Crossing Mongolia in July 07

[Jose M. Garcia]

Hi all,

I will be crossing Mongolia in July 07 and would appreciate info regarding two issues:

- Which is the best and most interesting route from UB to Tasanta?
- Would a pair of Michelin Anakee be ok? I do not think knobbies are necesary but I am not sure.

We have 15 days to ride from Pekin to Ekaterinbrug in Rusia and I am plannnig 8-10 days to ride from UB to the russian boder of Tasanta.

Thanks in advance

[Alex Rubtsov]

Originally Posted by Jose M. Garcia

Hi all,

I will be crossing Mongolia in July 07 and would appreciate info regarding two issues:

- Which is the best and most interesting route from UB to Tasanta?
- Would a pair of Michelin Anakee be ok? I do not think knobbies are necesary but I am not sure.

We have 15 days to ride from Pekin to Ekaterinbrug in Rusia and I am plannnig 8-10 days to ride from UB to the russian boder of Tasanta.

Thanks in advance

There are 2 main roads (northern and southern) from east towards west in mongolia. I have ridden by the southern road via UB, Arvayheer, Bayanhongor, Altai-Gobi, Hovd, Olgiy, Tashanta. The road UB-Arvayheer (400km) is paved, Arvayheer-Tashanta (1500km) off-road. You can find a 92 octane petrol in these towns only. The standard tank (20-25l) will be enough. There is a one big sector without fuel (450 km from Altai to Hovd). But you can get 80 octane petrol in Darvi (small village) in the middle of the way. The road via Bayanhongor and Gobi-Altay aymag somewhere is sandy, via Hovd and Bayan-Olgiy aymag is grivelly. You will have to cross Baydrag river without bridge (140 km from Bayanhongor to west) The water level in the river depend on rain. Some travellers needed in truck to cross the river in summer. Please forget Anakee! See a pictures here www.mototravel.photofile.ru

Alex

[Jose M. Garcia]

Thanks for the info Alex.

I already had info of the same route you did http://www.xor.org.uk/silkroute/sibe...goliaroute.htm

But I need to know about the northern route, which one is more interesting? any rider has done it?

Regards

[mika]

Hola Jose,

remember me, we met in Azul Argentina in 2002. I still feel sorry that we did not follow your invitation last year to Madrid, but we had our reasons. How did the Ralley go ?

So your next adventure will be to Mongolia, good.

Road conditions change, so I dont know if my advise will be any good. As you know, I traveled in Mongolia in summer 2000. Basically I did a loop from UB via the South road to Ulastay and than back on the North road. Yes on the South road is some sand, but not too bad. The North road had a lot of road works going on in 2000, so I guess it is the main road now, maybe only until Ulastay, to go to the West. From Ulastay on to the West I dont know of course.

I remember the North road more interesting, greener and more villages, very nice campspots. The South road is more desert like, because it is near the Gobi desert.

Forget about the Michelin Anakee, as Alex said, a good tyre on the road but not for doing this strech or for any unsealed road.

Petrol is until Ulastay not a big problem, but even until there you should have at least 350-400km range. Buy a bottle of octan booster in UB, if you have to fill with 76 octan fuel.

Enjoy

Mika

[Jose M. Garcia]

Glad to hear from you Mika. How are you doing?

Rally Dakar was great and manage to get to Dakar with a lot of suffering, you can read stories and view some pictures on www.aventuradakar.com. It was a real, real experience but was even harder than I had imagined. Lost 8 kilos during the race!!!

And now on "normal" life, office from 9 to .... and thinking of new adventures.

About Mongolia, after reading your comments I think we will ride the northern route (UB-Tsetserleg-Tosonchengel-Ulaangom-Russia).

Gas is not an issue since we will ride R1200GS Adv.
About tires, my other option is Michelin desert but I do not know if they will last 5.000 kms, about dual tyres, I have used Tourance in many Morocco trips and they work more or less ok and last 10-15.000 kms. Difficult election!!!!

Best regards

[Baikal]

Hi Jose,
we travelled through Mongolia in July 2005. We´ve been in the North and it was absolutely great. We didn´t ride the southern part (Gobi) because it was to hot in July. (for us;-)
We would recommend to take tires with nobbies. If theres rain you´ll be glad about! And there can be rain at the end of July.
The Mefo explorer is a very very good tire, we rode it 16000km through Russia...Before we entered Mongolia our bikes got new Mefos, it was a good decision:-)

greets and good luck
alex and carsten

www.motorradreise.de.tc

[Jose M. Garcia]

Thanks for the information Alex, the Northern route seems more interesting for the majority of travelers.

About tires, I am thinking that Michelin Desert could be a good be a good option.

[Alex Rubtsov]

Hi Jose, I have seen your links about Dakar. You are real hero! and mongolia will be easy to drive after Dakar for you.

[Rossa]

Hi, i would agree on chunky tyres, especially if your going the north route, which is beautiful though longer than the south, if you have ridden in africa then mongolia will be easy, to be honest i dont know what all the fuss is about, it was pure fun for me, anyway even if you only get 5000km from your tyres youll be passing novosibirsk so can find new ones easily, i got 8 or 9 out of a set of mettzler karoos, enjoy! r

[Dodgydago]

Hola Jose Maria,
antes de dejar el RU el pasado verano con destino al centro de Asia hable con Sue y Mike que recien habian regresado de alli. Cruzaron Mongolia de lado a lado y me dieron mucha informacion y consejos. Mike era motorista de la policia o algo asi y ahora es instructor.
Como yo, viajaban en BMWf650.
esta es su pagina de gueb:

http://www.adventure.gs/

Seguro que te pueden dar informacion acerca de typo de terreno, ruedas y de como les fue.
Yo no he llegado hasta Mongolia todavia. Todo lo que se es que hay un monton de arena suelta o barro y que la navegacion es difficil por que no hay marcas y hay un camino para cada yurta!
Suerte.

Fernando

[Traveldog]

You may want to check out the Long Way Round DVD: I believe they did some variation of the Northern route. I did the southern route in 2005 on a Suzuki DRZ400 outfitted with Avon Distanzias, similar thread pattern to the Anakees, no problems whatsoever. However, those tires were pretty bad in the mud but very little of that along the way. The advantage with Distanzias is that they are good for 12,000 miles (on a light bike), so you can ride from London to Vladivostok on one set of tires. If you expect to encounter mud along the way (and sounds like that's a good possibility going the Northern route), knobbies, as several people suggested, may be in order. The key is to pack light.

have fun!
keep us posted