Suzuki V-Strom 1050XT – The B500 Day Three

The B500 Black Forest High Road (Schwarzwaldhochstrasse) is a jaw-dropping road that has had all of the fun extracted from it.

I can understand why. The temptation to let rip was overpowering, but running out of talent, or luck or both, was going to hurt. As a consequence, there is a speed limit that is almost impossible to stick to.

It is still worth the trip, but it is now something you do on your way to somewhere else, rather than the destination.

Where to Start

The Schwarzwaldhochstrasse starts at Malschbach, although the B500 itself begins 14 kilometres earlier than that when the French D4 road crosses the Rhine and becomes the B500.

The roads to Malschbach are easily forgettable, although the nearby E52 Autobahn does have an unrestricted section.

As you leave Malschbach and start the twisting climb along the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, the first thing that greets you are a pair of speed cameras and a 50KPH (30MPH) speed limit.

The B500 & Speed Limits.

For the vast majority of the B500, the speed limit is 70KPH (43MPH). However, when the road gets twisty, it is common for the speed limit to drop to 50KPH. According to my GPS, the speed limit was also 60KPH and at one point for the briefest of sections 100KPH, but it wasn’t long before we were back at 70 KPH.

The speed limit has been set, and I’m sure the bureaucrats had their reasons, including saving us from our own stupidity, when they put them in place.

What makes the limit feel so strange is the width of the road and the vastness of the surroundings. There were times when I felt I could have walked faster, only to look at the speedo to discover I needed to make a ‘minor’ adjustment to my velocity.

The rumour that the “B500 is covered in speed cameras” doesn’t appear to be true. The outstanding CamSam speed camera app didn’t give any camera warnings other than for the two cameras at the start.

The Verkehrspolizei (Traffic Police) were present, blended against the tree line, with their speed gun. They gave me a look, and then stopped the truck behind me.

Having reached the end of the B500 at Freudenstadt, I turned around to enjoy the B500 again in the opposite direction. As I passed the Verkehrspolizei, they pointed their speed gun at me for a very long time. Perhaps the Policeman couldn’t understand why I was doing 43mph (70KPH) on a wide empty road either.

Would I Come Back?

Yes. Yesterday’s route through the Palatinate Forest is definitely worth riding again, and there is more to explore in the Black Forest than the B500.

Sadly though, what was once a road of epic proportions now has to live on its former glories. It is still a fabulous road and should be on your Motorcycling To Do List. However, unlike the Nurburgring, bureaucracy has anaesthetised the B500 to the point where the scenery is now the most invigorating part of the journey.