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So we went to Solla earlier this year, and me and my husband had the idea of going to Altes Elefanten also. Altes Elefanten is a rally in Germany at the most famous racetrack ; the Nurburgring. In 1957 Ernst Leverkus organized the first Elefanten rally also at the Nurburgring. There were a lot of chenanigans going on in the later years of the rally and after a huge fight the Elefantenrally was forbidden at the Nurburgring and had to move. The Rally eventually a home in Solla, near Tchechia and Austria. In the '90 there was a group that wanted to bring back the Elefanten to the Nurburgring and they organised Altes Elefanten. Altes meaning the Old Elefantenrally. I have to say that I prefer the Elefantenrally in Solla because the Scenery and the wilderness is much more epic. The Altes Elefanten was at the Camping on the Nurburgring... that kinda ruined my mood when we got there. But after all, the rally was a great succes. We left thursdaymorning and the Nurburgring is only 400 km from our home. This was going to be my first trip with my Hyperion and I might have been a little excited to go. I underestimated the weight of filled panniers and the first few km's were an adjustment to ride, but after some 150km it didn't bother me anymore. We took mostly highway, only the last 100 km in Germany were smaller roads. What surprised me the most was that once we had crossed the border with Germany, it was like riding in a fridge. Temperatures had certainly dropped 10 degrees Celcius, leaving me chilled. When we arrived it must have been around 2°C. At a gasstation we met two lost French Bikers and they hooked up with us. They were Calou and Winny, two of the most magnifent French people I will ever get to know. They followed us and stuck with us the whole weekend. We had a blast. When we arrived, sun was going down and we still had to set up the camp. After getting the tents and shelter up, we made some dinner and had "some" drinks with people around the camping. Let's say some of us had to be driven back to tent... It started snowing again that night, I like the sound of the snowflakes on the tent, so soothing. Day two (friday) started with a breakfast and laughter, then we took a stroll around the camping for sightseeing and saw the most amazing competition. There was a speedometer on an icy hill, and a toiletseat. Goal? Reach the top as fast as you can and win eternal glory on the score-toiletseat... loonies ! We saw the most amazing variaty of bikes coming to this winterrally, sportsbikes, nakedbikes, enduro, allroad but most sidecar and GS was most frequent. In the afternoon I was photographing an icy elefant toy on a bike, when the owner of the bike approached and introduced himself as Marko. Marko was also a French rider and a very sweet man, he has done most of the winterrallies in Europe. He said I was crazy for bringing such a huge Elefanttoy with me on Hyperion and not bringing extra clothing... I was freezing my ass of that time so after that my husbands hangover was mostly gone, we went to buy to firewoord to start a campfire. When the RT-sidecar, which Jeku made himself, got to the top of the camping, we loaded him up with 50kgs of wood and were able to make a cosy campfire. No need to tell what stories came up in the evening... This is a Green Elefant that we spotted at the gathering. At saturday we bought a breakfast to get the chill out of our bones and then started the day with some hot wine from our fellow French friends. There are some games to play on saturday, a torchride, a calling for the deceased and then some fireworks. We never made it to the calling and only heard some firework in the distance. We found a fellow Belgian guy that had stranded alone at the entrance, he stuck with us also and we made sure his cup and stomach were always full. The fella didn't really prepare his trip to an icy place. No problem, that is what bikerfriends are for. It snowed the whole saterday leaving us all covered in a white blanket. I can't really describe the feeling you get at this winterrally. It's belonging together, even if you don't know eachother. We made fun and laughed the whole evening, knowing it could take years before we meet again, or maybe never. Our tent was soaking wet this night, the sleepingbags are dripping and our thermarests frozen, time to go home. Sunday was departure, back to Belgium. While I'm busy packing my stuff, Marko comes up to greet me. He's got that tiny Elefant with him, he quickly attached it to my steer quoting, you are the new generation young lady, keep this tradition alive. So Marko's Elefant is riding day in, day out with me and Hyperion now. The picture I took when meeting Marko. More pictures in the album that I uploaded : Enjoy ! /gallery/album/40-altes-elefanten-2015/

Show us your tool-bags and explain the what and why! Here, I'll start. This is for my G450X. OK... it's not really an XL bike :/ Gee! Here's how my pack looks like. This is the Wolfman Medium Rollie Bag with two Wolf Bottle Holsters. Let's start looking inside! Here's what fits in this baby: 1. Recovery bag 2. Flat tire bag 3. Misc items bag 4. Tools bag 5. Spare tubes for both front/rear 6. Zip ties (with several rubber bands) 7. Two MSR 30oz fuel bottles The recovery bag is just what I need for a z-pull/drag system. There are several sets out there but I wanted to make mine on my own. Did I mention I have mild OCD? It contains: 1. 52ft of accessory cord (6mm) 2. 2x oval non-locking carabiners 3. 2x Petzl pulleys 4. 2x Petzl Tibloc ascenders 5. The manual from the ascenders which will explain how to make a z-pull/drag system The flat tire bag, is a standard. However, here's what it has in detail: 1. Stop & go pump 2. Slime patch repair kit 3. 2x normal SHORT tire irons 4. Valve stem removal tool 5. Gloves The spare tubes, are in a ziplocl bag because try-to-put-them-in-the-bag-omg-they-wont-move-when-they-touch-the-wolfman-dry-material... Of course, a normal grocery bag would do as well. Just blame my OCD for the waste... My misc bag contains the following (I haven't included links for the obvious items): 1. Small mesh bag for the loose items (I got it from Michael's for like $1) 2. Eagle Creek bag (I'm mentioning it here since I'm using the same for everything) 3. Electrical tape 4. Electrical wire 5. Steel wire 6. Any kind of light 7. Quicksteel 8. Sandpaper 9. Emergency blanket (I remove the box after I took the pic) 10. Lighter 11. WD40 12. Camping tape I suggest this brand. This thing will hold anything! 13. Coffee filter (to pour water in the radiator) 14. Radiator Stop Leak 15. An extra sparkplug 16. Tweezers 17. Purifying water tablets Finally my tool bag. This took me the most time to gather. What I've been doing the last months, is using tools from my garage and every time I'm using something (for example a screwdriver or a 10mm hex socket), I'm taking a note and like that I assembled a list of all the tools I ever needed for my bike. In theory, I can bring the engine down with what I have in this bag. In theory. Of course, I don't know how... So for the G450X here's a list of the tools I used (no links of course) Hex sockets: 8mm, 10mm, 11mm, 17mm, 22mm, 30mm Hex bits: 3mm, 4mm, 8mm, 12mm Wrenches: 11mm, 12mm Tools: Leatherman, flat screwdriver, philips screwdriver, ratchet, extensions, adapters And ALL of these items with fuel included, under 20lbs (12.5kgs for our Metric friends)! In addition to all of these, when I'm on my dirt-bike, I always carry: Water Snacks My poop-bag (laugh all you want, I want to see you taking a sh!t and wiping with leaves) Phone / InReach Very small 1st aid kit Let us see yours!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNvuL-B1Ivw

Welcome! I ride heat too. Did Vegas for a bit, but it wasn't hot enough. So, I figured Florida humidity might help. Another Triumph rider. Nice! Gotta balance out the kraut bike riders here. I'm on the 800XC, so not sure my tips translate to the big boy Tiger. Regardless, have fun, welcome and post up your ride reports. We love to read them and see lots of pics/video.

Hey, but a good show, right? But, the more relaxed pace is something I enjoy about ADV. I don't feel the need to be crankin' on it everywhere. When I rode dirt bikes, it was always about who could get through the fastest. Some fun times for sure, but I'm good with the new style. And, sometimes even a slower pace can get "exciting" on big bikes. No denying how comfy these machines are when you just want to relax and take the scenery in however.

It's called "wisdom." On RawHyde's press day trip to Baja, there was a guy who bombed through a puddle and they all cheered saying "do it again!" He did it again only faster and ended up breaking his leg