can you name that lovely hairpin hill in europe??

[hall13uk]

Can someone please tell me the name/location of a road in europe which is on a hillside & full of hairpins, I know i have seen it many times before including on the top gear tv show. I wish to ride there this summer & also visit the millau*sp* bridge as well.

Thankyou all

[5hort5]

Was it the Stelvio Pass?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Stelvio.jpg

[plowsie]

http://www.math.ethz.ch/~hjfurrer/cycling/Stelvio/large/DescentStelvio_Large.jpg

[plowsie]

http://www.najblog.com/media/2286/20061227-stelvio.jpg

[ThEGr33k]

Yes I now name it 'Greek's corners'. :p

[Dicky Ticker]

Miss out Mt Blanc tunnel and go over Mt Cenis down to Susa,very similar.

As a bit of information ,it is an unwritten rule that you give way to trucks climbing the pass due to them having a problem pulling away on such steep gradiants and sharp corners

[Sid Squid]

Road up to Bourg St Maurice is good too.

[Lozzo]

The Stelvio is one of those 'must do before i die' places that all petrolheads must visit.

[embee]

Went to a Hond@ owners meet in the Dolomites last year, the region round Foiana (Vollan), fabulous riding country! If you ever get the chance then do it.

The Stelvio is perhaps the daddy, but there are loads of stunning routes all round that region. Some of the more obscure passes are a lot more hairy, single track poor road surface with either no safety barrier or just a foot high wall between you and 500m drop! Not for the faint hearted. On the tricky routes we were sent through a minute apart so you didn't get bunching of bikes and mistakes.

Of course you could always take in the Grossglockner (http://www.grossglockner.com/highalpineroad/motorcycle/) , check the 360 panorama links on there.

(fit new brake pads before going!)

[furrybean]

There is the Col de Galibier (sp) that looks a little like that

[Tim in Belgium]

Yep the Stelvio has a lot of tight turns:

http://inlinethumb10.webshots.com/8905/2845582110084392296S600x600Q85.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2845582110084392296CGALCO)

I prefer to go up from the Bormio side:

http://inlinethumb15.webshots.com/846/2809079620084392296S600x600Q85.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2809079620084392296HToSUX)

And the SV at the top:

http://inlinethumb06.webshots.com/35397/2695201950084392296S600x600Q85.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2695201950084392296yPsEMQ)

But I wouldn't say it's the best alpine road, some of those haipins are very tight. Some other great roads can be found all round the Alps:

http://inlinethumb25.webshots.com/18328/2166193030084392296S600x600Q85.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2166193030084392296uFpbKq)
&
http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/17785/2143354330084392296S600x600Q85.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2143354330084392296NthuKM)

Grimsel & Furken passes in Switzerland.

"Supertight" in Italy:

http://inlinethumb51.webshots.com/19698/2600583450084392296S600x600Q85.jpg (http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2600583450084392296gsWUMn)

Just get to the alps :) Use the Stelvio as a goal, but there are thousands of good roads on the way.

[hall13uk]

ahhh yes you guys know your stuff thats the one, anyone got any pics of the millau bridge ??

[gazman]

This is a pic on Grimselpass looking back at Furkapass.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m241/gazman_07/eurotrip209.jpg

But to be honest I found these passes a bit borning as the speeds generaly aren't that high, it can get quite busy & if you get stuck behind a couple of coaches/bunched up traffic it can spoil it. Like the others have said some of the less well know ones can be just as much, if not more fun. I partuicullay enjoyed Sustenpass as it was alot faster.

[Tim in Belgium]

I loved the Grimsel pass because I basically got it to myself, a truck had broken/got stuck on one of the hairpins, so I filtered by and found I was using full twist on the Suzuki.

Gazman, the Susten pass is good too, I really enjoyed that little pocket of passes, you can join them up in a weird figure of eight for all day fun.

[Balky001]

Of course you could always take in the Grossglockner (http://www.grossglockner.com/highalpineroad/motorcycle/), check the 360 panorama links on there.

(fit new brake pads before going!)

I did the Grossglockner in the summer by car, wonderful road for cars and bikes, as was the Grimsel Passhohe.

[gazman]

Yeah I stayed at Lauterbrunnen for a few days & one of the days we went for a blast, made a nice circular route up joining up all the passes. I think the ones like Furkapass etc are good for photo opportunities & to say that you've done them, & you're a jammy git Tim as I would have loved a clear run at Grimselpass! But personaly I liked the faster/big sweeper type of roads, riding nirvana!

Are you planning a little trip hall13uk? :D

[Scoobs]

See this thread for Milau pics.

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=103636&highlight=millau

[embee]

Millau bridge is fab, pictures don't do it justice. This was in 2005
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh268/Hi-vis/IMG_2141Small.jpg

Just up the road from there is the Tarn Gorge, which is gorgeous
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh268/Hi-vis/IMG_2108Small.jpg