Originally Posted by Martincito (Post 596545)

I'm leaving in a month and a half from Madrid to Mongolia and have a few doubts. Trying to avoid polluting the forum creating a thread for each so I group them in his one.

Camping or not camping. I'm not sure about carrying a tent with me.
I'm not particularly a hardcore camper but I enjoy camping when the site is interesting and let me enjoy the nature in a way that is not possible staying in a hotel. Otherwise I rather pay for a hotel and get a hot shower and a meal.

Is Northern Asia a place with beautiful camping opportunities?
I'm planning to staying in Yurts if I have the chance.

I personally have camping gear with me. I think that you have so much wonderful places to camp and it is nicer there than a ( often very simple ) hotel.
Specially Mongolia, Kirgistan etc are beautyfull spaces for camping.
But I avoid camping in Russia, for many reasons.
Lots of mosquitos, and you have to look for camp-spots where nobody sees you.
And in the cities it is easy to get cheap hotels and walk around in the cities and do sightseeing.

Turkmenistan. Yes or Not.
I have two options to get from Turkey to Uzbekistan.
1-Georgia-Russia-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan
2-Azerbaijan-Ferry-Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan.

I'm leaning towards the first one to avoid the ferry, the Turkmenistan visa and traveling fees implications.
It's true that the ferry is slow and unreliable?
It's riding a few days with a transit visa in Turkmenistan interesting?
I was reading in Caravanistan about a lot of fees just to get through. I wouldn't mind paying them if the ride is worth it.

Well, in 2017 I did the ferry from Aserbaidschan to Kasachstan and it was a lot of fun.

And in 2018 I did Turkmenistan from Konye Urgench to Ashgabat.

It was very expensive to get though Turkmenistan, you have to pay the Visa at the border ( 70 USD ) and some road tax and some other fees. ( plus the visa procedure before with an extra50 Dollar , if I remember right )

I would not pay this amount of money again to get to the gate of hell, the burning crater of Darweerze.
Even if I do not want to miss it, it is not worth the price and all the other regulations.

You cannot stop at the streets of Ashgabat to take pictures, the police stops you and erases them.
They look at your computer at the border and your foto camera and erase the pictures.

We met some people personally where this happened to them.
We got lucky because we applied for tourist visa.
We were a group of 5 people from different Nationalities so we decided to ask for guided tourist otherwise it would break the group if just one of us would not get transit visa.

I would say it was nice, but in relation to the price I would not do it again.

If you got from Georgia to Uzbekistan via Kazakhstan, that is very nice place, you have the old army roadt and the Cross pass to Vladivakaz, then go either Chechnya or Kalmükken to Astrakhan.
In Kalmükken you have Elista a very nice place.

Desert is in this countries everywhere you have to cross, Turkmenistan also and Kazakhstan or Usbekistan.


Tires
Where is te best place to get a fresh set of motorcycle tires Before I hit the Pamir Highway (Eastbound)

I always changed my tires somewhere around Mongolia.
Either in Barnaul or in UB directly.

If you get Mitas E07 or Heidenau K60 Scout they last very long.

I personally did it with new tires from Austria. and changed in Barnaul.

When you want to change tires before, you do not have many possibilities.

oYou can ask in Dushanbee, there is the green house hostel and a biker club ( I don't know the name ) maybe the biker club can provide tires.
You also can find tires in Osh, but that is after Pamir.

Or get tires in Russia from Dean/Dennis in Astrachan. It will be hard in Kasachstan on this route and Usbekistan to get tires.


Many thanks for your help.

Martin

Originally Posted by Ralf1150GS (Post 596552)

We will change our tires twice during our long trip. First in Baku at Motomondo (Continental TKC80 - for Pamir!) where we will order the tires in advance. The owner is Sabir and he speaks english. https://de-de.facebook.com/MotoMondoAgusta/
Second in Russia (probably in Ulan-Ude) - again we will order tires in advance (Heidenau K60 Scout) - this time at Denis Panferov (he speaks english as well): MOTOREZINA.RU - свежая моторезина по разумным ценам. motokolesa, мотоколеса, моторезина, резина для мотоциклов

Originally Posted by Martincito (Post 596700)

Thank you so much guys for the advice!

I'll be leaving Madrid with a set of Avon Trailrider, they should be good all the way to Dushanbe (around 8000km). If I can not preorder a set of TKC or similar in Dushanbe I'll buy in Astrakhan or in Georgia and carry them with me.

How are the road conditions on northern Kazakhstan (Around Beyneu) and in Uzbekistan?
Should I get the more dirt oriented tires mounted before hitting that area?

Originally Posted by ZorroMoto (Post 596601)

Or you just ride the pamirs with your old ones and get a new set of TKC80 or a K60Scout then in Osh. It depends what kind of tire you need after the pamirs towards Mongolia an 80:20 might be suitable vs. the 50:50. No extra order, no more headache for planing...

Anyway, you have to come for a coffee here in Osh.
Chears!

Originally Posted by lorbs (Post 597445)

Is there a reason that the Motoz tires aren't considered? I am truly not a fan of the TKC 80 due to the tire life. Are they just not available there?