Buy bike in Magadan - Russia?

[gozell]

Hello,

Im sort of looking into the possibities of riding out from Magadan and onto Mongolia next summer. Considering the hassles with shipping and flying my present bike over, Im looking at alternatives.

Altough Magadan is remote, still around 100.000 people live there. So I reckoned, mhhh must be a bike shop there right? Im not looking for anything fancy, preferably around 250cc
japanese make or something like MZ. Doesnt have to be a strictly offroad machine, mud with road tyres is more fun right?

Anyone know whats available in Magadan? Lets say a new 250cc for ? $$


Greetz

[motobelka]

absolutely not possible

[petefromberkeley]

You should contact the Vladivostok HU community for advice. I'm sure you could get a bike in Vlad. I've never been to Magadan though

[Shustrik]

Here is two parts of question.

1) is it possible for foreigner to buy in Russia on the whole, and
2) is it possible to buy in Magadan?

1.
It possible, but there is no point to do that. Russian bureaucracy doesn't give chance, but we've got one popular document - a letter of attorney.
You could buy vehicle de facto, but de jure you just got a letter of attorney from vehicle's owner. You pay money to owner, he's give you a letter. Later you can sale it in same way, or can't (depend on your situation and where you are at this moment).

2.
It possible, but:
- it will take a long time for find seller, and
- it will Russian Ural with many problems, or
- it will Japanese bike with mistakes in documents or something same.

So better to leave this idea and buy own bike outside of Russia.

There is only one point to buy bike in Russia, if you going to sale it on another side of country, and you have much free time for travel and stay in Russia.

[gozell]

Thanks for that Shustrik.

[Adrian]

I was in Magadan in 2005 (start of my journey to Istanbul)....

It is a reasonably large place as you say, but it is winter for 12 months and not many people ride bikes (I didn't see a single bike when I was there). There are no bike "shops", you may pick up a rusted and broken Ural but that won't help you get anywhere fast.

I shipped my bike into Vladivostok then got it on an airplane to Magadan (but I think the airline has now gone bust).

You're best option, IMHO, is to get a good japanese bike (perhaps in Vladivostok - if you can deal with the paperwork, or in S. Korea / Japan, then ferry over).

I rode/pushed my bike along the Road of Bones to Yakutsk and didn't pass anyone on a Russian-made bike (no offense Shustrik)!

Adrian.

Magadan to Istanbul

[Traveldog]

Great question Gozell. I have been wondering myself
how to get a bike to Magadan on and off.
When I was in Vladik in 2005, we tried to fly our
bikes to Magadan via local airline, but the crating/waiting
proved impractical. It still may be an option, though.

Since I am U.S. based, I would prefer flying
a bike from Alaska, or U.S. West Coast for that matter, to Magadan.
Any news in this regard? Is there an airline flying in between those
two locales? Something like Air Magadan, when it was still around?
I think they used to fly Magadan - Anchorage, or am I mistaken?
I would like to see Magadan, the Road of Bones, Yakutsk.

Thanks Shustrik for chiming in!

Stan

[MotoEdde]

You have a better shot at buying a bike in Ulaan Batur than Magadan. If you're willing to entertain that route.

OR you might be able to pick one up in Almaty...ride through Mongolia, and then ride to Magadan.

[gozell]

Thanks Adrian for that bit of info on Magadan.

I also thought about getting a bike in UB (plenty there) but that would mean riding a lot more K's, especially because i would like to ride back to europe from eastern russia. The plan is to get a 250cc trialbike in Japan and then head north to Wakkanai / Hokkaido and onto Sachalin Island/Russia.

Russia mainland I would probably hit well north of Khabarovsk, but still need to work out further details. Depending on how much hassle/cost if of the flight to Magadan I might just ride a return on the road of bones from yakutsk.

Apparently this is a much more common route for Japanese worldtravellers and know of a few who travelled this route only a couple of months ago.