Hello guys,
I'm planning to move to Switzerland soon from Portugal, as a guy that rides bikes since I was a teen, I'm used to do touges and race a bit in my free time to clear my head. But I don't know how the culture of the motorcycle is in Switzerland and I hope someone can explain it to me. I want to respect Switzerland so people don't get mad over me for riding a certain way, so I want to know the truth, like do people have certain touges that usually go there to speed a bit, or all speeding is seen as criminal? Do people go to race tracks? I search for race tracks and all I can find is Karting centers xd. As I foreigner I really wouldn't want to get tickets or even get deported for something that I wasn't informed about, more than that I don't want to make bad things in a country that isn't mine.
And other curiosity, is lane splitting legal or people hate it? And can you modify your bike?
Ps: this isn't like a priority or something really important, its just some curiosity about my favorite hobby which I really am afraid that I would be informed if I didn't ask and probably get in trouble. I also put a random pic so the post is more related xd Sorry for my English.
by PatOihihiha
26 comments
there are no active racetracks in switzerland as they’re currently illegal (but the ban was lifted very recently)
I wouldn’t drive too fast here, it gets expensive real fast. They also make radar everywhere.
Additionally, there is a lot of traffic, so it probably won’t be funny if you want to ride alone.
I personally don’t ride motorcycles, but as an offshoot to this, I don’t understand why Harleys are allowed in Switzerland, or modified cars for that matter. Why, for the love of God, do I need to hear that shit every weekend.
In general, traffic rules are strictly enforced in Switzerland. Concerning motorcycles, some roads, especially mountain passes, are very popular when the weather is nice but there are more and more controls. Now, there is also a focus in noise because motorbikes tend to be terribly loud.
Maybe you can start here: https://www.ch.ch/en/travel-and-emigrate/holidays-in-switzerland/how-to-behave-in-road-traffic/traffic-regulations-and-fines-in-switzerland
It should give you a good overview on what is ok and what isn‘t ok. You will often see motorbikes and scooters overtaking a stationary convoy on the left. That costs 60 francs. Overtaking a stationary convoy on the right is also not allowed, but that should be self-evident (exceptions apply). As far as I can remember, there is a racetrack in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Unless Germany and Austria, where certain roads aren‘t permitted anymore for motorbikes, in Switzerland there are no such limitations I know of. However, a certain group of bikers will certainly spoil the party soon or later and we have restrictions as well. Drive careful, don‘t rev your bike and don‘t speed.
lane splitting isnt allowed by law either. pretty tolerated if done respectfully and safe though
Switzerland has the same motorcycle comunites as everywhere else. We have the speedster, we have the easy riders, the MCs, the farmers in clogs, …
But we have as well strict traffic laws. Do people speed? of course, do they line split? of course! There are plenty videos of why you shouldn’t do it and why there will be people who will get mad at you! And yes, heavy traffic violations might get you deported.
For racing, we do not have any race tracks at the moment thats why everybody goes abroad for legal racing.
and besides strict traffic regulations we have of course strict laws regarding mods on your bikes! And as we are not part of the EU, many motorcycle parts legal in the EU are not legal in Switzerland. Can you add them nonetheless, of course, people do it – is it legal? nope. Even your brake lever has to be of a certain type or otherwise you need to approve it!
The issue is, as you guessed it: the more people don’t know how to behave the more regulations will be put in place! See austria with their limited volume of the motorcycle exhaust. Even if you haven’t modified your motorcycle, if the stock exhaust is above the limit, you aren’t allowed to ride on certain days or roads.
And more regulations will happen sooner or later!
But besides all of that: you still can have phantastic ride outs and still obey the laws!
I own a Panigale 959 and I don’t even bother anymore riding in Switzerland.
You can’t modify anything on your bike, unless you spend lots of money on paperwork, else it will be illegal.
The speed limit in Switzerland is already low, the fines on the other hand are extremely high.
Surprisingly for a highly developed country, people in cars usually drive extremely recklessly when overtaking bicycles, they come onto your lane and will not move an inch because either they can’t or simply don’t care, because they assume, that as your on two wheels, you have sufficent room to cross.
Don’t even let me start on traffic, it’s horrible over here.
There are only go-kart racetracks because actual racetracks were banned in Switzerland, and even though the ban has been lifted, I don’t think there will be anything resembling a track opening up as regulation has been striking down on the existing go-kart racetracks. Some however do offer riding for Supermotos, that’s something if you’re interested in it.
If you want to move to Switzerland (which I only recommend temporarily) and motorcycling is indeed very important to you, just move somewhere close to France or Italy, you’ll have a much better time riding there.
Disclaimer: I’m talking based off personal experience, I may be totally wrong, please comment if you have opposing ideas.
As others have pointed out, driving above speed limit is risky here, you can easily accumulate several thousand francs in fines over a few weeks if you don’t pay attention to the speed limit. Specially on the highway near Lucerne. You won’t find much of a street racing culture here, but tours in the alps and pre-alps are a blast, and on a warm day there’s thousands of bikers on the popular mountain passes. I’m on my Ducati every week end during the warm days, usually in the Lenk-Engelberg-Gotthard triangle. I like combining that hobby with my other hobbies, i.e. Via Ferrata and Hiking.
Regarding lane splitting: it’s illegal, although many bikers, including me, do it. Most people are relatively cool about it, many car drivers usually get out of the way when they see bikes approaching from behind in a traffic jam. But if the cops catch you you’ll get a salty fine. And an accident would be very painful for your wallet.
As for modifying your bike: there are legal modifications, and illegal ones. The authorities (MFK) will check every single modification on your bike, and you’re expected to have the paperwork to prove that these parts are street legal. So make sure to only do legal modifications, and to keep the paperwork.
Thanks bro! What do you think make them culturally not fit in there? I want to understand, so maybe I can be better. And btw since you had a nice bike too, I wanted to buy a zx10r (new model), would you recommend buy a trailer and go to Germany (like track) to “enjoy it”?
Race tracks here have been banned since the 1955 big Le Mans crash
Making noise across the valley—we can’t see you but we hear you! 👹
Bike culture is definitely a thing, I’m in a few groups myself and it’s a great way to get to know people.
Driving too fast is a very bad idea, don’t do it. If you need that thrill look into track days
There are lots of motorcycles around the country. Just started riding myself, even.
Regarding the speed: I’d say that here you don’t even need to go fast, the streets have so many curves, ups and downs and are a lot of fun even at lower speeds.
On the other hand, there isn’t much of a racing culture, if you don’t count ski and bicycles. But there are multiple tracks in Germany, Austria, France and Italy where you can go for track days.
do NOT speed (you could end up with no momey or in jail), lots of people in northern switzerland go to the black forest in southern germany to ride faster (but plenty of roads there are specificaly closed for motorcycles). I guess the western people go to france and southern go to france/italy. Lane splitting in theory is forbidden, but if it’s realy hot and you don’t do it too fast, police often is ok with it. Mountain passes often are closed till end of may, sometimes even in June and close again in fall due to snow.
If you want to modify your bike, you need to read this: https://asa.ch/wp-content/uploads/online-bibliothek/richtlinien/RL_2b_d_2019/index.html
Greeting other motorcycles on the road is a thing.
also r/askswitzerland would be the correct sub to ask this question
As a swiss biker: it really depends in which part of switzerland you are, in Ticino if you drive without being an asshole lane splitting is ok (unless on a road that has a no passing sign) while in the german/french part the ban it’s much more enforced. Speeding is a big no, there are some roads where the limit is 70k/h and keeping that speed would mean flying off a mountain but aside from those the limits are highly enforce. If you have some commom sense in the end it’s not the hellscape everyone seems to say, yeah the rules and controls are very strict but if you drive normally they shouldn’t be a problem
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I had a motorbike for a bit and ended up selling it. I never really felt thrill when driving legally. And I figured I don’t need to risk the huge fines. It was super nice cruising around though when the weather was good. I also I felt I don’t drive enough and that’s also dangerous too. So I sold it (the ultimate reason was it wasn’t the motorbike I wanted, but due to financial reasons/ mistakes with my car, I couldn’t get the bike I wanted)
I feel like there is a bike scene though, but I don’t know how to get into a group 🤣.
People I know who do track days do it in Germany or fance, there aren’t any in Switzerland I think.
Enjoy
I love riding motorcycles, but switzerland is not it. The culture is definitely here and a lot of people ride and hang out together, but the police is a pain in the ass. You cant modify anything without paperwork (which is expensive af) and the fines are extremely high. I like to ride mountain passes just like you but more often than not, the police will be there, checking every bike that passes. Race tracks are not a thing since they where banned quite a while ago. The ban has been lifted, but there will probably never be a new racetrack because swiss people dont like loud things at all.
I do have some good news tho, there is a race series for mountain passes. Problem is, its expensive. You need a fully prepared race bike with race fairings, no kickstand, catch cans and all that fun stuff. You can occasionally find them for sale for reasonable prices (found a srad gixxer 750 fully prepped for 4500 a few months ago on dasparking).
There’s a good diversity of riders here. You can find the same stereotypes as everywhere else, so if you want to find sport bike buddies with whom you can lose your licence, you can.
But as others said, regardless of whatever moral judgment we have, this is really not the right place to overspeed. We have a lot of speed controls so sooner or later you’ll be caught. The consequences can be extremely severe (talking about court/jail and fines in the thousands, plus licence removed for years) and the margin is not that high when you have a powerful bike.
For example on a 80km/h road, starting from 105km/h you’re already ending up in court. As a former rider with just a 900cc trail/touring bike, that was just being on the gas for a bit over 1-2s… This means anytime I’d overtake, I had to be careful to not end up in this 105+ zone.
So, is it a good country for speeding? Absolutely not. But it’s still an incredible country for bikers, just that your pleasure would more be to go through mountain passes to enjoy some stunning landscapes and nice curvy roads.
PS: besides speeding, any abnormal behaviour is really frowned upon. Don’t ever think about races, or not having both wheels touching the ground.
Alongside what others have added, OP do also read about Via Sicura. It’s a legal framework here that’s basically road traffic crimes*. Here, speeding penalties range from “here’s a fine” to “…and there your licence goes for X months”, but past a certain threshold, it falls under criminal law (jail time, permanent licence withdraw, hefty fine). Via Sicura stipulates minimal penalties (at least a year’s jail IIRC, alongside couple other things)
*(note to our english readers: the correct term here would be felonies. I’m using the faux-friend here to avoid confusion with our latin peeps)
As for speeding, it gets real expensive and you could also lose your licence if you drive very fast or are a repeat offender.
In terms of racing: Officially I‘ve seen some small races, most are time trials though. If you live near Basel or that part of the French border, you can take track days at Anneau du Rhin, a popular racetrack with swiss people and especially bikers.
There are also small communities that drive illegally fast but without competition. If you‘re in Zürich there‘s the Irchel Mountain which has a very nice, curvy road around it with one parking lot in the middle where many bikers meet. This one might not be for you though, most are 20 or below and on 125s thinking they‘re the coolest popping wheelies and burnouts and nearly killing themselves in the corners.
Lane splitting is generally tolerated by most people, but it‘s still illegal, so if the police see you doing it 90% of the time you will be fined. Be careful though, there are some intolerant aggressive drivers who will purposefully move to the left suddenly to block you because they‘re stuck in traffic and you‘re not.
You can have a great time and enjoy the scenery driving relatively normal speed . Investigate well all the routes there are many nice places
Amazing roads. Need to scout for cameras first. People modify bikes. Legal if you get it written into the road permit. Most don’t but police don’t always check. Many go to tracks. Overall it’s a much better scene and police situation than other neighbours like AT and IT
Just don‘t go faster than 100km/h and enjoy the mountain roads. Try to go for a ride on weekdays rather than weekends as there are way more tourists that have never seen corners in their life on the weekends.
Just don’t ride past my house like the other 1000 bikers and massive convoys every sunny weekend. Absolutely a nightmare for residents when people think the entire village wants to hear their motorcycle plus 20 others every five minutes.
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