Is 8 weeks enough?
 

Hi. I am in the planning stages of a motorbike trip from Sofia, Bulgaria to Ulan Bator, Mongolia via the Pamir Highway. This will be a trip made in June and July (but not this year). I'm used to long days in the saddle and riding off-road. The bike will be shipped back from Ulan Bator. I have 2 friends hoping to join me but they need to get time off work. I've struggled to find estimations on how long the trip could take so my questions, to enable them to apply for the time off work, are these:

Is completing the trip in 8 weeks realistic without slogging day after day and will it give us time to have a bit of chill time? Or do I need to re-think the timescales?

I know someone who did a similar trip in three weeks. I think he pretty much rode near every day though.

Three weeks!!! Thanks *Touring Ted*, much appreciated

You could join the Mongol Rally with this plan :D

(which also means it is possible)

But you're not getting the most out of these countries if I need to take this route literally.
I am not sure it is possible this way in Turkmenistan but I'm not expert on that country.
In Iran I would suggest to see Esfahan to see something of the country (Tehran is not interesting)
And you're not visiting any of the nice Uzbek cities.

route in Tajikistan and Kirgistan is okay. Kirgistan: Go over Song Kul and visit at least one of the valleys around Issuk Kul (south and east of lake)

East Kazakhstan is bad roads but still can be done in a few days max. In Altai, I would drive over Barnaul because roads are better (and Barnaul is convenient city for taking a break)
In Mongolia the Northern road is not the easiest, there are some topics about it, please check.

As a rule of thumb I usually reckon that 200 kms a day on average will let you make progress while allowing for resting, sightseeing, and most unplanned events. Much more than that and you're facing long days in the saddle seeing nothing but the road.

Also, be aware it can be hard to get visas for Turkmenistan, 50% are refused for no reason.

Thank you all for your responses, they're really helpful :-)

I will try and fit in as much as possible into the trip and will no doubt adjust my route to do so once I'm confident on the timescales. As I will have to book flights back from Mongolia I just need to be 100% confident I'm going to get there in time.