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  ) 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.
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