorcycle – BMW R1100RS, BMW R1100GS</i></b> I've known Charlie personally and professionally for many years. We ride together occasionally in the states, do track days, and talk motorcycles every time we get together. I've toured with Charlie twice in the Alps. The most recent tour had me on a R1100GS. My wife accompanied us in a rented Audi. Most days had us directly to the next hotel in 4 or 5 hours and my wife would ride with me on the back of the bike for the balance of those days plus full days during the 2-day stopovers. Charlie seems to know his away around. He hardly ever looked at a map as we went up and over big passes, little passes, and took turns through the middle of towns that appeared to lead nowhere but wound up going over some memorable pass that was not evident on the map. Even though we would clip along at a sporting pace we never lost my wife in the car (she is fearless behind the wheel). We frequently got ahead of her going up and down the mountains as we used the bike's speed and agility to pass cars and buses with abandon. The rule was that if we were going to turn off the current road we would stop at the turn-off point and wait for her to catch up. While we waited, we reviewed where we had been, planned which passes we were going to attack next and-most importantly-discussed where we would be having our next cappuccino (or espresso, in my case). This program seemed to work very well, as my wife always managed to find us. Each trip with Charlie has been mostly over different routes with different hotels, and we have enjoyed them all. My wife and I personally like the small tour feel of Charlie's trips and we like leaving the details to him. Just get to Munich, pick up the bike, and follow Moto. It's addictive. The only problem is to figure out how we can go every year.     <script language="javascript" src="http://www.addfreestats.com/cgi-bin/easycode.cgi?usr=00036016P008"> </script>  </P></BODY></HTML> <P><A href="Links.htm">Links</a></BODY></HTML>