Are petrol stations subsidising diesel with unleaded ?

"didn't"

 

Possible, but not easy by the looks of it.

Loads of us got done a few years ago, as we (stupidly) used a motorway
petrol station, & the cops were checking everyone who pulled in. I
/think/ it was a 100CHF fine, plus of course whatever a vignette cost
at the time (25CHF rings a bell).

 

40 CHF isn't sounding too stupid after all.

 

Yebbut your chances of getting caught /are/ very slim - as long as you
avoid motorway service stations...

 

nota bene that the swiss in their usual perverse manner mark motorways with
green signs and a roads with blue signs. also motorways are called
a-somethingorother.

 

I'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those pesky.. oh, hang
on, I did.

 

You can get them on Ebay - although the usual idiots often pay more than
the face value.

I bought one last year at a Swiss petrol station and sold it to someone on
UKGSer for £14 when I got back. It will be valid until 31 Jan 2010 so you
should be able to flog it. Of course, this depends on you managing to get
away without sticking it on your bike. Swiss plod will make you remove the
backing on the sticker if they see it in your tankbag pocket.

 

****, they saw you coming. I had to buy a couple of tankfuls[1] last
week when we drove across to Bergerac area, and found the median price
for 95RON was about 1.25, or even cheaper if you look for the
supermarkets.


[1] Normally I fill up in CH, of course, where it's _much_ cheaper.
Haven't checked for a while, but I think it's stilll under a euro per
litre.

 

That reminds me of the 'heated debate' I had with them. I didn't have
any luggage to stick it to, so they tried to make me stick it on the
bike, & there's no way I was gonna do that. They eventually agreed to
me sticking it on the underneath of the seat unit, on some reflective
foil I've got under there. Did I mention I don't like Swiss cops...?

Oh, & another thing - just spoke to my brother to see if he's got a
vignette kicking around from a trip earlier this year, & his group had
grief with roadside noise tests in Switzerland. Apparently there was
something in one of the mags recently about this becoming common too.
No idea what they do if you fail though. Shoot you probably.

 

Possible, sure. But if you're after miles rather than enjoyable roads
it's a _lot_ slower.

Not many at all. You may be confusing it with the sign that means
'motor vehicles only' which you will find even on some of the
single-lane roads around Interlake, for example.
http://www.alltravelswitzerland.com/Switzerland/Car_Rental/Road_Signs.htm

You reckon? not sure how/where they'd be checking, but I've certainly
never seen any sign of it, whether on Swiss or UK plates.

I tend towards the 'just avoid the motorway border crossings and
you'll be fine' school of thought, for those folk just passing
through.

 

It's been chf40 since at least 2000

Even then, you must have been very, very, unlucky, as I've never seen
this, and I use the motorways a lot. But yes, I'd advise coming off
them for petrol in any event, for the 15% saving you'll get if you do.
Same as everywhere, the motorway services rip you off something
chronic, as do many smaller petrol stations conveniently situated just
across the borders from France and Germany.

 

Ah right. This was 2005, so must've been 40 then.

It was your neck of the woods too. We were on our way back[1] from the
Anneau du Rhin circuit towards Basel. I can't remember if it was north
or south of Mulhouse though.

[1] Back to our Swiss base, not back home.

 

It was around Brienz and yes, that was the sign I thought meant vignette.
Mainly due to the colour of the 08 vignette being the same. I see they are
purple this year.

 

@mid.individual.net:

There was a comedy incident on my trip last year. Unfortunately I went with
the other group and missed it.

The rider of some sort of bare bones bike, CB1000 or summat, had left his
exhaust baffles at home. He was returning to the hotel in Austria from
Italy via CH.

The CH border guards didn't want to let him in. Asked for his documents,
which he had left in the hotel. I think they were there for 30-40 minutes
before the CH plod decided they had had enough fun. They did warn him that
he should not re-enter CH once he had reached Austria, although he managed
to creep his way over the border to get to Meiringen for our second base
hotel.

They seemed to be checking all bikes for noise as they entered. I saw KTMs
especially, being given the once over at border crossings at the Livigno
tunnel from Italy, Martinsbruck from Austria & Waldshut from Germany.

 

I accidentally took this one step further when encountering a BP
station on one of the autoroutes and being greeted by their 95E10
ethanol shit. I had no clue if it was usable or not in the ZRX (OK,
now I know I can with no risk, but at the time I didn't fancy missing
my boat 'cause I'd gambled on a tank full of nonsense fuel).. so 1.46
for 98RON seemed the safest option at the time.

Got me home so I don't care now.

 

We're heading over on the Friday and taking the scenic route so tolls
aren't an issue.

 

There's as much chance of me buying a vignette as there is of me
sticking to the speed limits so they can **** off.

 

Have you got a scenic route from the chunnel to the first stop planned?

 

I've now got the Friday booked off to make the journey down a bit less
of an ordeal, so need to book a room at the Campanile. I'm not booking
trains or a hotel for the return leg til I know what the itinerary is
though.

 

Laon?

Not yet but it won't be difficult, all we need to do is look at the
Michelin map and pick twisty roads. We're planning on having plenty of
time to get there so we can knock out the intial tedium on the A26 and
then go mad.

I really want to avoid motorways because part of my plan is to fit the
stickiest rubber I can find and then go stupid. My biggest problem is
that I've only got four days at home before we go and in that time I
need to mot the bike, get it serviced (1) and fit new wheels, tyres
and sprockets. I don't want to splash out on new discs yet so I need
to get the stock wheels off and remove the discs in case the wheels
arrive when I'm away and I only have one day left from arriving home
until leaving and in that time I've got to change sprockets, discs,
get tyres fitted, fit wheels and test ride it.

I know I'll be getting paid a shit load of money before we go but I
really would prefer to have a few more days off.

(1) Adie's got it booked in for a service (2) but she's never ridden
it with rearsets fitted and she's not going to be happy with the
riding position.

(2) I want to get a 16k service done even though it's not even done
12k because the man that knows says the valves go tight at about 12k
and I don't want to burn them when I've been warned and can avoid it.