Russia to alaska by bike

[samon]

Can this be done, does anybody have any infomation on this ? route , roads , conditions etc

thank you for your time )

rtw may 2002.

[Zaharan Razak]

Yes, it has been done. No, not by me, not yet, but I want to do it too, in the summer of 2002, so maybe I meet you on the road! The general route is Irkutsk-Ulan Ude-Cita-Never-Jakutsk-Magadan, then fly from there to Anchorage by Aeroflot. As I've said, this is the general route. Things may change, roads may disappear or new ones appear, bridges may be passable only to trains or a train may happen to arrive while you are pushing your bike with the tips of your toes on the pedestrian plankway in the middle of the bridge ... you know the scene. How do I know the scene? By a method called pre-trip research! See you on the road!

[peter theuwissen]

Hi there,
today on the market in Vladivostok I found the 1999 edition of the Russian Roadatlas. Thats the map to use if you'r driving in Russia. Looks very detailed (most 1;500.000) but can tell you more about it after I used it to drive to Europe. Its a heavy book, contains all former republiks and even all europe, ($11) published in Minsk, can give ISBN if needed. Its published every 2 years, because I know there are 97 and 95 editions.
The road from Scovorodino to Magadan is drawn as a highway, thats a mistake. Friends drove it last year september and it is rough, very rough but possible with light bikes or luck with the weather. July-august-september seems to me the best season, or if you drive with a sidecar in the winter.....
Have fun,
Peter

[Zaharan Razak]

Peter: Thanks for the tips. I may want to travel with a sidecar. My intended bike is the F650GS Dakar. The sidecar may be Hedingham of England. Is the bike light enough in your opinion? Why do you think a sidecar is advantageous on the road to Magadan?

[samon]

Firstly thank you for all the replys.

Yes there is a flight from magadan to alaska and the cheapest so far is (wait for it) $30.000 usa, an alternative is by " container barge" from magadan to seatle" i am still waiting for confirmation on company name and cost, i do know it travels on the first day of each month. (will post when i know)

An alternative (may be) would be vladivostock - japan - USA, Has any body got any thoughts on this? Japan to the usa must be a common freight route but all there web sites are in japanise (suprise , suprise) )

What seems to be a general opinion is that when the soviet empire collapsed followed by the sharp fall of the soviet currency, a lot of usa shipping / frieght companys lost millions and are still owed millions hence the lack of regular ussr - alaska travel options.

end note: Please spare a thought for those submariners in the barents, my worst nightmare over the past 24 years.

simon
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/aroundtheworld-bmwr1150gs/

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samon - world trip by mc may 2002

[samon]

this is a reply from a very helpful shipping agent in alska.... simon

The name of the barge company we think is called "Fesco" I don't know if
they have email, www, or their fees. If this is a regular barge service
I doubt very seriously if they would allow you to ride with the bike as
it would be in a 40 foot container, but I don't know for certain. When
the ruble devalued so quickly a few years ago a lot of shipping
companies were hurt badly by unpaid debts from Russia so discontinued
service into Russia. It has been very difficult to find any regular
barging services at all leaving only air service (which of course is
very expensive) so we aren't even sure of Fesco. I am trying to check
with a company called Marsk-Sealand who advertise international shipping
and will get back to you if I hear anything from them.
To give you some information about our company: we are located in
Anchorage, Alaska and our main line of work is helping American
(especially Alaska) companies work in Russia (especially the Russian Far
East). My employer is a professional pilot and worked for Aeroflot for
over 20 years, so we work mainly in the airline industry, helping air
carriers go to and from Russia. We have helped people fly their
personal planes through Russia obtaining the proper clearances, etc. My
employer Nikolai Selbakov also helps with medivac flights getting the
clearances to enter Russia and evacuate injured or sick people. Nikolai
knows a lot of people across Russia so as to whether the people in
Magadan would be friends or business colleagues I'm not sure. Usually
it is contacts suggested by his business associates or friends. We ended
up getting your message by the travel agency that is in the office next
door because they know that we work with Russia.
I have not been able to locate any maps outlining what the highway
system is like through Russia, but there were some interesting sites on
the internet, one was www.rispubs.com you might try them. In the mean
time I will continue to try and look. I will get back to you if I find
anything.
Sincerely,


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samon - world trip by mc may 2002

[peter theuwissen]

hi there,
Well its obvious a sidecar in the winter is a plus. In the summer I wouldnt do it. Ever drove on ditrroads with a sidecar? Then you know why!
Flying from Magadan: Friends of mine flew from Alaska (Anch) to Magadan with Air Magadan in august 1999 for $5.5/kg, yes thats expensive. Cheaper is to fly from Vladivostok to Seattle, you can find the price on this webside (Russiastory Edwin Thoma): $2,5/kg (1100GS: $750) $580 person.
Fesco is a shipping line (Far East Shipping Co) they run ships over the Pacific. One of them is a ferry Vladiv-Fushiki (Japan) $240 person $100 bike.
Have Fun,
Peter

[This message has been edited by peter theuwissen (edited 18 August 2000).]

[samon]

thank you peter for your speedy reply and useful information, realy appreciated.

CAN YOU OBTAIN A URL FOR Russiastory Edwin Thoma ive tried but no luck.

do you know how difficult it is to depart VLADIVOSTOCK FOR JAPAN OR USA with bike, RED TAPE ETC.

good luck and thx again, i hope you dont mind but i entered your info onto my web site ? (route)

simon

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samon - world trip by mc may 2002

[This message has been edited by samon (edited 18 August 2000).]

[Zaharan Razak]

To Peter: I admit I have no experience whatsoever with sidecars. I'm still very much in the planning stage. I'll start my journey in November 2001 or spring 2002. There is still plenty of time. I'm cosidering many options. I may decide to use a small cc bike, the Yamaha Serow 225WE available in Japan only and start my journey from there. Then head east to China or west to the US.

Regarding the use of sidecars, are you sure your own opinion is based on personal experience and observing that of others? My opinion is based on reading magazines and searching the net. This I have found: the use of sidecars offroad is a valid sport by itself. Very popular in Britain. The sidecars are built specifically to be offroad competent.
of course they can be used on seal roads too. I've read that some travelers have taken their sidecars all over the world - Russia, the Sahara, Asia overland, etc. I understand that most of them are Germans. The German sidecar magazine Gespanne is a very good source of information.
Meanwhile thanks for your report on the Siberia-Alaska and Japan-USA crossing.
Do you have your own website? I'd like to follow your stories.

[Grant Johnson]

Simon,

Good news on URL FOR Russia story Edwin Thoma - it's in our Travellers Stories page!
Bad news - it's in German only.

Zaharan, re sidecars - you're absolutly correct about sidecars being a valid off-road sport, and the rigs built for these are amazing - BUT an F650 or a Serow attached to even a Hedingham sidecar is about as far from one of these custom rigs as a F1 racer from a Cadillac. T'ain't the same atall!

A conventional motorcycle attached to a sidecar is as Peter says - not much fun off-road. Yes they will do the job, so long as you are not in a hurry. In Russia the Ural with sidecar is a very popular setup. Note that they use 2 wheel drive too.

------------------
Grant Johnson

Share the Dream!
at: www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

[Zaharan Razak]

Grant: Your comments confirm what I've known about sidecars so far. There are integrated units working as one machine, then there are sidecars attached to bikes like a pair of Siamese twins each with a mind of its own.
Yes Peter probably had the latter in mind!

The Serow may be too underpowered to begin with as a basis for conversion to an integrated unit with a sidecar but the F650 GS has potential. It depends to what extent one is willing depart from the original bike to come up with a virtually new setup altogether and of course costs rise exponentially as standard items are discarded and more conversion items added.

I understand that the Ural sidecar rig starts life in the factory as an integrated unit, whether single or double wheeled drive.

However its staid image appeals to a sub-sub species of romantics of which I am not a specimen (I may mutate upon greater and prolonged exposure to the make though!)

On the other hand, this staid image may be a thing of the past as there are reports that current models fully assembled in Russia too (as opposed to those which are set up in the States, these sport many components sourced from Japanese or even American manufacturers)have been upgraded after decades of maintaining the technology level established at its birth during the last world war.

Anyone interested to know more may visit Carla King's and the Ural websites.

[samon]

dear peter / all

ref your posting, are the prices correct sounds cheap for pacific crossing, can you and bike travel together? confirm cheapest way of departing vladivostock to seatle.

what type of visa did you obtain to tranist ussr with bike ?

thanks simon

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Cheaper is to fly from Vladivostok to Seattle, you can find the price on this webside (Russiastory Edwin Thoma): $2,5/kg (1100GS: $750) $580 person.
Fesco is a shipping line (Far East Shipping Co) they run ships over the Pacific. One of them is a ferry Vladiv-Fushiki (Japan) $240 person $100 bike.
Have Fun,
Peter

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samon - world trip by mc may 2002

http://www.aroundtheworld-bmwr1150gs.com/

[Malcolm]

Hi Every Body!

Can anybody please tell me the name of the airline to fly bikes from Vlad to Seattle or any better way to get the bike to the states without going to Madagan or Japan?

Thanks heaps and take care!!
Malcolm

[mika]

hi,

sorry, I cant give you the name of the company. but you will have to fly the bike over south corea to the us. some bikers have done this, it is not cheap.

in vladivostok you should contact the Iron Tigers MC Club, they know the name of the airline and maybe they help you with the paperwork etc.

mika from caracas having a nightmare flying the old tenere to cuba

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[Malcolm]

Hi Guys!
Thanks for your help! Does anyone know how I can get in touch with the Iron Tigers??
Cheers
Malcolm