I think the question of ease or difficulty is just as much correlated with the all up weight of the bike you are riding.

I have seen girls with very limited off road experience have no trouble in Mongolia on a nice lightweight 400 or 650cc single cylinder bike. I have also seen plenty of guys who are on 240 kg "adventure" tourers. with 25 kgs of metal luggage boxes and other add ons, then 60 - 80 kgs of luggage, then 30 kgs of fuel try to go there ... with a bike that weighs more than 350 kgs ... and they are ALWAYS the guys who have trouble and turn back.

I never saw a person on a single cylinder bike with light soft luggage have to quit in Mongolia. But I have seen and heard of dozens who hated it, or struggled, or quit, that were riding bikes that are not suitable for Mongolia.

Which tires for Kaz + Mongolia
 

Deadlines. The only reason to be wary. Don't make yourself go somewhere in Mongolia by a certain date. We had no choice and paid for it by damaged bikes, personally worn out, all because we needed to be somewhere by a certain date

Take it easy, don't do 400km days like we did

Well, i drive a Honda Transalp, i will have Aluminium Boxes, but i will take care about the weight and dont do me any stress.
If i want to ride 400km + , i will do it, if i dont want, then i rest on a nice river and relax.

Still, i want to arrive, but if its a day or two more, i dont care

What I meant about the distance is 50kmh moving average is about the limit, it would have been so much nicer to limit the ride to 200km per day, so much less pressure and more looking around and relaxing

If i do this i have to quit my journey , because then it is definitely a time problem.
There is no way to spend more time then 2 Month of riding

Just skip some part then.
You can easily get in 9 days to Mongolia via Russia from Europe.

Sorry, dont want to skip.

I love to ride, and i will take the planned way to mongolia.
I am quite sure that works.

On my way home i will take a faster route.

About the northern route everyone says something different, also here.
Like you write, dont take it when it was raining recently, walter wrote i should be possible.......

DO NOT do the north road in solo if it has rained.
Colebach is on a light bike. I would also say the north road his doable if you were on a light single cylinder bike.
Transalp with hard luggage is not light.
You might attempt it if you find someone else to come with you...
And forget about doing 400km + a day in Mongolia... Unless you want to be severely injured or worst.

I don't know about that - even two up we managed 300km very easily (southern route).

Our whole group had no choice but to do 400km day,(southern route) but we ran into bike problems and severe fatigue as the corrugations just shook the bikes apart, and ourselves.

It is doable, it is NOT enjoyable, which is what I said before

Slow down and enjoy Mongolia, otherwise you are just wasting time and money

We only went there because of the China situation otherwise it would hav been a different planned journey, not the rushed and dangerous one we undertook to satisfy visa and entry requirements into China

Cheers
TS

Different strokes for different folks.

I enjoy averaging 650 km a day in Mongolia. If I went slower, I wouldnt enjoy it as much. I go for the riding just as much as the scenery and people.

I would add that there are a lot of things you can do to your bike to eliminate the "not enjoyable" factor apart from riding slower.

- Use a bike that has 18/21 inch wheels instead of 17/19. Another reason that big adventure bikes (apart from the KTM 990) are much less suitable for the likes of Mongolia. Bigger wheels smooth out bumps. Road size wheels amplify them.
- riding faster actually makes corrugations disappear. Corrugations that can shake the bike apart at 60 km/h don't exist at 120 km/h. The bike skips over the top of them rather than falling into each one.
- good quality suspension. KTMs are reasonably well set up from the shop (but can still use improvement). Any other brand's OEM suspension is woefully inadequate for "enjoying" Mongolia. Most OEM suspensions will be lucky to "survive" Mongolia let alone lead to an enjoyable experience. In my opinion aftermarket suspension is a must (tho illegal if your bike is registered in Germany)

And I think if I on your bike I would be looking at doing the same across similar territory in parts of Australia this even possible on a 990 solo.

Yes, all depend on your bike and the road you will take.

Personally went through the Gobi and then up to the north. Average 350km a day, most of the time it was due to the sand/gravel and the lack of track to follow + a connector to the batteries that kept getting loose...

Any way, my comment was for the first guy posting:
-A Transalp is not an high-tech light rally motorcycle, it his rater heavy. Just my 2 cent advise on Mongolia. Doing the north road or the Gobi solo with this kind of bike is dangerous.
-If you don't find any one to go with, take the south road.
-Keep in mind that Mongolia population his 2 800 000 people, with 1 200 000 living in Ulaanbator that give you 1 600 000 in the rest of the country or roughly 1 hab by square km.

If you fall down, you are on your own...

I know that, thats why i choose a Transalp witz 21" front tire

I will also Take a aftermarket Suspension, i know that too
And i dont care, im Austrian, not german:rofl:

I like to ride and i dont have a problem to do a lot of riding.

A Transalp is a reliable motorcycle and a lot of people have done this kind of journey with this bike.
Why do you consider "with this bike is dangerous" ?
I am not this stupid, and by the way, it does not matter, how many people live in a country, when you are alone and nobody is close to help you. You can also have a problem in the middle of paris and die

I dont drive on my own, we are two persons.
i am able to fix most of the problems on a bike by myself, i can take a bike apart to the almost last screw and put it together ( including engine )
I did Motocross driving in my younger days ( ok, at this time we drove the old air cooled 495 KTMs )
I still do Off Road, and for example i did the LGKS ( I dont know how you name it in english - the Ligurian border street, the old one ) with a regular street bike, because i wanted it this way )
The other guy is a trial driver.

My idea was, to ask here about tires, because i have never been there and i really dont know which tires to choose out there.
I thought, i ask experienced drivers.
And i get tips, where i think i dont follow them.

Walters information seem quite ok for me, here i can decide, what is important for me.

I know i will take care that my bike is as light as possible, but for some reasons i dont want to go with a single cylinder bike.
I also know that i have to keep my weight down.
The idea for alu panniers was, that the are waterproof, not that i fill them up with 30kg per side.

And i know, that tires are important, thats why i want to have good informations about that.
I`d rather plan my trip and get with good new profile into mongolia instead of worn out old rubber

and it does make a difference, if you drive sand or Rocks or mud......

With regard to the off topic discussions I agree with those who say bike suspension and rider's riding ability/experience are very important. In addition I believe soft, well attached luggage to be far superior to hard luggage, especially utterly unsuitable Givi boxes and sh!te oem rack (hint hint Yan :innocent:) for a Mongolian trip.

Yan, you never rode the northern route so aren't able to comment on it's suitability for any particular bike in any particular weather. Clearly riding solo off-pavement isn't necessarily the best idea in any country. The 2 English blokes Matt and Ed (riding ktm 950 and xt660 Tenere) at the Oasis GH said the Northern Route was fine in 2012, the worst summer in terms of rain in a long time: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...rn-route-66127

Answering the OP's question: In 2012 on my Central Asia and Mongolia trip I used Pirelli MT21 on my Transalp and rode a combination of Northern and Central route. The tyres were good for the job.

The Mongolian section of my RR will be posted soon. Link is in my signature.