You need to plan carefully. Below is the link for the Turkish Weather Forecast site.
METEOROLOJİ GENEL MÜDÜRLÜĞÜ - Önümüzdeki 5 Gün Yurt Genelinde Hava
On the east it predicts snow coming.

Adana, Antakya would be warm. But towards east there ise Yüksekova and Hakkari. Both on the high plateu. Fİrst place not a safe site either.

Which border gate you plan on using? I am not sure but it loks like following are the options to cross (PLEASE CHECK AGAIN TO MAKE SURE)
- Gate Esendere, located in Hakkari,
- Kapıköy gate in Van/Özalp
- Gürbulak Gate in Ağrı/Doğubeyazıt

I would check carefully the forecast everyday and may be you have a window of no snow.
Good Luck

Nearly three- four weeks ago, Paul Read (karter257) tried to reach Iran Border. Roads to all gates were icy and snowy. Probably they are much worse now. He loaded his bike to a truck from Ercis, Van and went all way to Dogbiscuit (Dogubeyazit) by truck because of icy roads. Your best options is Trans-Asia train. You can find more info in Turkish State Railways website (TCDD - TURKISH STATE RAILWAYS) about the route it takes. They asked around €200 for 300 kgs + €35 for ticket from Ankara To Tehran. Loading In Turkey could be a problem but 3-4 strong man may lift the bike. People didnt have any problems in unloading the bike in Tehran as far as I read. Train crosses border from Kapikoy Gate. Be sure that you have the every document for the bike and they are valid cause people said some of the officers in Kapiköy Iranian border were picky.

Ozgur

Islahiye-Teheran train
 

Sorry to bother you (all) with this again.
According to this: TCDD - TURKISH STATE RAILWAYS , the Turkish State Railways timetable, route number 3 goes from Damascus to Teheran via Islahiye-Elazig-Van-Kapikoy.
My idea was: instead of taking the Trans-Asia from Istanbul all the way across Turkey, I could ride along the south coast where the weather should be less severe and reach Islahiye (a few miles past Osmaniye) and there get the train to Iran.
The only problem is: would they take my bike on the train?

I cannot think of a way to get in touch with the company that runs the service and ask more info, I suppose it would be either Syrian or Iranian, has anybody done this?

I will be on the ferry from Venice to Igoumenitsa next Sunday, then ride to Istanbul where I should make a decision on which way to take, I suppose riding along the southern coast will be more fun than sitting on the Trans-Asia Istanbul-Teheran but on the other hand i dont want to get stuck in the south.

Any idea?

Hello Alex,

I contacted with Turkish State Railways. They said there is a box car in the train so you may load your bike to the train. They stated that loading the bike is owner's responsibility and they dont take any responbility about loading. I dont know about Islahiye but probably you will need a platform to load your bike. So, It would better if you arrive Ishaliye half or one day before before the trains arrival to organize the loading because probably this will be their first time to deal a situtation like that.

The box car and passangers are loaded to ferry to cross Van Lake and after the Van Lake, they attach box car to Iranian. I talked with Kapikoy border gate when Paul wants to take the train and they said if your documents are all right, there would be no problem. Though, Craig (another HU member) told Paul that he had some problems on the Iranian side.

I dont know how much it costs from Ishaliye to Tehran for your bike but it shouldnt be more expensive than Ankara- Tehran.

I hope this helps a bit.

Ozgur.

Send me an e-mail if you need any help (kobold42@hotmail.com). :)