Warrior Meeting 2011 in Andermatt/Switzerland

Against the mountain side, just above Andermatt in the middle of Switzerland,
the Biker Hotel Alpina was host to the annual ‘European Warrior Meeting’
from 22nd to 24th July 2011.

Slideshow  with all pictures from the Meeting :  Slideshow

Since the annual meetings started in 2005 this one topped them all at 1400 metres
above sea level, and the number of Warriors attending has increased steadily
ever since 2009 when the first 2 riders from the United Kingdom joined the
meeting for the first time.


Hosted by many of the founders, we have sadly lost a few good men, but new
Warriors have also joined us, including seven now from the UK,
[well, one from Southern Ireland and one from Scotland] and with one special
visitor from Norway who had never met another Warrior Rider before.
We had a record 24 Yamaha XV1700 Warriors gathered together, and one
lovely lady [our Road Captain Hardrider’s wife] on a black Harley sportster.


Strangely whilst the seven UK Warriors took a scenic route past a lake near
Lucerne they were met by chance by the German contingent and some 20
Warriors had an unofficial fast ride into Andermatt together for 40 fast winding
miles. Truly awesome!


The Alpina situated above the town and run by bikers proved an excellent
choice, as we fully occupied the hotel and the first nights noisy party finished
in the early morning only a few hours before the official ride out on the Saturday
morning.


It was to be an exhilarating roller coaster ride which started in low mountain
cloud and rain as we climbed in formal line out to 2300 metres, but our Swiss
friends are experienced mountain riders, and we stopped traffic for the Warrior
train to keep together for 6 hours and 150 kilometres.


The route took us up and over two passes to 2300 metres to the south side of
the Alps and a stop for refreshments in Biasca, where it was warm and dry.
So we risked climbing the famous cobbled hair pin bends of Gotthard Pass
on the ‘Tremola’ an ancient winding road which gave us a wonderfully high
location for the official group photograph. We also had 2 more Warriors from
Switzerland join the gathering.


That night to celebrate, the classic Harley Davidson parked in the bar was gently
side lined and replaced with a Warrior which was fired up at 4.30am!


Our traditional vote for our next meeting location was cheered for England and
our UK Warrior fellows agreed to organise it for us, for the weekend of the
14th July 2012 and nearly every member promised to attend what could easily
be the biggest Warrior gathering ever seen.

Meeting of European Warriors 2010

 Warrior-Meeting 2010
The 6th annual gathering of the " European Warriors " this year, took place from the 23rd to 25th of July at the "Villa Löwenherz" in Lauenförde. The European Warriors are a small community, dedicated, to the unique Yamaha Roadstar Warrior XV 1700. This extraordinary power-cruiser with 1670cc - 135 n/m and stock 86 hp at it’s 5000 rpm rev limiter, was sold in the years from 2003 until 2005, and only 500 or so were sold in Germany. From those only a few remain, but the Warrior addiction for tuning and modification grows, and the community is always eager to investigate the latest work and meet in friendship.

Since the first Warrior-Meeting in 2005 the number of owners at the meetings has increased considerably, and is still rising. Since last year numerous guests have arrived from other European countries with 30 gathering this year.  Among them - 4 Warriors from England, with ‘Jarv’ from Southern Ireland with Caledonian Warrior ‘Gav’ from Scotland, and ‘Zalama’ from Finland, who all braved very long rides to
set a new record this year.

To our greatest pleasure, our English Warriors ‘Tomba’ and ‘Jools’ were so enthusiastic about their 1st meeting last year, that they persuaded Tomba’s 2 sons to buy Warriors. and they all came along to this meeting, and the ‘boys’ enjoyed there first big ride out of England. Another great surprise was ‘Zalama’ who came to the meeting with friends, and afterwards they went on a bigger tour through Europe. Likewise, Jools headed off, yet again, into deepest Europe for weeks of touring. The Warrior was never designed to be a touring bike, but it does it so very well.

The Villa "Löwenherz"  = Lion-heart in Lauenförde - a known Biker hotel, has good accommodation and the facilities are very suitable, with really good and abundant buffet style food.
Unfortunately there was a minor issue with the landlady, soon after our arrival about the noise some of our modified Warriors made, but during the course of the meeting the problem was happily resolved. Another minor disadvantage was our large group could not reserve seating together for the meals in the lovely Beer garden, as about 100 other bikers also stayed for that weekend. So for our next meeting to be held in Switzerland, from 22nd to 24th July 2011, we will ensure that there are no neighbours to complain about the lovely thunder of Warrior exhaust pipes. On the other hand we were very pleased by the interest the other bikers took in our Warriors. A lady with a BMW earnestly believed that the Warriors were uncomfortable, and not suited to travel longer distances. Very amused we pointed out our guests from other countries, especially ‘Zalama’, who rode about 900 km from the ferry in Gdansk/Poland to the meeting, and not forgetting ‘Gav’ and ‘Jarv’ who rode all the way through England to get to the Dover ferry, totalling over 3200 km in the saddle.


The sortie on the Saturday rolled 200 km through the beautiful landscape around Lauenförde, and was greatly enjoyed with big smiles all day by everyone, especially on the ferry crossing. The deep thunder of 30 Warriors amazed the people of the towns and villages as we passed slowly in formation. Almost all participants have already confirmed they want to be with us again for 2011 in Switzerland.