Hello everyone
(Den deutschen Text gibt’s hier.)
After almost two years with my electric bike, it was time for the ultimate benchmark against my gasoline one.
Since our petrol group rode the Route des Grandes Alpes (link) in early September last year and went to Tuscany this June, it only made sense to combine both and do the whole thing electrically this time.
So: from home to Lake Geneva, along the RdGA to Menton, then the Via Aurelia along the Riviera into the Garfagnana/Tuscany region, and from there back through South Tyrol.
ChatGPT gave me the following summary:
“Round trip 2025: about 2,500 km, 80,000 meters of elevation gain, 30 Alpine passes up to 2,802 m, with sun, rain, snow, and thunderstorms – from Swabia through Savoy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Graubünden, and South Tyrol back home.
Electric ride with about 150 kWh (100 € worth of electricity), sometimes tight on charge, demanding to ride (ABS/traction control working hard), but full of highlights: Bonette, Iseran, Stelvio, and Riedberg Pass.”
As usual, the AI “hallucinated” a bit again — you’ll see where once you’ve read the full report. 
I wanted to find out how my
- naked electric bike: 230 kg, 200 km/h, 40 kW, 190 Nm
compares to my - naked inline-four: 237 kg, 270 km/h, 120 kW, 120 Nm
on this ultimate dream tour.
I therefore planned (except for the Via Aurelia) the same daily stages and even booked three of the same hotels as on the petrol trip — and four others at least in the same region.
In 45 years of riding (without a single injury), this was without question the highlight of them all.
This is the link to a full description (German Only). I’m sure you can find a translation tool if you’d like to read it in another language.
The Kurviger.com plan is a combination of the previous gasoline trips. I navigated with a TomTom, so the real route ended up a bit different from the plan — mainly around lunch stops.
The main downside of Kurviger.com is that you can’t plan routes with charging stops (as of now).
Attached is the list of waypoints:
- Numbers mark the mountain passes I rode.
- Lowercase letters indicate lunch stops — usually with a proper meal and often a short walk through town, including charging the bike.
- Uppercase letters mark overnight stops with dinner and charging.
The daily stages were, just like with the gasoline bike, around 300 km (+/–) each.
A start at home: 500m ASL
0 Knopfmacherfelsen: 765m
b Tiengen: 360m
C Bulle: 770m
1 Col des Gets: 1163m
d Thyez: 470m
2 Col de la Colombière: 1613m
3 Col des Aravis: 1487m
4 Col des Saisies: 1650m
5 Cormet de Roselend: 1967m
E Bourg Saint Maurice: 820m
6 Col de l’Iseran: 2764m, the highest mountain pass in France — and in the entire Alps
7 Col du Télégraphe: 1566m
f Valloire: 1450m
8 Col du Galibier: 2645m
9 Col du Lautaret: 2058m
10 Col d’Izoard: 2360m
11 Col de Vars: 2109m
G Jausiers: 1250m
12 Col de Raspaillon: 2513m
13 Col de la Bonette: 2715m
14 Cime de la Bonette: 2802m, the highest paved point you can reach by road in Europe
15 Col de Restefond: 2680m
16 Col Saint-Martin: 1500m
17 Col de Turini: 1607m
18 Col de Castillon: 706m
h Menton: 3m (from now on Via Aurelia SS1/SR1)
I Diana Marina: 3m
19 Passo del Bracco: 615m
j La Spezia: 3m (leave Via Aurelia)
K Toskana/Garfagniana: 270m
20 Passo delle Radici: 1529m
21 Passo di Lagadello: 1617m
I Parma: 60m
M Montevecchia: 480m
22 Passo di Valcava: 1340m
23 Passo San Marco: 1991m
n Sondrio: 310m
24o Berninapass: 2235m.
25 Passo Forcola di Livignio: 2315m
26 Ofenpass: 2150m
27 Umbrailpass: 2501m
28 Stilfser Joch: 2757m, the highest mountain pass in Italy
P Franzenshöhe: 2188m
29 Reschenpass: 1507m
30 Arlbergpass: 1793m
31 Flexenpass: 1773m
q Lech: 1444m
32 Riedbergpass: 1404m (the highest pass in Germany)
r Isny: 700m (visit friends)
S end at home: 500m