good welder in Russian far east / siberia / mongolia

[robbie.gray]

Hi guys

We are setting off Vlad-London in 3 weeks time on our Suzuki DRs. Our bikes are currently being shipped to Korea. Unfortunately 5 days before shipping I had a fairly major accident on a busy stretch of motorway. My bike was fixed up by a local bike shop but they missed the more significant structural damage - my rear subframe has been shifted sideways. If you look at my bike from the back, the seat looks about 50mm out of alignment with the rear wheel.

By the time we found this out (due to hospital, waiting for the initial repairs, and busyness with shipping the rest of the bikes) we had about 5 hours until the bike needed to be on the ship. I didn't have much choice other than to put it on the ship and deal with it over there. It still feels reasonably manageable to ride, however I'm aware that riding 25,000kms on a weakened frame might mean I need some urgent repairs at some point.

So - I'm wanting to pull together some information on good, reliable welders/engineers along our route. We're arriving in Vlad around April 20, will be there for about 10 days, and then heading Chita - Ulan Ude - Irkutsk (we will stay in Irkutsk for a few days too) - Ulan Bataar - NW Mongolia - Kazakstan (Eastern) - Almaty - Bishek.

If anyone has any recommendations of places I could potentially get my rear subframe fixed (it is not a bolt-on subframe so needs to be pulled back into shape and strengthened) I would be very stoked. Any thoughts on how much it is likely to cost would also be appreciated - I will be pretty tight for cash and it'd be good to have a heads-up of how much that sort of thing is likely to cost.

Cheers!
Rob

51st Traverse

[colebatch]

every man and his dog is a good welder in Siberia. Might as well get it sorted in Vladivostok.

I will try and get Terry to send you details for the Iron Angels bike club there. Probably 90% of them weld to some degree.

The word you need for welder is "svarchik"

Is it alloy or steel subframe?

[ilesmark]

Try PM-ing Alexei Gadyukov (sp?) - on this forum as Shustrik - he would know good people in Vladivostok. Also try PM-ing Tony Pettie - on this forum as TonyP - he could probably help. He definitely knows people who are good at welding in Magadan, cos I've seen their handiwork.

[scottw]

Originally Posted by colebatch

every man and his dog is a good welder in Siberia.

Same thing in Mongolia. Without easily access to frequent welding most of the vehicles in Siberia and Mongolia would be dead within a few months. I had my R100GS subframe welded in Mongolia and it's still solid 5 years later.

Scott

[MountainMan]

Hey Robbie,

Ditto for the recommendation of the bike club in Vlad as a good resource, I would make them my first point of contact. My poor memory seems to recall they are called the Iron Tigers, but that may be wrong. They do a lot of work on their bikes so would have a very good idea of which out of the way shop to take you to, especially if you are looking for more finicky work on sub frames and the such as opposed to more straighforward projects like luggage racks, etc. And a local guide does make your life a lot easier as the streets have no names and the workshops are pretty hard to find if you aren't from there so they can make a time consuming process much shorter.

If you need substantial work done, I would get it figured out in Vlad as it's your biggest city for a while and it is a gateway for cars imported from Asia so there is a lot of automotive/mechanical work being done in the city. After that, as previous posters have commented, every small town has a gas station and welder as staple road side services. I could never figure out if that was a comment on the quality of the roads, the vehicles, the drivers or all of the above

One last suggestion, the road side welders are masters and making things run and getting you to the next town. Having said that, their opinion of acceptable "tolerances" and "straight" vary from welder to welder and you want to keep a very close eye on the process. I have fond memories of a nice Mongolian man welding without goggles, using stolen power from a straight feed from the overhead power lines as his welder to fix a luggage rack

Ride safe.

[Tony P]

Originally Posted by MountainMan

Hey Robbie,
My poor memory seems to recall they are called the Iron Tigers, but that may be wrong.

I believe there were two clubs in Vladivostock.
Certainly the Iron Angels were splendid hosts to us - the other could well have been the Iron Tigers.
The Iron Angels had their own mechanic and workshop. For what they can't do themselves, they would know someone who can.

As Colebatch and others say, you are never far from a highly able welder in central and east Russia. The smaller the community the more their lives depend on it! However for specialist materials and alloys you would need a larger city.

The welding I needed was done in Krasnoyarsk (central siberia) by Zenya and his team. They are a small independant moto workshop run by keen off-roaders who fully understand the forces, stresses and requirements to travel in that environment. Let us know if you need their contact details.

[Tiffany]

HI Rob
The guy to get in touch with at the Iron Tigers in Vladivostock is Andrey.
pechorskaya8 {{aaatt]] mail.ru
Excuse the feeble attempt at hiding the fact there's an email address in this post!
I had several encounters with various welders in Siberia - some more professional than others, see the farmyard scene below. What I like about them is they will tackle anything.
Good luck with your trip.
Best wishes

[ilesmark]

Originally Posted by MountainMan

I have fond memories of a nice Mongolian man welding without goggles, using stolen power from a straight feed from the overhead power lines as his welder to fix a luggage rack

Hahahaha - you couldn't make it up!

Reminds me of that cardiac arrest scene from Mr Bean when he used a cable from the streetlight to defibrillate someone...

[robbie.gray]

Awesome, thanks for the info guys. I will email Andrey in Vlad and try and sort things out with him. I would never have thought of contacting the local bike clubs - are they usually pretty welcoming in Russia?
Cheers
Rob

[Chris Cowper]

Matey,
Ring Max or Mikhail from Vladmoto. These guys are the head honcho's of the Iron Tigers Motorcycle Club in Vladivostok. Bloody good blokes as well. Their phone numbers are: 8(4232)367514, 8 902 557 2588 or e-mail them at: vladmoto [ATT] mail {DDOTT} ru

[Tony P]

Originally Posted by robbie.gray

bike clubs - are they usually pretty welcoming in Russia?

EVERY biker in Russia will assist any biker. It matters not if you are on a moped, scooter, enduro, sport, or Hardly Tasseldson.

If it has 2 wheels you are their brothers and they will do anything they can to assist.

Two good examples are on pages 5-8 The BAM Road - ultimate test of man and machine - ADVrider

And in more remote areas it is everybody, not just bikers, who will do all they can to get you going again (and provide you with food and beds) - read page 32.