UK to vladivostok, via stans - mostly paved.

[whatsisname]

hi all,

i am planning a trip, london to vladivostok, then over to north america. but my question is for the uk to vladivostok section. bike will either be a very uprated bandit 1200s or a 2014 bmw 1200gs (started another thread about that choice!).

i have zero offroad experience at the moment, and a pretty duff left knee that limits a lot of what i can do, so i'm looking to do it mostly paved. i look on in awe and admiration at you hardcore mongolian river-crossing off-roaders, but no way could my knee handle that sort of thing!

so my question is about paved routes. i know i can do most of russia paved no problem, but would love to go turkey, georgia, russia, kazakhstan, some of the other stans, kazakhstan again then russia again. drop into mongolia from the north down to ulaanbaatar, back up to russia again to vladivostok.

is this even remotely possible predominantly paved? i have no particular time limitation to do it in.


thanks!

gary.

[Ride Far]

You can do pavement the whole way UK to Vlad, no worries.

I rode Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, back into Russia to Vlad this year. With the exception of Mongolia, there's always pavement if you want ... but plenty of offroad opportunities which especially in Mongolia were absolutely awesome. Can't cross Mongolia by all pavement but they are paving furiously, it's only a matter of time.

I didn't swing down into Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan etc.... my impression is that all-pavement is possible but I'm not sure, someone else can clear that up. Good luck!

[KameOn]

Hi! I'm planning to travel from south of Spain to Japan, start in May 2017.
I'm searching information like you and I've found that in Mongolia there is not pavement (as Ride Far say) and when you found it its almost worst than the outroad track, really disrepair pavement. You can found a disrepair pavement in Siberia too
I suggest you to use a GS for this trip (even if I think that is too much heavy in many outroad situation specially if you dont have experience)
And I suggest you to train to ride standing and ride on mud and sand before the trip, you never know! even a lil be, you dont need to practice for a Dakar
Good luck buddy!
Maybe we see on the road!

[whatsisname]

hi guys thanks for the comments.

@Ride Far, thanks for the info. sounds good. for mongolia what i may do is get to ulaanbatar from the north, then hire a small bike for a foray into mongolia off road. yes the other stans seems a bit vague at the moment in terms of how much tarmac there is.

@KameOn, maybe our paths will cross at some point! chug am definitely planning on doing some off road training before going. GS is still tempting me.

Gary.

[Bones667]

Hi Gary

Not sure where you are based in the UK but the Yamaha Off road experience based in Wales run off road courses using their own WR / TTR enduro bikes .. or you can bring your own... Recommend you use theirs if you don't have must experience though as you will fall off some point in the day ... Tuition is brilliant

Yamaha Offroad Experience - Motorcycle Experience - Enduro

BMW also run courses on GS but very basic compared to above

Have fun

Bones

[whatsisname]

cheers bones, sounds good. i'll check it out.

[Declan]

Originally Posted by whatsisname

hi all,

i am planning a trip, london to vladivostok, then over to north america. but my question is for the uk to vladivostok section. bike will either be a very uprated bandit 1200s or a 2014 bmw 1200gs (started another thread about that choice!).

i have zero offroad experience at the moment, and a pretty duff left knee that limits a lot of what i can do, so i'm looking to do it mostly paved. i look on in awe and admiration at you hardcore mongolian river-crossing off-roaders, but no way could my knee handle that sort of thing!

so my question is about paved routes. i know i can do most of russia paved no problem, but would love to go turkey, georgia, russia, kazakhstan, some of the other stans, kazakhstan again then russia again. drop into mongolia from the north down to ulaanbaatar, back up to russia again to vladivostok.

is this even remotely possible predominantly paved? i have no particular time limitation to do it in.


thanks!

gary.

I'm currently travelling solo from Ireland to Magadan and then to Vladivostok. Did Ireland to Kyrgyzstan in summer 2016 via Turkey Georgia Armenia Iran Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan so the bike is currently overwintering in Kyrgyzstan.. Will finish hopefully summer 2017 via Kazakhstan Russia Mongolia and Russia again to Magadan and then ship the bike to Vladivostok.

For me the only route to go was south of the Caspian through the Stans as I wanted a more colourful experience. Going by Russia eg Moscow to Omsk to Barnaul is flat and very boring. However, if you do go south of the Caspian then the visa for Turkmenistan can be a bit unpredictable to say the least. Iran is incredible - the people are so friendly.

I have a R1200gs but it was not the bike of choice for me for this trip - I took a lighter Kawasaki KLR650 instead and I was very happy with that choice as I rode a lot of dirt roads in central Asia - although if you wish to stick to tar it is possible [other than in Mongolia].

[Djimny]

Hi,
I am also planning to go to Vlad and then to North America in 2017

Please send me an email, maybe we can do an section together or the the whole part. I have also a GS 1200.

Email: djinsital@gmail.com

Djin

[amzahsulaiman]

Hi,
Im planning to ride West to East from Holland into Russia St. Petersburg till Vladivostock next summer. Also, covering the Stans and Mongolia enroute.
Any particular must check/do before entering Russia at various borders?

Amzah

PS - I have ridden Mongolia (South) along the Gobi desert and can share my experience if you need. My email: rideabiketravel@gmail.com