Wayne’s Lap of Italy on the KTM SMT – Part Three

Touring Europe on the KTM 890 SMT – Part Three
San Gimignano to Mattighofen

With Wayne Vickers

See Part One | See Part Two  | See the KTM 890 SMT Review here (link)

Day Eight
San Gimignano – Castellina – Greve – Florence – Santa Lucia –
Ratticosa Pass – Monzuno – Pianoro – Verona
Map Link (~400 km, 6.5 hours)

I made the late call to add another hour or more to today’s route by throwing some more Tuscan backroads in. A little overnight homework had me realise that I had the opportunity to run some of the Mille Miglia route. Not an opportunity I wanted to pass up.

What a great call that turned out to be. Almost zero traffic, great roads, much fun was had. At one point I was asking myself aloud why there wasn’t more traffic on them before I realised that it was Monday morning and the locals were probably working… My gain.

I couldn’t help but imagine the likes of Moss and Fangio carving their way through those same turns in classic machines of days gone. What a sight that must have been.

From there I rolled into Florence and while yes, a stunning town, like Como I actually couldn’t get out of it fast enough. The tourist groups. So many tourist groups. Yes, the Duomo is extraordinary. As are the lines and obnoxious travellers.

Had my only chat of the trip with the local police when I went to park somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be – I think it translated to a loading zone. We both laughed and then he made me walk it back down to where I could park… Fair play.

Then it was onto more back roads north of Florence where I found myself on the Ratticosa Pass. With boat loads of bikes at the top alongside a fairly flash bit of Lamborghini metal. Google maps then turned me around a couple of times and I almost ran out of fuel before the next fuel stop.

I cruised into the servo having been on zero kays to empty for the previous 10 km. And put about 15.5 litres in to fill it up, in a 16 L tank. So it must have been cutting it pretty close.

Apart from collecting some bees at one point and getting tagged a few times on the neck, the run into Verona was fairly uneventful, but Verona was unexpectedly nice. Way less crowded than Florence too. My advice – skip Florence, head to Verona. Grab a gelato (you picking up a theme here yet), wander around and enjoy it.

There’s loads to see, including the incredible colosseum. It’s hard to take a bad pic of the Ponte Pietra bridge crossing the Adige River. For us Aussies it’s hard to comprehend that it’s been doing it’s thing for nearly 2000 years…. Well before Will decided to write about ol Romeo getting it on with Juliet around these parts.

Day Nine
Verona – Riva Del Garda – Tyrol Castle – Innsbruck
map (~350 km, six hours)

My last day in Italy saw me heading almost due north, the first stop the cracking little town of Riva del Garda at the very Northern tip of Lake Garda.

Known simply as Riva, it has a nice run down into town, with quite the view. Already the scenery was starting to change, with the Tuscan hills well left behind and the landscape starting to reach higher with every hour further North.

Fun fact – nearby Torbole is one of Europe’s hotspots for kite and wind surfing thanks to a reliable daily wind pattern. So if that’s your thing… include it in your itinerary. There was also quite the nice little harbour area for my morning stop.

Then I had a bit of a dead end side trek to Tyrol Castle. The road up there was quite good for the most part but Google had me going back and forth trying to take me up walking tracks in the last mile to get to the Castle. So in the end I pulled the pin, backtracked and headed for Innsbruck.

It was pretty plain sailing from there as I crossed back into Austria and into Innsbruck for the night. Quite the city. I loved Innsbruck, a place I’d describe as a little like Vienna but with the character turned up all the way. Loads of colour and some quirky architectural styles.

The row of colourful buildings alongside the river at St Nicholas and the golden roof in the old town being particularly memorable. Well known for the surrounding skiing, Innsbruck has actually held the Winter Olympics five times. Which explains the ski jump that’s visible from in town.

Day 10
Innsbruck – Zell Am See – Hallstatt
Map Link (~250 km, four hours)

The weather gods started flexing their muscles a bit overnight with a massive thunderstorm rolling in around dinner time putting on quite the lightning show well into the morning. I had a window of a couple of hours to try and sit behind the storm while staying ahead of chasing rain. Challenge accepted.

Again showing just how capable the bike is, I did a three hour straight stint straight up with no problem at all, after having done more than 3000 km in the previous nine days.

So yeah. The SMT will cover ground just fine. I rolled into Hallstatt with enough time to find a spot by the lake to grab some ‘end of trip’ thoughts on the GoPro, then find my lodgings for the night, just before the rain started coming down. Success.

Day 11
Hallstatt – St Gilgen – Mattighofen
Map Link (~100 km, two hours)

And just like that, ‘Bluey’ (as I’d come to call the SMT) and I were on the final day. With just the run back to Mattighofen and a tour of the KTM Motohall before I was to drop the bike back.

The radar looked a bit iffy, but if I timed it right I thought I could once again dodge the rain for the first hour and then get into Mattighoffen dry.

Nope. As soon as I rounded the mountain I got positively dumped on. Oh well, it was heavy but only a short shower, I’d dry quick enough if I had some luck from here.

Then we turned around the next mountain and ran back into the same shower! Hah! Wet. To. The. Arse. You gotta laugh though. I’d had a flawless run right up until the last two hours.

By the time I got into the Motohall for a coffee and a bite to eat I was nearly dry though. Let’s call it ‘Moist’.

What a great facility. The motohall was an awesome and very fitting way to cap off the trip. They gave me the tour, pointing out bikes that were especially important. Of course I had to grab snaps of some hero bikes and displays.

The Dakar room in particular is massively cool, showing the period of utter dominance and bringing back memories of some great riders and races. A quick stop at the shop for another KTM cap and then it was time to scoot up the road and drop the 890 SMT back.

In terms of the trip, it was a pretty audacious itinerary from the outset. A different town every night. Days ranging mostly from five to seven hours in the saddle.

If I was to do it again I would probably restrict the area a little and focus on the top section in the Alps, from Austria through to Switzerland and back. The roads, the scenery are just on another level. I’d choose a couple of spots to base out of for a few days each. You could do a cracking route in six or eight days.

The KTM 890 SMT? What a machine. It did everything I asked of it and more. Clearly comfortable enough to do big days, back to back. And plenty capable in the twisties too. More than enough to ball up the edges of those nice Michelins and leave black lines here and there… It was fun spotting my own lines on the way back through Switzerland the next day. What a confidence inspiring machine.

On the road that engine is even less intimidating than in the Adventure R off road which is saying something – so you can really get into it if your mood takes you. Exquisite road manners. Nimble enough to make some of the bigger heavier tourers look like tankers. And the brakes. The front in particular allowing very deep trail braking almost tot he apex. Plenty of practising that on those switchbacks.

As I said in the full review, it’s a worthy successor to the original. I’m glad it’s back.

Now I better get started on the video…

Days Four to Seven Gallery:
San Gimignano to Mattighofen