Tour bicycle in the Trans Siberian ?
 

Hi everyone , I'm planning a cycle trip from Vladivostok to Paris this summer . I live in Tokyo and will come back in France after 15 years of good services for japan corp ... so worth a little detour !
Regarding the russian visa limitation of 90 days and my time schedule I'd prefer to take my bicycle in the Trans Siberian from Vladivostok to Novosibirsk or Krasnoyarsk . So my question : is it possible and at what rate ? any alternatives to the train between these cities ?
Thanks a lot !
Marc

Hi Marc and welcome,
As far as I am aware there is no problem with taking your bicycle on this route but might I suggest that you ride your bike through China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan as an alternative. It is a long, tough ride but through some fascinating places and enough of Russia left towards the west that a 90 day visa will be sufficient. This will of course depend on how much time you have and when you plan to travel.
A good source of bicycle related information here On Your Bike - Lonely Planet travel forum

Thanks Mark ! yes it would be a great route too ! I 'd like to leave Japan ( by ferry or plane haven't decided yet ) in early May and like to be in France by August , I doubt I will have enough time to enjoy that route ! And also I think I will not cycling on a regular randoneur bicycle but on my italian road bike , light weight aluminium frame , plus a trailer . I 'm quite confortable on it even after 7 hours ride , it's light and I can fix almost anything quickly . So I have to stay on asphalt or semi paved roads , wich seems to be barely the case in Mongolia or Kazakhstan ... I know what " russian roads " mean ! but I'm sure they are better than the Mongolia route at least from occidental Siberia . That's why I 'm thinking about taking the trans siberian train for the asian Siberia section . So I should add in my question : is it possible to put a bicycle and a 1m50 trailer in the Trans Siberian train from Vladivostok to Novosibirsk !!

In short - yes you can put bike on train. No extra cost. But it needs to fit in the overhead luggage space so be prepared to have to take off the wheels etc. Officially it should be boxed but i've never done that - often gets some grumbles but playing the I don't understand looking confused and helpless card seems to work! A trailer might be trickier unless you can dismantle it as well.
An alternative is to put the bike etc on a cargo train separately - it's cheap and makes the train journey for you easier because you don't have to worry about the bike.
I wrote about it on my blog: http://helenstakeon.com/blog/guide-t...iberian-train/

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thanks Helen to take your battery life to answer me ! yes it's a good alternative and will consider that . I've spent one hour on your blog and I'm freezing now ! what incredible tour you're in ! where are you now ? bones road ? anyway tahnks and keep pedalling !

Well before you start you trip, load up the road bike and test ride it for say a weekend. Most light weight bikes tend to flex when loaded up and are not good for long term touring.

Trailers .. the 'extra wheel' looks to be shorter .. and would therefore pack better for train/bus/air sections.

Good luck.