Planning for tires in the 'Stans - Almaty?
 

We are planning our trip from Germany through Russia and the 'Stans to Mongolia and China and I've just added up the distance. From Munich to Shanghai it is about 20,000 km without any side trips. While we've had Tourances last that long we don't really want to plan for using one set of tires that long. We'll probably get new tires in South Korea or Japan as China will be tightly scheduled.

Is there a source of decent tires (e.g. Metzeler or Heidenau for an R1200GS and F650GS) in Almaty or elsewhere in the 'Stans? Or should we be planning to either carry tires or get them shipped out? Any help appreciated!

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...W2012-2013.jpg

For Russia, contact Dean (Dennis- Russian bikers all have 2 names!) at buy@motorezina.ru
He posts on HUBB under the name 'DEAN rus'

WebSite MOTOREZINA.RU - свежая моторезина по разумным ценам. motokolesa, мотоколеса, моторезина, резина для мотоциклов

Moscow based, he sells moto tyres and has a network of about 50 agents across Russia to whom he gets them delivered and you can pick them up en-route. It saves carrying them yet gives the peace of mind knowing for certain that tyres are there waiting for you.

His English is as good as mine - possibly better, his wife teaches it, my G/F doesn't!

Looking at your plan Novosibirsk is probably the appropriate pick-up point when you briefly re-enter RUS between Kaz and Mongolia.

Fantastic!
 

Thanks Tony,

I'll contact Dean and see about making the appropriate arrangements.

Motoboard in Almaty had Tourances on the rack in my size (21 front/17 rear).

They also had gloves, helmets & other gear.

This was in late 2010.

They are at N43 16.320 E76 57.637

Yep +1 for Dean. I got a new set of tyres (TKC80s) in Russia around Sep last year. Dean had a friend/colleague in Barnaul who's name was Andrei - what an awesome guy. Got my tyres delivered to where I was staying. He also helped with balancing and new oil for the bike.

Hope this helps

Great info thanks!

Is it more common to find to find 17''/19'' sizes or 18''/21'' in the region?

-Cheers

Plus 1 for Dean. His prices are reasonable as well - delivered I paid similar to what I pay in Australia.

The GPS co-ords for the Novisibersk bike shop are N54 59.652, E083 02.558. Its a little out of town and awkward to find. If you find yourself riding into a slightly seedy yard with large and somewhat wild dogs your GPS has chosen to direct you to the yard over their back fence - go to the next parallel street over you'll find a much warmer welcome. Shop did have some 21 and 17 size tyres off the shelf when I was there, but not in my sizes so pre-ordering through Dean is wise. They did have plenty of the basics like good quality oil though. Hope this helps.

Tyres in this part of the world
 

Just reinforcing everything said here ... its not at all common to be able to find tyres to fit a 1200 at the motorcycle shops in Almaty (basically the only 2 in central asia - Motoboard and Stoppy Stars) its just luck if they happen to have anything (let alone anything specific) to fit those wheel sizes. They will have some stock in more common sizes (18 inch rears and 21 inch fronts) but what stuff they have in stock even in those sizes will be a bit of a raffle as well.

Again the safest bet is to make it 1300 - 1500 km further to Barnaul or Novosibirsk, where Dean can have tyres waiting for you at his contacts in either city. Pre-order a month or so ahead and pre pay ( I believe Dean now has paypal) and the tyres will be there for you ready to be fitted when you arrive.

Didn't get tires...
 

We showed up at the bike shop in Novosibirsk and the tires weren't there. They were not aware of any tires coming from Denis. I had e-mailed Denis a couple of times and confirmed tire sizes and such, the last time being a month ago. To not have the tires here means we now have to make these Heidenaus last until Japan. :thumbdown:

Was it agreed the tyres would be at the 'bike shop'? If so this is something new to me.

I did think that was odd when reading Navalarchitect's post - and now carefully re-reading it I think he was advocating Denis INSTEAD of the bike shop a little out of town, that did not have his size.

Denis's tyres contact in Novosibirsk is a great guy called Stas, in the centre of town.
Ekke, have you contacted him?

Even a month ago, toughmiles.com posted photos of themselves and Stas at the same pick up point in the centre of town where I met him 3 years ago. Not a bike shop!

I had Denis send out tires to me twice this year without any problems,firstly a front to Saratov, and later in the trip a pair to Irkutsk.

Alec

I have had 3 sets of tires, chain, sprockets, filter and oil all sent to me at various stages of my journey by Dennis.

Ekke

The more I look at this, the more I think you went to the wrong place.

As I said, Denis's tyre pick up point in Novosibirsk is with Stas (Stanislav) - as still listed on their Website MOTOREZINA.RU - свежая моторезина по разумным ценам. motokolesa, мотоколеса, моторезина, резина для мотоциклов

Navalarchitect's reference to a 'Bike Shop' was additional information for Novosibirsk and was NOT suggesting that is where you collect Denis's tyres. The bike shop did not have his sizes so he thinks Denis is a better bet.

If I am correct and you went to the wrong place, I think your header "This sucks" is less than fair to someone who gives great service at very reasonable prices.

Let us know, please.

This year I had several orders from HUBBers with delivery to Novosibirsk, from:
Adrian Silindean
Peter Foulkes
Don C

All this orders were shipped in time and were stored in destination city, waiting for riders

Ekke, I can not find your deposit payment and confirmed order. :no: :oops2:

Oops, sorry if I have caused any confusion. Yes I was recommending Dean/Denis who supplied me tyres in Irkutsk and Moscow. And yes, as Tony P surmised, the info on the bike shop in Novisibersk was extra info.

Rereading my post I can see I didn't make this clear I hope I haven't caused anyone grief.

Shouldn't have.
If the guy had paid he would have been told where/who to collect them from.

However in the absence of a confirmed order from Denis, the 'bike shop' would be a possible alternative.

But, as I said in post No 2, having them through Denis gives peace of mind knowing they are there waiting for you. Far better than trying shops speculatively.

Edited Post
 

Hi Tony,

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that Dean's service sucked, just that it sucks for us to now have to make our tires last for another 10,000 km until Japan. I've edited the post accordingly.

Ekke

I've got a couple of e-mails back and forth between us but perhaps my last e-mail confirming tire sizes and asking about payment was lost in the Ethernet. I will e-mail you to see if there is anything that can be arranged before we leave Russia for Mongolia next week.

I apologise for any inference that your service is not good and have edited my previous post.

Ekke

Update: Tires air freighted to Ulan Ude!
 

Denis has gone out of his way and will air freight the tires to Ulan Ude! :clap:

Wrong thread, sorry

Just adding some information I gained while riding from Vladivostok to Astana regarding motorbike/motorcycle tires in Central Asia. I needed tires urgently in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan and so far the opinion online was that there is nothing. I was at this shop just an hour ago:

Tires for moto vehicles in Astana online-store Kvadrocentr, TOO | Buy Tires for moto vehicles Astana (Kazakhstan) inexpensively | Kvadrocentr, TOO : Allbiz

has less than 10 pairs but I was lucky. Pirelli Scorpion in my size. The owner is a friendly young guy that speaks English well. They also have tubes, bulbs, sprockets, jackets, etc. And he knows a friendly mechanic. Coordinates are 51.177223, 71.42809

Another option, getting them sent from this shop in Almaty to another city in Kazakhstan, but many have a long delivery time

Интернет-магазин автомобильных шин и дисков в Алматы


Regarding the tire situation in Ulaanbaatar, it's really much better than you think. There is a Dutch guy with a warehouse full of tires, I do not have his contacts but the Mongolian manager of the Oasis guesthouse Urnaa can help. She also knows a Mongolian guy that rents out bikes to tourists. If you want to sell or buy something for/from your bike, definitely worth a call.

Denis offered to ship to Astrakhan or Vologda, but I do not think I could have gone that far anymore.
Further East there is Мотоциклы и скутеры из Японии, мототехника, экипировка, запчасти, сервис. Всё для мототехники покупайте в салоне НБСмотор in Novosibirsk and a guy called Andrew that has tires too, contact vf750 ät mail dot ru

Hope that helps someone :)

Hi. We also have tires in Kyrgyzstan. Check our website for dimensions and prices. We are able to ship to Bishkek or Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Tyres at Astrakhan
 

Just to update this tread, myself and another riders contacted Denis for tyres, and he had them delivered to a shop in Astrakhan, Russia, where they were waiting for us. We ordered about a month in advance.

He asked for a small Paypal deposit in advance, and we paid the balance to the shop on a Credit Card after fitting. Delivery was 2000 Roubles, but this was for 4 tyres.

The shop itself, Mototexhnka (N46.32695 E48.02876) allowed us to use their showroom to remove the wheels, but we had to walk to a car tyre fitting shop for actual fitment.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1gpkWKtM4o...823_164152.jpg

You can add us to the list of satisfied riders he has helped. :thumbup1: