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  #1  
Old 9 Oct 2017
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Vladivostok to Europe in winter
My girlfriend and I travelled from Switzerland to Australia. She will ship her bike home from Sydney.

I'm thinking about shipping my F800GS to Korea and then take the ferry to Vladivostok and ride it home.
This will probably be in early January.
I think, I can manage to organise proper winter riding gear and camping gear.

Does anybody know how the road conditions will be?
I can imagine that the road will be cleared after snowfall, so it will probably be hard packed snow / ice all the way.
Also I'm looking for some local contacts in Vladivostok.
Is it common for Russians to ride bikes in the winter? Will it be possible to get studded tyres in Vladivostok?
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  #2  
Old 9 Oct 2017
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Look at the Turtle web site. They went through in the middle of winter in a camper so you might be able to judge how you will go without a couple of webasto heaters and heated cabin to keep you warm
https://turtleexpedition.com/adventures/russia/
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  #3  
Old 9 Oct 2017
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losduesen - in 2008 I drove a 4x4 from Vladivostok to Khabarovsk and then continued west.

At the time I made contact with a few of the local biker fraternity and got given quite a long list of contacts.

This list is in Russian and is now 9 years old. However, if you think it will be of any use then PM me and I'll forward it to you.

Mark
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  #4  
Old 9 Oct 2017
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Quote:
Originally Posted by losduesen View Post
My girlfriend and I travelled from Switzerland to Australia. She will ship her bike home from Sydney.

I'm thinking about shipping my F800GS to Korea and then take the ferry to Vladivostok and ride it home.
This will probably be in early January.
I think, I can manage to organise proper winter riding gear and camping gear.

Does anybody know how the road conditions will be?
I can imagine that the road will be cleared after snowfall, so it will probably be hard packed snow / ice all the way.
Also I'm looking for some local contacts in Vladivostok.
Is it common for Russians to ride bikes in the winter? Will it be possible to get studded tyres in Vladivostok?
I think it will be hard to do, to travel in winter through Russia. And no, it is not usual in Russia to travel/ride a bike during winter.I'm pretty sure it will be difficult to find someone who ride bike in winter. You better to watch some videos about Russia (about Russian taiga) in winter. There are lot of peoples dying every year due to low temperatures. If you are not common with winter riding, better to not do it, at least in that area.
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  #5  
Old 10 Oct 2017
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Agree with Rinat_kz, its too risky. And you will hardly find studded tyres in Vladivostok. And what is more important, nobody will clean the road after the snowfall, especially in Blagoveschensk - Chita region.

And the temperature can easily go -40 degrees there. Plus there are hotels and petrol station 150-200 km.

Well, from my point of vies is a crazy idea to ride bike in that region in winter.
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  #6  
Old 10 Oct 2017
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It is possible. A crazy Swiss guy did it on a Victory solo bike:
https://www.blick.ch/auto/motorrad/t...id2674166.html

But the closer I look at it, the more I realize, that it is unrealistic for me to do it now.
The facts, that I don't have much experience with winter riding and beeing unable to test my gear properly in Australia, makes it too risky..
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  #7  
Old 10 Oct 2017
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Good decision. 5,000 miles of packed ice roads and -40 temperatures with 3 hours of daylight and drunk Russian truckers ain't a great ride.
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  #8  
Old 22 Oct 2017
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I rode it in summer, and still we had some chilly parts. But -40, or even only -20.
and then imagine the windchill at 20km/h. If you fall down (which is inevetibly), you´ll just fall into small frozen pieces. And what do you mean by "winter riding gear" ?
In Maine they ride snow scooters at that temperature, so it ist possible, but better take a snow scooter
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Old 23 Oct 2017
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Quote:
Originally Posted by losduesen View Post
It is possible. A crazy Swiss guy did it on a Victory solo bike:
https://www.blick.ch/auto/motorrad/t...id2674166.html
Hello

This Guy had to change the rims on his Victory to fit the propre tyres.
He's collecting media attention and records.
Although the newspaper says: "googletranslate: and is the first person to cross the siberian taiga alone on two wheels in winter (original german:und damit als erster Mensch alleine auf zwei Rädern im Winter die sibirische Taiga durchquert).", I have my doubts that he was the first.

A trip like that is all about preparation and determination.
Doable, but nothing you do just to get home.

I recommend to start with scandinavia in winter, no drunk russians on the road and help is closer if something goes wrong.

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  #10  
Old 23 Oct 2017
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Well, in August I met an Italian cyclist, Dino, in Bukhara. He started cycling from Magadan in February. And he was still alive.

if you don't kill yourself, then you will make it. Good luck with planning and doing the trip!
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