Riding in France

[stormin]

Hi could anyone advise what is needed to ride in France, like do I have to put deflectors on lights etc.
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Lost motorbike and wife..............large reward for motorbike

[The Tot]

You'd need lots of cash ready for on the spot fines and tolls. With regards to lights, i've heard that it's recommended you put deflectors on your bike. Do it as soon as you get to calais. I'm not too sure about sanctions if you don't do it. you can always plead ignorance and say that your bike reads in mph so you won't understand their speed limits! I'd ask maurice, Mike or claud, cos they did a whole euro stint.

I'm sure you'll be fine on a stock bike, cos i was there last summer and met a few UK bikers in the loire valley, CBR6RR and a 748, both of which had no headlight deflectors on. Besides, the french tend to drive like twats on the peage anyway so you could actually do them a favour!
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The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[BorderHooner]

I went to an MOT station and had them point my light a bit to the right. rode thru the UK in the day time so all was good. Had the light sorted when I got back.

Nothing else was needed. I didnt even bother with a GB sticker.

cheers
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Benelli. Happy as a pig in cacky.

[doggone]

Some bike headlights seem to go 'down' rather than 'left' on dip.
so no need to deflect - never bothered with the deflectors on mine.
You don't need other stuff cars have to carry either like warning triangle and first aid kit, but a few first aid bits are wise to have anyway.
GB sticker not essential but you are supposed to. If no sticker, you'll be cacking it if the gendarmes are looking at all vehicles (they like doing this)

If oncoming cars flash you there'll be a speed trap ahead.
They do it here but more in France where bikers seem more respected & popular generally.

[MattEMulsion]

I've never riden in France but I have been to Holland on my R6. Either which way the laws are pretty much the same.

If your headlight does have a kick to the left then by rights you should use a beam deflector. Nobody seems to bother with them though, I certainly didn't and I never had a problem.

You should also display a GB sticker unless you have a later style 'euro-plate', that is one of those with the GB symbol inside the 12 stars on the left hand side of the plate. You should have one or the other to stay legal, but again nobody seems to bother and neither did I. It wasn't a problem.

I'm not sure about other things you should carry in France but there may be requirements for spare bulb kits, first aid kits and maybe a reflective waistcoat in case of emergencies. I realise that this is very impractical on a bike, but check the laws out and then decide which ones you are going to ignore.

A lot of european countries require you to carry all of your documents with you, that is your licence, MOT, insurance certificate etc. Do also remember to inform your insurance company that you are taking your bike abroad.

And on the speeding front, I don't think playing dumb with the MPH/KPH thing will wash. The cops will probably just laugh at you as they rip you off for as much as possible in fines. The best advice is don't do it in the first place or at least don't get caught!

A lot of late model bikes with digital speedos can easily be changed over from reading in MPH to KPH. It normally just a case of pressing a few buttons in the right seqence and is very handy for riding abroad - it saves you trying to calculate figures in your head.
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Yamaha YZF-R6

[Keen]

I wouldn't worry about it. I've had my uk bike in france for 5 months or so now, I haven't done anything to it (not even a GB sticker) and I've never had any problems, even though where I chain it up every night is right outside of a police station.
The french police are pretty relaxed in my experience. I think they could be stricter nearer calais though from what I've heard (makes sense).
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"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[tintin]

You don't really need anything except a credit card and a spare pair of pants. They will fine you if you get caught speeding and if you can't pay then you are off to jail until you can.
Don't take a radar detector they are ilegal and you will get it confiscated.

Enjoy the trip, it's a fantastic place for bikes.
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The older I get the better I was

[spitfire]

Me and my mate did 5 days in France in the summer, went all the way down to the Millau bridge and back. I didn't do anything to the bike apart from check it was in good order, I did take the following:

basic tools
emergency punture kit
RAC cover for europe
map
copies of passport driving licence, insurance docs etc etc kept in a separate place than the originals.
Euro's in cash

I suggest you take it easy near the ports but after that don't worry too much, the French seem quite friendly towards bikes as long as you don't behave like a twat. We even stopped by a police speed trap (the only one we saw all week) and asked them for directions they actually were very helpful and took an interest in the bikes.

France is a top country for bikes so have fun!

One thing, I consider myself very good with directions and we did plan a route but the road signs and numbering systems are often not very clear (I think there are French and euro number systems) so we did get lost a couple of times. So plan your route and lean your maps very throughly!

Cheers

[Adam_P]

I've been twice.

Never altered my light or added deflectors, riden past lots of traffic police, never got stopped.

Took a first aid kit, puncture repair kit, map book of France (and the rest of europe), spare bulbs and fuses.

That was it.

You'd have to be doing something pretty stupid to get pulled over, we weren't speeding heavily on the autoroutes, but enjoyed the twisty bits we did to the full
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Colin McRae MBE 1968 - 2007 RIP
Orwell Rolls in his Grave
God is imaginary

[feef]

to save me re-writing stuff, I've offered advice on riding in france in other threads.

Worth a read:

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=99869#1204175

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=92352

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=92654



hth

a
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Mudskipper wrote: feef, that is such a beautiful post that it gave me a lady tingle
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[Gixajane]

Good reading guys, thanks for the tips.... I'm off to France on the bike for a week in July.