Elefantentreffen 2002

Or - to we Americans - The 2002 Elephant Rally

I'd like to introduce you to Herb. He's a soldier stationed at Kaiserslautern, Germany. He hopes to retire at the end of the year.

When asked what he rides, Herb just says, "A 25-year-old Yamaha XS 750 Triple, which I've put over 200,000 miles on. I'm on the 4th oversize of 7."

When Herb first e-mailed West Virginia Bikers, he briefly told about attending the Elephant Rally (spelled Rallye in Europe). It sounded pretty neat, so I asked him to send more. And that he did. Complete with pictures.

Anyone who has ever ridden any distance in temperatures less than 40 degrees will appreciate this Rally. I'm the first to say, "These guys (and girls) are definately tough! I for one, would be one of the little dogs on the porch when compared to these folks!"

The Elephant Rally itself, is held in Bavaria, close to a small city called Passau. Usually, the attendance is approximately 10,000 to 14,000 people and around 9,000 bikes, depending on the amount of snow.

Believe it or not, this rally is the second largest in Europe. In fact, many of their big rallies are held during the winter -- snow blowing and temperatures dipping below the single digits!

Move over Myrtle Beach, Daytona and Sturgis. Can you imagine camping in the snow along with 14,000 bikers?

Check out these sidecars -- It's my guess the one on the left resembles me when I'm riding the cold weather. The one on the right is where I feel I belong when riding in cold weather!

Take a look at how this rider's bundled against the cold. It's my guess that this rally certainly separates the riders from the wannabes. Imagine the sites you usually see at a rally in the states -- now subtract 80 degrees from that. Only the hard-core would remain.

Herb sums up this year's Rally by saying, "Due to weather conditions we 'only' had around 9,000 bikes and 12,000 people showing up. Keep in mind: These bikes come from all over Europe (and the bikers too, of course!), and the last night this year turned into one of the worst I have experienced since I have ever taken part: We had a temperature of -19 Celsius, which makes it -2.2 Fahrenheit! But with a little help of my friends Bud Weiser, Jim Beam and - not to forget - Johnny Walker, I did overcome this too ..."

E-mail Herb with your comments and questions, at 2-Stroke@gmx.net

Copyright 1999-2003 by West Virginia Bikers - All Rights Reserved Website by Hawk Mountain Designs