I m gonna try this route. Has anyone done it recently?

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www.miquelsilvestre.com

2 months ago ... its fine ... the direction you are coming from will be about 80 km of unsealed road just before the border, then about the same amount to Beyneu in KZ.

There is no petrol after Kungrad ('Qonghirat' on some maps) in UZ ... so you need about 350km range to get from Kungrad to Akjigit in KZ ... where they have 80 octane, or about 400 km to get to Beyneu where there is 93 and sometimes 96.

Fuel in north-west UZ is tricky after Nukus ... most stations are gas only. Uzbekistan has loads of gas but no oil ... so many cars in the northwest are converted to LP gas and getting proper fuel is tough. Best bet is to ask around for blue Turkmen benzin.

In Beyneu there is a good guy who welcomes bike travellers ... he has a guesthouse / service station on the edge of Beyneu. The guys name is 'Alyosha' and he is a former soviet enduro champion. His place is a regular stop off point for Russian and Kazakh bikers travelling the road to UZ. To find him, from the direction you are coming ... the road in from the border takes you past an old railway yard with abandoned steam trains ... eventually you cross the railway tracks on the northern edge of town and immediately there is a roundabout with a police post. If you go straight ahead you are going towards Aktau, if you turn left you head in to Beyneu itself and if you turn right at the roundabout (towards Atyrau), about 100-150 metres down the road there is a dusty old stoyanka (parking lot) full of old buses and GAZelles (like a russian ford transit van) ... thats the spot. Drive in there and ask for Alyosha.

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Thanks a lot. Useful information. And even more, Alyosha is also one of the Karamazov Brothers from the Tolstoy novel. It sounds promising. I have a good friend and we use to call each other (specially when drunk) "Alyosha, my brother", remembering his usual phrase on the story.

But how about the border? I read here that one should look for the customs guys in the last Uzbk town and in the first one in Kaz.

Anyway, I probably go to Turkmenistan and trying to get ferry at Turkmenbashi, but you never know till the end what is gonna happen.

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www.miquelsilvestre.com

Finally, I did not take the Turkmenistan way because I had to pay a guide and I preferred to ride from Nukus to Aktau, much cheaper and less easy. Bad road but really funny. The shocks of my bike are over stressed but they survived. Uzbekistan part is Ok, and after the Kazakhstan border (regular check point nowadays) is a good gravel road till Beyneu, but from there to Aktau starts a nightmare of stones, sand, holes and bumps. 300 Km of riding the Moon. Then, 200 km to Aktau, the asphalt is Ok again and lasts till the city. Should fill the tank with 91 in Nukus and take some containers because in Kungrad there is only 80. No 91 or 93 till Beyneu, about 500 km far, but in case of really need, there is 80 in the Station, 25 km into Kazakshtan. Aktau is good place to have a rest waiting for ferry. I hope sail soon to Baku.

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www.miquelsilvestre.com

So, if I understood correctly from this topic and from other reports I found over the web... From Atyrau to Beyneu we are talking about good asphalt road, but from Beyneu to Nukus it becomes a dirt road.
Is this right? Are we talking about a terrible road or is it rideable enough well? (which is the case, I suppose).

I'm planning to ride next year from my town in Italy to Samarkand just taking this direction, that's why I'm asking infos about.
I'll ride a XR600 that an office workmate of mine will borrow me purposely (otherwise my Harley will get disassembled piece by piece on the roads of KAZ, I suppose... ).

Thanks to whoever can give some infos on a biker that has never ridden on dirt roads for more than 5 km. maximum...

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Nick and his 2010 Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré

Atyrau to Beyneu is asphalt (some good asphalt, some not so good), except for about 30 km .. but they are working on it now. By next year its probably all asphalt to Beyneu

Beyneu to Nukus ... the first 150 km is dirt road, and the rest is asphalt.

There are no terrible roads here ... its all rideable.

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Thanks Colebatch! Your updates are like gold to me!!

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Nick and his 2010 Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré

Hi, Knight. You should distinguish two parts in that way we are talking about.

From Aktau (port at the Caspian Sea) to Beyneu the road is very bad, as I said. From Beyneu (still Kazakhstan) to Kungrad (Uzbekistan) the road is more or less half good dirt road and half asphalt, as Colebatch said.

So, If you take ferry from Baku (acerbaijan) to Aktau, you should ride a very bad road, but of course ridable (I think that kind of roads is what we are looking for in the Stans), but if you go from Astrakhan (Russia) to Atyrau (Kaz) you will not ride the worst part, and arrive Beyneu on asphalt (I didn´t ride that way so I couldn´t say how it is).

I did both worst parts: Atyrau to Aral (hell 1), then I went to Almaty and going back by Tashkent, Samarcand, Bukhara, Nukus, Kungrad, Beyneu and Aktau (hell 2). So I ate the Aral shit twice, but I really enjoyed it. My bike is a GS 1200 and everything Ok, so yours, much lighter, shouldn´t have any problem.

Check the blog about that part in my blog.

Blog de Miquel Silvestre

Have fun on hell.

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www.miquelsilvestre.com

Colebatch, do you think those dirt road stretches can be ridden astride a big dresser like the bike I currently own? (Ultra Classic Electra Glide)
If it does not deal with sand or potholes, maybe I could do it even with it...

What is your suggestion?

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Nick and his 2010 Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré

Its fine ... the dirt road is very dry but there is no sand. Because it is so dry and no rain there, there are no real potholes either. Just light gravel and corrugations.

Your bike will be fine ... you could even do it on road tyres ... it will be a bit slower for you for that 150km than for someone on a lightweight bike with dirt tyres, but no problem.

To encourage you, Here is a picture of the lovely new road that goes from Kulsary to Beyneu! ...


A final note ... be careful on the uzbek asphalt ... there are a couple of long stretches where the bitumen has come up thru the asphalt and makes a slippery shiny surface on the road. Its actually very soft and slippery like oil. The Russian guys i was riding with immediately moved over and rode on the dirt shoulder of the road whenever we hit these slimy bitumen section.

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