Motorcycle roads in Romania

[costinbeekman]

I started this topic in order to offer some information about motorcycle riding opportunities in Romania. I started a new project, a blog in which I present some of the best motorcycle roads in Romania. You can find here information about the road, the landscape the asphalt quality, photos and videos with the road.

For more information you can visit:
https://oneplustwowheels.blogspot.ro/p/motorcycle-roads-in-romania.html

Comments and suggestions are welcomed!

[c-m]

What, there's roads in Romania?

When I was there I once asked how far to Bucharest. The reply from the campsite owner was "This is Romania, it's better to ask how long." Due to the poor pot-holed surfaces.

Bucharest to Brasov was fun once you get into the mountains but marred by road works.

That motorway to Constanta is a bit daft. All the rest stops are closed.

[Enduro Numpty]

My wife and me did a long trip around Europe in 2012 and spent a few days in Romania. Below is part of a write up I did for the trip. Not overly impressed with Romanian roads or drivers but wouldn't stop me from going back.

Full report @ https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=258584


09/08/2012
We left Budapest expecting a long day heading for Bistrita, Romania. Easy life seems to be over. Autobahns were a breeze, most Polish roads were ok though sometimes a bit slow and rutted! Slovakia was just f---ing ace. Roads in Hungary were great and Budapest is something else. Left Budapest and had a fast easy blast along some motorway that's smoother than a snooker table almost right up to Romanian border.
Border guards were ok though they seemed to have a suspicious looking smile to each other as if they knew something that we didn't! First few miles were on a fast smooth road with horses and carts. Great road, nice scenery and blue sky. All very quaint and pleasant, what more could travellers on a bike want? 20 minutes later and the reality set in!. Smooth roads turned into patched, cobbled, rutted, potholed misery! Speed limit was mostly 50KPH. Some f--ing hope, closer to 15kph at times! Then it got worse!! Romanians seemed to agree the road was useless so they just dug the whole f--ing thing up without closing it. What was a terrible road surface changed to no road surface and much of the time we were riding on rutted dirt and in deep sand. Visibility close to zero due to dumper trucks and diggers all around kicking up dust . Temp around 36c. This lasted for 100 miles or so and all the way through the voice from the sat nav calmly issued instructions about turning this way or that. After the road works the road settled down to F--ing sh!t which was a big improvement. Over 9 hours to do 336.6 miles. Should have come on the KTM enduro bike. Having ridden what I would consider to be some hard enduros in the last 10 years or so, this day on the FJR was easily the match in terms of physical effort. Mentally it was even harder, loaded and with Colette on the back I really have no idea how we managed to keep it upright. Keeping the throttle pinned on a 100kg enduro bike to get through deep sand is one thing, doing it on an FJR is something completely different and not something I want to do again. There were no real alternatives or detours, once we were on the road we were commited. We hoped that it would eventually improve but other than the odd few hundred metre section it didn't! We arrived at the hotel dehydrated, completely knackered and with absolutely no intention of leaving it again till the following morning. Over 9 hours on the road to do 336 miles.
Hotel was just what we needed: big, comfy room with really good air conditioning and a restaurant that served great food and even better wine for very little money. Got fairly pished, went to bed, woke up feeling great and ready to tackle whatever else Romania had to throw at us!
Day 11 mileage: 336.6, total mileage: 2164.8


10/08/2012
After a good breakfast we left Bistrita without even seeing what the town is like and head for Piatra Neamt which we reckon is around 150 miles. We're going via Vatri Dornei which looks like a nice road through the Carpathian mountains. I Don't want to be too ambitious with the distance in case the roads get really bad again. Road out of Bistrita is fairly rough by UK standards but much better than what we rode yesterday. It gradually gets better and we're soon climbing up a fairly fast and smooth road. As we climb the temperatures drop into the low 20's which is really welcome after yesterdays sweltering heat. The road and the scenery just get better and we eventually ride through a high mountain ski resort before the roads start to descend and deteriorate. The last 90 or so miles to Piatra Neamt takes us through some stunning scenery but the road surface is really badly broken and patched.
The Romanian drivers are really starting to annoy me, the must overtake at all costs mentality that seems to exist is crazy. As far as possible I try to keep ahead of the traffic but it's the psychos coming the other way that are the biggest worry. Overtaking on blind bends appears to be the norm and after a few experiences of cars, trucks and buses coming towards us fast on the wrong side of the road, defensive riding takes on a whole new dimension. It's a pity as there are the odd sections of the road that have a reasonable surface and should be fun to ride but you never know what's coming towards you. All over Romania there are roadside signs that appear to indicate that they need to reduce their death rates on the roads, they're obviously not working!
We get to our destination in better condition than yesterday but the rough roads are hard work for both of us. Central Plaza Hotel is really classy. Romania is cheap but the roads and drivers so far, are mostly bad! Spending 2 nights here. Going to try and plan routes around what we hope are better roads. After we got settled an English couple turned up on a pair of bikes. They had found the roads everybit as bad as us plus they had got caught in heavy rain that we had missed.
Day 11 mileage: 148.4, total mileage: 2313.2




11/08/2012
Went up in cable car, not quite the alps but ok. Had cake, back to hotel and it rained. Got taxi to good restaurant, had good meal and wine. Had to be wakened for 100m Olympic relay final. Given up with recording daily mileage - too much hassle.

12/08/2012
We left Peatra Neamt, heading for Sibiu which would be a stop over before crossing the Transfagarasan mountains. We looked hard at Google Maps and found that there was an E road most of the way to Sibiu. The hope was that European Routes would be of a reasonable quality.
To get to the E route we had to use a small road that took us over a mountain pass and through narrow gorges. Really heavy rain and temperatures down to 9c going over the pass. The road condition was terrible with the tightest sections near the top just rubble. The rain was torrential and it got difficult to see the potholes but it eased up and we were soon on the E road to Sibiu which turned out to be smooth and fairly pleasant to ride. We stopped for fuel not far from our destination and by this time we were cold but more or less dry. The closest yet to getting drenched. Got the usual sob story from the resident professional beggar and moved on. Sat Nav tried to take us through a pedestrian area to get to the hotel and after the usual "recalculating" was heard at least 5 or six times I switched it off. Found the easiest way to hotel was wrong way up one way street.
The hotel used to be home of some Romanian composer and conductor (never heard of him). It was ok apart from noisy air con. Had some soup at restaurant in town square "the best soup you'll ever taste" was the claim of the waiter. The old town in Sibiu is jumping with an outdoor Rock Concert, street markets and loads of restaurants and bars.

13/08/2012
Left Sibiu in sunshine to ride Transfagarasan road (Top Gear best road in the world?). Mountains looked cloudy. Road fairly busy. The cloud increased and temperature dropped to 6c as we reached the summit. Road surface was variable, from good to typical Romanian (cr@p). Romanians stop dead in the middle of the road to take photos usually on apex of blind hairpins! We came across horses, cows, dogs, dead dogs, herd of goats, horses and carts. The worlds best road? Given the right conditions, i.e. no obstructions, better weather, consistent surface and not a fully loaded, 2 up FJR1300 then Worlds best road would maybe apply. The views through the mist are seriously impressive and it's a brilliant feat of engineering to put a road across those mountains. We heard howling near the summit, I think wolves, Colette in denial, says it's dogs. Including a few stops it takes us a couple of hours to cover the 90 or so miles of the road. I'm glad we did it but as a road for a bike I found it not that special. Any number of passes in the Alps are way more fun to ride.
We eventually ended up in Bucharest in rush hour traffic and soon discovered that every hour is rush hour in Bucharest. A friendly policeman helped us find our hotel using GPS on his phone as sat nav tried to take us through building site where road used to be. Dropped bike at front of hotel trying to park on pavement (@rsehole!!!) Really pissed off, stupid mistake! All the way through the city centre mayhem unscathed and I drop it doing walking speed. A scratched mirror and pannier appear to be all that's damaged. Colette didn't like hotel, I was past caring. We got showered and found nice restaurant away from the ever present traffic fumes, had a good meal and more tasty Romanian Merlot.

14/08/2012
Left Bucharest. Worst traffic I've ever driven in! Usual Romanian Kamikaze, must overtake everything at all costs mentality was in full swing. Finally got on to A2 autoroute heading for Constanta and then the Bulgarian border. Border was no problem and border officials inform us that motorcycles don't require a vignette. We're both agreed it's good to be out of Romania. Glad we went but glad it's behind us. Have read a lot about the appalling standard of Bulgarian roads but route we take to our destination at Balchik is fairly fast and smooth. Bulgarian drivers reputations are on a par with Romanians but they must be having a good day today as I see nothing too stupid. Got to hotel after usual sat nav grief (gets us just about there but not quite). Sitting 15 metres from the Black Sea, hotel is perfect. Day off tomorrow - chilling out at the seaside!!
total mileage: 3049