| Invitation to the second Eastern European Vintage Bike Rally Transylvania, July 2007
Organised by the Transylvania Riders motorcycle club. As you can imagine this is about stunning scenery and terrific places to ride. Transylvania and the Carpathian mountains are the very best parts of Romania. The main roads apart from the major truck ways are mostly quiet and on the small roads traffic is an exception. Romania has recently become EU member and is charming and has the feel and energy of Europe as I remember it in the 60's. The Transylvania riders club of Turda has about 30 members all of which work for the club and all love bikes. They all have road bikes of one form or another and part of the rally consists of ride outs to show you the best scenery. I was very impressed last year when I was riding in this area and it was a treat to be shown places that you have no chance of finding on your own. The club members are interested in classic machinery and especially German and British bikes because they come from the era when they were closed off from the rest of Europe. This rally is for everyone on whatever sort of bike and irrespective of age or size. There is a very good mix of machinery in the club so do not worry about coming on your Matchless or Vincent or BMW or other occidental bike. The club is running their second international rally next year in June. 50 years ago the town ran an annual rally and street racing and with luck future years will see the street races also restarted. The rally is in Turda a town with a lovely atmosphere, classic architecture and a rich past. The arrival date is Thursday July 20nd with the events going over the weekend of the 20rd to the 22th and leaving on the Monday the 23th. The weather is hot and just right at this time of year so do not bring the woollies. Apart from the ride outs there will be the normal socialising made all the more interesting by the international nature and the diversity of machinery. Once you realise the price of good beer and wine you will probably not want to return. You can stay at the very special and very luxurious Dracula Hotel. There is secure parking and it is just off the middle of the town as are the other two standard but good hotels. To get a booking form and more information then please send me a sae or e mail me. If you are looking at a map of Romania then Turda and the Turda Gorges are in north central Romania about 30km south of Cluj Napoca. Plenty of English is spoken and you will find the people are friendly and open. No visa is required and you can get green card extension insurance from your insurer to cover Romania. So if you think you might like a rally with an element of adventure then do come to the second one. This could be a package holiday, as Transylvania Live, a tour operator specialized in tours in Transylvania offer a 7 day tour with Budapest Departure, with a good long interesting ride and with a rally at the end and then a different ride back. There are no bad routes and the whole point of a distant rally is to enjoy what you see getting there. I will act as a contact and put you in touch with others who may like to ride some or all of the way with you. Find more at http://www.riders.transylvania.bz. So here are the contact details: PO BOX 44 Cape May, NJ, 08204, U.S. or Republicii 28 Turda, Cluj county, Romania 401867 or [email protected] Good Riding, Alin Todea |
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