UK to Hong Kong
 

I thought I'd drop you all a line for some advice. I am in the early stages of planning a solo trip from the UK to Hong Kong, starting in spring next year. I expect the trip to take around three months.

I own and regularly ride a 2008 R1200GSA. Apart from regular riding I have done two longish trips.

The first was a two month trip through Australia and New Zealand. As I have the beemer at home I rented the same bike in Melbourne, rode around Tasmania for 10 days, then rode it up the east coast, dropped it off in Cairns and then rented another beemer in NZ. Nice holiday, about 8000km all of it on asphalt.

Next trip was a month long and from Buenos Aires down to Ushuaia and back. Some of that was on asphalt, but quite a bit along Ruta 40 and through Patagonia was not. For that trip I rented a Honda Transalp and it never failed me.

For this next trip I am inclined to leave my BMW in the garage and buy something easy to fix and a bit lighter. I'm sure I'd get there with the beemer but I really don't fancy having to muscle a big bike through Mongolia and China where as I'm sure you know there are many areas with no roads at all.

So my question is : what type of bike would better fit my needs?

To clarify I am 6' 4" tall and ended up buying an R1200GSA not because I like beemers particularly (although I love the bike) but because it 'fits' me.
Whatever I buy next also needs to be tall enough for my height.

It seems with the right modifications the Yamaha Tenere XT660Z is a good choice and based on my S.America trip a Honda TransAlp might also fit the bill.

Any hints tips, or advice gratefully received.

Many thanks!

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G'day, personally would take the GSA as PRC has quite a few officially authorised BMW dealerships across the country if needed..The Yamaha XT660Z is not very common around PRC "People Replic of Changes".... Well - believe it or not but Mainland China has plenty of roads / highways in various conditions.....

Might become a major hassle and miles of "Red Tape" to enter PRC "People's Republic of Changes" in the first place and continue onwards to HK from PRC ~ just sayin' as driving / riding through Mainland China fully legally with overseas motor vehicles is quite costly and very bureaucratic. Many Chinese cities (municipalities) ban motorcycles within city limits, Chengdu (Sichuan) just recently joined the extensive list and outlawed motorbikes around the various city districts... Safe travels and my personal China rules below, came up with them decades ago and even more spot on nowadays....

TIC = This is China!
1. Everything is possible in China.
2. Nothing is easy.
3. Patience is the essence of success.
4. The answer "yes" is not necessarily an indication of agreement or confirmation.
5. "You don't understand our country" means they disagree.
6. "Provisional regulations" mean they can change the rules any time they want, even retroactively.
7. "Basically, no problem" means a BIG problem.
8. "Signing a contract" means the beginning of the real negotiation.
9. When you are feeling optimistic, think about rule number two.
10. When you are feeling discouraged, think about rule number one.
11. It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission.
12. If they tell you, that you know China very well, say NO - otherwise they'll show you, that you don't!

A bit ot but what Transalp did you ride on? What year?

I did the Argentina trip on the Transalp in December 2011. I have no idea what age the bike was, didn't seem too old, maybe a couple of years old?

Having done a bit more reading up on getting a bike in and out of China I think I will give that a miss and ride on to Magadan instead. Then ship the bike on to west coast USA (via Vladivostok?) and crack on from there.

The original idea was to head for Hong Kong because I grew up there and still have a few friends there to go and visit, but I'll just have to do that with a metal canary!