The B500

[Barnoe]

I have cut these two posts from a thread about hotels, separating the two topics.

Richard

=======

the B500 is a boring ride.
speed limits are so slow its awful.

I'm no speed freak at all, but even i didn't enjoy it.
there are a couple of nice views, most businesses at the side of the roads are closed down.

I honestly wouldn't pass through again, there are better areas of interest.

 

[Harlequin]

Well we are all welcome to our opinion and that is yours.
I did it at 70mph mostly on a constant throttle apart from the last bit and had a blast, so much so i turned rou d and did it from the other direction. Loads of great roads around there. Take the D10 and D6 home thru france

 

[russ996duke]

The B500 is over rated ridden at any speed once the first section riding out of baden baden which is fun at 90+ish the rest is a bit meh
There are however many roads that connect up to it from the valleys that are much more of an interesting challenge
and chances of police monitoring them much less

 

[brut33]

There's a 70 kph and on some stretches 50 kph speed limit on it now.

The death of fun

How men with clipboards are destroying motorcycling...I don't want to sound pessimistic, because actually I'm pissed off. No. Furious. Or disappointed. Possibly resigned. Any combination of emotions – any but surprised. What's got my goat? Something that's been going on for ages now: the...

www.simonweir.co.uk

 

[AustinW]

I rode some of the B500 earlier this year. Perfect weather, quiet, good surface, but I wasn’t impressed at all. Low speed limits, speed cameras, and I saw about half dozen police patrol cars. So it was steady away enjoy the view and turn off as soon as practicable. Boring!! Getting there from the east and leaving to the west was much better.

 

[Barnoe]

I don't know when you guys last rode the B500
but the whole thing was 50kph (31mph) when i was there in August 2023
it felt like walking pace

 

[alan29]

It is one of those roads that have become a "thing" to have done to prove you are a seasoned well travelled biker.
It no longer is.

 

[cookie]

I rode it once before the speed limits and saw no police. Did whatever speed I wanted.

I couldn't see what the fuss was about. I've ridden many better roads. See also the Stelio Pass.

 

[brut33]

I'm glad I rode it when it was a free for all. Two memories that stay with me are a long sweeping bend which could have
been a hairpin and a German power ranger on a sports bike with his knee down and very loud exhaust flash past. It seemed
as though he was on rails as he skirted the armco barrier to his outside then dissappeared into the distance.
The other one being a short conversation with the driver of an open top Mercedes 500SL. He was held at a set of
temporary traffic lights at the side of me at the beginning of the road. He wished me a pleasant journey and to enjoy my ride.
Sorry there's a third... The scenery.

 

[Wapping]

Like the Stelvio, the B500 is iconic, harking back to the earliest days of motoring and then, into the 30’s and 50’s when just going ‘abroad’ in car was a real adventure.

In the later end of the 80’s it was ‘discovered’ by British bike magazines as somewhere that you could blast with no fear of points on your licence. Even into the mid-2010’s it was still largely free of too many sections which were not ‘National’. As with other parts of the region and sections of the Alps, the local authorities eventually got fed up with blokes in cars and blokes on bikes, rearranging the scenery and clamped down, especially at weekends in the height of summer.

Ride it and maybe enjoy it for what it is. Ride it when nobody much is around and go as fast as you like; they can’t and don’t police every kilometre of it. Just don’t bitch too hard if you happen to be unlucky.

 

[PembsGSA]

Rode the B500 in May 2009.... it was relatively quiet with no Autobahnpolizei in sight. As mentioned...Beautiful road, scenery ect ect.

Rode B500 again in 2012, busy with power ranger sports bikes and powerful cars.

In fact, whilst riding the B500, I could see in the far distance a black sports Audi approaching and being driven erratically as if it was just stolen by a 15 year old tearaway. As it approached the driver lost control and the car flipped and came rolling towards me.... Spectacular crash... car rolled sideways at least 6 times … fortunately, the car finally stopped rolling approximately 40 yards in front off me. Testament to Audi’s build quality, the middle aged German driver coolly climbed out of the car. Polizei were there in minutes to sort out the carnage (no other vehicles were involved).

Inevitably, the German Police had to clamp down and introduce restrictions.

The crash was similar in speed and impact to this.... the black Audi however stayed on the road.

 

[Davey B]

Inevitably, the German Police had to clamp down and introduce restrictions.

This, and what Wapping posted prior. It is hilarious how some bikers and some fast driving car owners feel they've a right to ride/drive at whatever speed they wish...couple a nice road with a car or bike mag listing it in their 'Top 10 riders roads' ' The Evo Triangle' and then they wonder and moan about a clampdown on antisocial riding/driving. Find a good road? FFS keep it to yourself.

 

[Barnoe]

the local authorities eventually got fed up with blokes in cars and blokes on bikes, rearranging the scenery and clamped down.

We stayed at the campsite nearby (Campingplatz Graesselmuehle) and someone working on the site suggested the speed limit changes was due to the high number of motorcycle accident in recent years, some fatal

 

[EVskiy]

Rode part B500 in September of 2019. It was around 18:45pm. Knowing about the speed limits I took some caution into account, the road was almost deserted…. as majority of the humans in the near vecinity either were tucking into their schnitzel und pomes, or sat in a lounger, whilst sipping on a Prosecco-Aperoll and starring at the horizon as the sun was slowly disappearing beyond it.

I have stayed the night at the Berghotel Mummelsee, then in the morning taken a steady (sticking to the limit) ride to Baden-Baden and onto France…

The B500 is like Stelvio Pass, it is a must do road, a bucket list if you like. But once done it, there are better, lesser known roads to be riding. Because these roads are lesser known, they are unlikely to be policed as much as the B500 does.

Perhaps still a thing for the new (to the motorcycle world) rider, but for a seasoned rider, it has become a simple bimble along scenic route, if one is staying locally and has time to kill, yet can’t be bothered to find new places to visit.
Do not try to use it as a means to make a decent progress. There are faster roads available for that purpose.

 

[fs996]

It's not rocket science. Hordes of bikermates and chaps in fast cars have been flocking there for years, some making lots of racket and others driving/riding above their limits with the inevitable. Couple that with much higher performance available from modern kit, and the popularity increase of motorhomes and car tourism. This is the end result.

That said, I've zig-zagged up and down the BF over the last 2 years and had quite a bit of fun on other roads.

 

[Redboots]

I've never seen the attraction of these "biker" places.
Most of the major passes I first rode in the 70's and you could be the only vehicle on them, including the Stelvio.
I lived not far from the B500. Never been.

There is a place not far from Kaiserlautern, Johanniskreuz near Trippstadt. Nice enough, but like Box Hill is swarming with bikes and cabrio's on the weekends and as a result the police like to set up checkpoints on most of the roads leading to it. You better have everything legal.

 

[Micky]

There is a place not far from Kaiserlautern, Johanniskreuz near Trippstadt. Nice enough, but like Box Hill is swarming with bikes and cabrio's on the weekends and as a result the police like to set up checkpoints on most of the roads leading to it. You better have everything legal.

.... and the Hotel/Imbiss there will bring stuff to your table that you didn't order, in the hope that you'll eat it

.... and if you touch it you pay for it

 

[Redboots]

.... and if you touch it you pay for it

Personal experience?

 

[Micky]

Personal experience?

Indeed so

Ran a group along there and called in, several years ago now. Next table tucked in and were charged a small fortune for the grub

It's a ploy I've seen them use on several occasions, just one guy, but I bet he had his orders

.... or he was very enterprising

 

[mikeyboy]

I included the B 500 into my route down to Italy many years ago.
As others have said,the 1st part was ok.
The highlight was some good soup and Black Forest gateau near the end of the route before epic rain,which lasted two days.
There’s far better roads off the beaten track that are not hard to find.
The same can be said for any area with “ must do “ roads.
Rutland ring, FFS.
50 limits all the way.
15 mins north of Melton Mowbray,you have the vale of belvoir.
Great roads,scenery,cafes and chances of a camera van are zero cos they are both on the A 606/6006 etc catching mugs.