Twincruiser Tours Switzerland: Motorcycle tours you won’t find in Google
How I caught my motorcycling bug!
It started in the sixties with the moped or Töffli as we call them in Switzerland. It was THE CULT OBJECT and the key part of the Swiss youth.
In 1970, the movie «Easy Rider» with Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson came into the scene and I crashed for the Harley Davidson Easy Rider Chopper Captain America!
My dream: A motorcycle like that! The sound, the look and very comfortable for cruising.
In these days, they were only German, American, British and Italian motorcycles available in Europe. The DKW RT 125 was the most copied motorcycle in the world.
Illegal tuning and Japanese motorcycles
The Töffli was a must have in Switzerland. It was the youth’s key to freedom and the first argumentation with the parents that went through financial hard times.
For us Swiss teenagers it represented our liberty to choose on our own; move around, see friends and decide when we wanted to go home on our own transport. Not watching the timetable to see when the last bus or train was going and not being dependent on parents for a lift.
These Töfflis, mostly, Puch Maxi, Sachs 503, Piaggio Ciao, Zündapp Belmondo, Pony from the Swiss manufacturers Amsler, were a two-wheeled light motorcycle that had pedals, a motor which was less than 50 cc (3.1 cu in) and that was allowed by the law to a top speed of maximum 30 Km/h (18,5 mph).
Our passion was to make them faster than these 30 Km/h allowed by the law. In the sixties, electronics were far behind; no tuning kits, no chip and no PC’s!
Enthusiastically, we “illegally tuned” our Töfflis: pistons, cylinders, carburetors, and sprockets had to be modified – a real competition between us!
Which one is the fastest? The challenge to reach speeds faster than the legally 30 Km/h.
We broke many prohibitions, laws and social rules. But, we were among ourselves, and we did not destroy nor did we harm the public.
In the eyes of the law, we had to deal with the police and the authorities.
Later, we had the opportunity to use our neighbor’s BMW R50 on his private property. Then came a BSA A10 Road Rocket and a Norton Commando with a Manx engine. We practiced and gained our first experiences with our meager pocket money.
Japanese motorcycles
I knew that in 1959, Honda entered the TT, Isle of Man Race with a two-speed Honda – the first time I heard about Japanese motorcycle. We never saw any on our roads until a guy with wealthy parents appeared in the seventies with a Kawasaki triples, H1 Mach III 500. It was a air-cooled two stroke engine with three-cylinders in a row. They were known for their impressive acceleration and their speed of 201km/h or 124.8 miles. The down sides were high fuel consumption, very poor handling as they started to wave as from 80km/h and their braking abilities were catastrophic.
Their nickname was “Widow-maker” and three of my friends had bad accidents due to piston seizing. From that point, we just hated motorcycles, Made in Japan.
Only one dream: The Harley Davidson Chopper
The movie «Easy rider» released the motorcycle bug in me.
I dreamed of it, I was possessed and saved very hard for years, every coin went into the Chopper piggy bank. No outings and no vacations. Only one goal: That Harley Davidson Chopper with the Panhead overhead-valve engine.
Hard awakening and my first Japanese motorcycle
After completing my apprenticeship in 1974, Switzerland, just as the World, did fall into the deepest recession since the 1930s.
I had a diploma but no job and no money. My monthly apprentice gross salary was about CHF 50.- . All companies were retrenching and I had no experience.
By law, I had to show my face every day to the unemployment office in town to get a stamp in a little leaflet to prove that I was around and available for work. That obeying the rules and the hostile treatment of the civil servants did not appeal to me. I decided to emigrate, see another part of the world and to learn English.
It was a long stony way; paperwork after paperwork, making copies of documents to send in, (in those days, you had to find a copier and to pay for each copy), vaccinations to do and I needed money to pay for the flight and the survival for at least the first three months.
Finally, I emigrated to South Africa and bought a Harley Davidson Sportster in Springs in the province of the Transvaal. A dream had come true. I traveled every weekend, always with a 20-liter canister. At that time, most countries boycotted South Africa because of their politics. From Saturday noon until Monday morning, there was no gasoline available for the public.
I slept in a tent and cooked for myself. T-Bags did not exist back then, so I made my own bags.
After a while, I sold that Harley Davidson. It was a terrible negative experience and very hard awakening; to many mechanical problems and I never knew if I will make it home. I gave up.
In those days Harley Davidson belonged to AMF Corporation (American Machine and Foundry). It was difficult and very costly due to import duty, to get original HD spares in South Africa.
I bought my first Japanese bike, a brand new Yamaha XT-500. The one cylinder bike, the one that had the exhaust pipe underneath the frame and without the little window to see the position of the piston. That was the most reliable motorcycle that I ever had in my life. I drove over 380’000 kilometers in eleven years with it. I am so sorry that I sold it.
Twincruiser Tours:
Maximum six motorcycles per tour. No surprises and many costs are included. We’ll personally coordinate the exact details with you.
Many full moons have passed. I remain loyal to these open-roads and still ride them with various motorcycles. My continuous search for different itineraries with valuable sights, carries on. I love these roads winding through the landscapes away from the motor-way and mass-tourism.
My way of traveling, my taste for accommodations and the gastronomy have changed: There is much more than just to ride from point A to point B. I like to meet the local community, to mix with them and to hear their point of view. Besides that, there are a lot of historical sights, traditions and local particularities to visit.
For that, I travel concentrated, open-minded and slower to experience the different places deeper. I stay longer in fewer and more comfortable hotels, and I focus on quality over quantity. I stopped long ago to use chain-hotels. I support smaller, original, independent and charming family-run hotels with an in-house restaurant that serves a traditional cuisine and that reflects the local character. I mix with the local culture, use the public transport and engage in local events. I create meaningful connections with the local community and surprise my curious and observant participants with a genuine, unique and authentic experience along my itineraries.
What makes us so special only becomes apparent through trust. Discretion is our guiding principle and the people joining us, aren’t browsing a catalog.
Each motorcycle journey is a dialogue, not an off-the-shelf product.
Exclusive motorcycle tours since over 50 years for the real enthusiasts and connoisseurs of the finer things in life.
In a world of mass offerings and abundance, quality, care, and design of the offering are decisive factors. I connect my name and the design of my motorcycle journeys with the idea of the highest quality.
Twincruiser Tours: Motorcycle Tours without compromise, which does not look at marketing strategies and logic but aims straight at emotions.
Write me an E-Mail and experience a great time.
Kurt
Twincruiser Tours Stauffer – Motorcycle tours for leisure riders,… the connoisseurs of the finer things in life.