Pamir Highway
 

Hello, I would like to travel the Pamir Highway by motorcycle and I have some questions to ask :) :
1) From Dushambe to Oš the whole M41 is passable or are there interruptions?
2) I have seen that many, instead of taking the M41 directly from Dushambe (towards Obigarm - Childara), descend towards Kűlob and then make Kishti Poyen - Kostav road E008 along the border of Afghanistan and the Panj river and take the M41 to Kalaikhum and then go down towards Khorugh. Is there any particular reason (various interruptions) or is it just for tourist reasons ? Do you advise to always do the M41 or do you also recommend the detour along the river Panj on E008 ? :confused:
3) In Khorugh should always take the M41 or make the detour to the south on the road E009 to resume the M41 after the Tagarkaty Pass and, from there, continue to Murghab? :confused2:
4) Do you want special visas to enter the Autonomous Region of Gőrno-Badachšan?
5) How many days (approx) from Dushambe to Oš in normal weather conditions ?
Every information is welcome. bier
Thanks for the answers. :thumbup:

m41 gbao
 

hi,
plan this road for next May, yes you need a gbao permit.
in my opinion from dushanbé take the north road (m41) until khorog, then reach iskachim who is in the wakhan corridor(must be see) vrang, up north and m41 to murghab !
have a nice trip !

Thank you for your answer. I thought at the end of June; it's a good season ? The GBAO permit can also be bought there or I have to leave Italy already with permission. If you can buy there, where do you buy and how much does it cost?
Thank's for your attention. : Thumbup1:

You should be able to get the Tajik Visa and the GBAO permit with evisa online

https://www.evisa.tj/index.evisa.html


Last year we had to take the northern route from Dushanbe to Kalaikhum because landslides blocked the southern route.

But if possible I would take the southern route to Kalaikhum and then the route on the Wakhan valley Iskhashim and Vrang.

I will also do this this year again.

Thanks for the reply. Is there a way to know if the southern road is open before you get there? In your opinion what is the best time of the year?

visa
 

you can apply your gbao permit at the same time you ask for your passeport,
e visa process really simple, all on line

If you stop in Dushanbe in Green house hostel, they know exactly about the current situation and tell you where to go and where not...

Many thanks

Many thanks

Hi ..:-)

I will be somewhere in between Murghab - Khorugh, on the E009 at the end of June. Comming down from Naryn..

Will look for you guys ..

With pleasure ! Stay tuned !

Road advise
 

Hi,
most is already said. For the Pamir Highway season just starts at May/June. In May it still could cet cold and snow is normal.
For accurate road info go to www.caravanistan.com > Forum

And when you are in Osh you are wellcome for a coffee.
Maybe I can help you with tires as well...

Dave

Thank you very much for reporting the very interesting website. I will certainly take a coffee in Osho with you. In what sense can you help me with the tires? I thought of sending the bike to Bishkek directly with off road tires.

By the way, which tires do you think are the ideals for the Pamir Highway? I was thinking to set "non-extreme" off-road tires like the Heidenau K60 Scouts that seem like a good compromise. Is it easy to break the tires on the Pamir Highway? It is advisable to bring two spare tires?

hello zorromoto,
i want to contact you but no address mail on your website
could you give me one in a private message
certainely need tires end of may
thanks !

The Heidenaus would be fine on either the Pamir Highway or the southern route through Ishkashim. So would the Shinko 700E that ZorroMoto has on their website. (Hi Dave! Good luck with your business.)

The Pamir is a rough, bone-shaking, pot-holed mess but it is not a tough road to ride, just tiring. Any road tire should be just fine. (We were there August 2016). You should not need to carry any spare tires, just don't hit the holes too fast. Spare tubes are advised, though.



The Wakhan valley (Tajik side) is more dirt and sand but still not a problem for most people on a moto.

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/z...6/DSCN0325.jpg

Some sand near Ishkashim..


http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/z...6/DSCN0329.jpg


Waiting for the Gas man near Vrang..

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/z...6/DSCN0346.jpg



.............shu

Many thanks. I did not know the Shinko 700E which seems to be similar (as a drawing) at Heidenau one. Well, the news that Dave, in Osh, has tires and oils is a good news. : Thumbup1:

Guess it will be a few on the road around this time.. ;-)

I will for sure visit you in Osh...but will bring my extra tubes with me from Denmark - and the tires will be new Heidi`s K60, as I used them for my trip from Denmark around Iran and back, a few years ago - and I was very satisfied with them! :-) ...but a coffee or a cold beer it always welcome

How have you guys handled your isurance/ bike and yourself, in generell ? - my danish insurance company is not very happy about it... :-/

Usually I do not write such things, but I looked at the prices of the tires and I was a bit wondering about that.

I would consider them as extremely expensive.

It is more then 2 times as expensive as you would order them to Almaty ...

I can understand that if someone really needs a tire you can ask whatever price, than they have to pay it, but mir then 300 $ for a set and 45 for a tube is really nasty.

You do some advertisement here in the HUBB and than this price?

That is even more than a Swiss price.

contact
 

Hi there

I see the opinion about pricing is already going wild. :-) and now body mentioned the expenses to get them here...

To contact me you can go to my webpage and then fill in the contact form to send me an email. Due to the HUBB advert rules I am not allowed to post emails etc. or talk about other businesses badly.

Tubes for cross (with a CR) are more expensive in Europe.
https://www.reifendirekt.ch/cgi-bin/...ebote+anzeigen

Looking forward for your email.
Dave

And here a quick reply for the tires:
It depends very much where and for what kind of roads you are heading. If you are going north from Osh and as much as possible gravel and off road I do recommend a Shinko, the E700 for a good mixed and the 244Series more for off road focus. The Heidenau K60 Scout has the longest distance and is also made for mixed. It has a very good reputation.

To brake a tire you have to go really wild. But everything is possible in the pamirs. Most likely is that a sting can happen and you have to change the tube, unless you ride with mouse.

Let me know if you have more questions.
Dave

Maybe to bring tires and tubes from Switzerland is not the smartest option, first import it to Switzerland, than reexport and import it to Kirgistan???

maybe it would be lots cheaper to get them from Russia from Dean, you have a custom union there.....

And the medium tubes ( 2,5mm ) are also available in Austria

https://www.auner.at/produkt-n528346...-9090218010021

Thank you so much.

concerning the tires:
I ordered the Shinko E700 with Dean to Volgograd an rode them until Japan, through Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kirgistan and all the way to Vlad. The Shinko is an amazing tire, and blood cheap in Russia. I do not recommend Heidenau K60 Scout, as there are much problems with constant quality, the rear tire was completely destroyed in Georgia already. Dato helped me out...
so my advice would be:
get the E700 in Russia, they´ll make it and it´s fun to ride them. And for whatever reason everything concerning motorcycle travel is so expensive in Kirgistan...I would avoid taking any service or buy stuff in Kirgistan.

Many thanks : Thumbup1:

Good evening, do you have any news about possible criminal acts (after the killing of cyclists near Dushambe) ? Is it all quiet? Is the road between Dushambe - Khisti Poyen - Kalaikhum - Khorog - Wakhan area - Murghab quiet ?
Many thanks.

I drove it 2 weeks after the attack on the cyclists.

No problem, everything was quiet by this time already.

Local people were upset because of this....

Many txs Klausmong.

Hi there,three of us travelled the M41 in August about one month after the cyclists attack.We accidently followed the southern route to the Panj river,we had no problems at all.The vroad wasc reasonble to Khulob but then rough over the hill toward the Panj,suddenly becoming a nice two lane blacktop through to Kalaikhum.The road to Khorog and Ishkashim is mixed bitumen and gravel pretty standard for that area.You will need to get GBOA stamp on your Evisa though.
ken