Which motorcycle?
Any motorcycle can be an „adventure bike“. But: as I have mentioned before, there are roads of all standards available in Sweden, everything from wide (and boring) motorways, to small gravel roads out on the countryside. Most gravel roads can be used even with a conventional road-biased motorcycle, but to get the best out of your visit I recommend a bike with good suspension travel like, like the popular ”adventure bikes” BMW GS, Yamaha Tenere, Honda Africa Twin etc… Those bikes work best on all kinds of surfaces, while your Harley will for sure not be much fun to ride on a freshly graded gravel road. I am using tires for dual use, like Heidenau K60 or Continental TKC80.
Finding gas stations should not be a problem in the southern half of the country, basically every village has one. The further north you get, the longer the distances between gas pumps get. I am recommending a bike that can cover 300km with one tank of gas. Personally I prefer filling up every morning, then i know I don’t need to bother until late afternoon. If I am riding in a bit remoter areas I am filling up when I am down to half a tank, you never know when you will find a pump again! This spring in Estland I had a stage of 150km without a gas station – the KTM1050 was basically running on fumes for the last 10km!
Be prepared that you will need a credit card (Visa, Mastercard) including PIN code for unmanned pumps at the smaller stations. Basically everything can be paid in Scandinavia by credit card. In Finland I have also come to gas pumps which take cash, but if you overfeed them and then can’t fill in gas for that amount you will not get any change back!
Accommodation: tent or ho(s)tel?
While some want the comfort of a hotel room, others prefer a tent. My own preference is staying overnight outdoors, got enough of hotel rooms for business trips. Can there be anything nicer than sitting at a campfire on the evening and waking up next morning at sunset over the water of a silent lake?
If you come for a motorcycle vacation to Sweden, the choice if yours how you want to spend the night. I have already mentioned the right of public access (allemansrätten), which also allows you to set up a tent basically where ever you like. The best spots are those at lakes, which most times even have drinking water quality! With a bit of luck you can find one of the wind shelters, which are mainly build for people fishing, so you also have a dry place to sit in case the weather is not perfect.
If you prefer a real bed, you can take a look at the list of hostels managed by the Swedish hosteling association STF (Svenska Turistföreningen), were you can get your own room for the fraction of the price of a hotel room. All hostels have shared kitchens and most shared bathrooms. I strongly recommend calling your hostel of choice for a booking a day ahead.
Rosentorps bakery and cabin rental
My very own favorite place, which I am recommending to every motorcyclist visiting Sweden, is the tiny village of Rosentorp in the Dalarna province, about 50km north of Lake Siljan. In the middle of the woods (7km or 40km of gravel road, depending form which side you come) you will find a small number of houses, but only eight or so permanent residents. Two of them are Karin and Uwe Dobbert, a German couple who came some 17 years ago and looked for their own little hiding place. They bought and old farm, moved in with their 30 seld dogs and Karin build up a bakery. Uwe who is a toolmaker by profession can build basically everything himself, so they have renovated and build some overnight cabins of different sizes at their property, which they rent out for small money. The cabins with so beautiful names like Eagles Nest, Trapers Lodges, Moose Cabin and Bat Cabin rent out for between 200 and 450 Swedish crowns a night. I can’t imagine a more cozy and relaxed place to spend a few days, plus that there are hundreds of kilometers of publicly accessible logging roads in the area. You have good chances to meet both moose and bears in the area!
Coordinates: N61° 23.154 E14° 55.408
Rosentorp is accessible on a 7km gravel road from Inlandsvägen RV45 in the west, or from Furudals Bruk in the south on a 40km gravel road. Watch out for the signs „Rosentorps bageri och stugby„!
For some pics see the German page about Rosentorp!
