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Northern and Central Asia Topics specific to Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, China, Japan and Korea
Photo by Hendi Kaf, in Cambodia

I haven't been everywhere...
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Photo by Hendi Kaf,
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  #1  
Old 4 Jun 2005
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Did y'all read......
the recent article in BMW Owners News ? Two guys rode acroos and they say don't do it. Too "dangerous" --roads and police.

Comments ?
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  #2  
Old 4 Jun 2005
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Rode where? Being a bit more specific would help................?
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  #3  
Old 5 Jun 2005
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Oh yeah. They rode across Russia
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  #4  
Old 5 Jun 2005
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Yes the Russian drivers are.....lets say different, but i would not say it's dangerous, and i got stopped by the Russian police, well i was speeding and breaking the law and i accept that fact, i would be expected to get fined in any country i was breaking the rules, i hear the fines in Norway are astronmical.

I bribed the cop ten dollars, big deal, if i was doing the same in my own country i would have to pay forty pounds at least ($75.00 approx) and i would have points put on my license. I was never bothered by Russian cops for anything else.

Danger is in the eye of the beholder, if we all wanted to live safe we would not ride motorbikes, drink,smoke,have unprotected sex,eat high cholesterol foods etc etc, maybe they were yuppie riders who have sat behind a desk for the best part of there lives and took a trip into the real world?

Its hard to judge the book by the cover, it was their experiance of riding in Russia and other people have other experiances, and see it through a different set of eyes.

Just my thoughts for what there worth!
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  #5  
Old 5 Jun 2005
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2goose,

could you develop their arguments ?

driving anywhere, doing anything, at home, in foreign countries is dangerous also.

some of us have been to russia and faced no particular problems or dangers. i d recommend to speak a bit of russian : it does help.

as usual : everybody on earth is "same same but different", very few people or situations will create you problems or dangers if you don t take risks with people or situations : driving late at night or on "landmines", etc ... : if you re reasonable, sensible, respectfull to others, nothing really bad will happen to you :-)

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  #6  
Old 5 Jun 2005
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Very hard to make a good response without seeing the article. Was it advice for others not to try, or was it just 'I would never do it again'?
This was just two guys. AT LEAST 10 motorcyclists ride across Russia to Vladivostok EVERY YEAR. I know about 15 personally (myself included). The 'stans' are more hassle and danger than Russia, I think. But still not too bad.
So, my opinion?
Maybe these guys were not the right kind of people for 'adventure motorcycling.' However, I haven't read their article. Maybe they were just unlucky. Maybe they planned poorly.
Just read Horizons and you will find many who had no major troubles in Russia and actually *enjoyed* themselves!!
My worst incident in Russia was being hit by a car.
But I could be hit by a car in front of my house, too! Probably not a Lada, though...
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  #7  
Old 6 Jun 2005
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Quite right Chris, i went out on my bike one day, i pulled up behind a post office van which was blocking the road which had stopped for something,i was less than a hundred metres from my home. I then saw his reverse lights come on, i screamed at the top of my voice whilst pressing the horn and was desperatly shuffling my feet in a rearward motion hauling at the handle bars, but harleys are not the lightest bikes in the world to try to retreat on.

The van reversed striaght up onto my front wheel, the motorbike wheel was supporting the whole of the vans wieght with its wheels off the ground, as it was a rear wheel drive vehicle(thank god!) the wheels were spinning freely in mid air.

I jumped off the bike and let the whole lot come crashing down, i was not hurt.

It was kinda interesting riding a motorbike with an oval shaped front wheel for the two minute ride home, it was like riding rodeo(lol)

Potential danger lurks in every walk of life both near and afar

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  #8  
Old 9 Jun 2005
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I read the article - it was basically a comment about the Trans Siberian dirt section - being Chita to Vlad (or vice versa). They had some photos of how "bad" the road was. We read it with interest, as Kevin was due to ride the same road . . . and tried to glean useful info, but we know from experience that one man's bad road is anothers dream. . . Kev finished the Vlad to Chita section a few weeks back and didn't think that there was anything to worry about.
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  #9  
Old 13 Jun 2005
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Are we talking about this?
http://www.bmwbmw.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=488
I think the guy who wrote it was definitely outside his comfort zone. I think he didn't really understand beforehand what he was letting himself in for.
My 5p
Les
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  #10  
Old 13 Jun 2005
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thanx for writting your comments, your experiences about/in russia, with "fairplay", "reason", reality, objectivity.
the first message was itself "dangerous" (nevermind, no worries) since talking about a country or somebody else's experience without content :-)
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  #11  
Old 14 Jun 2005
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Bob Higdon and Mike Kneebone are very well known in the BMW world here in the US. However, as Higdon makes clear in the trip diaries in the website cited above, he is not an experienced dirt rider, hates riding in dirt, and was riding a street bike (Honda Nighthawk), not a dual sport. So it's no surprise that he found the Zilow Gap difficult and wrote very negatively about it.

I've read Steve Attwood's diaries of his ride from England to Sakhalin Island to join Kneebone, Higdon, and the other rider, and he's far more positive about the experience than Higdon was about the trip westward. I've also had some email correspondence with Steve, and I don't think I would be misquoting him by saying he had a wonderful experience that he thoroughly enjoyed. Steve was on a KTM 640 Adventure, and is obviously experienced and skilled in off-pavement riding. England across Europe and Russia to the Pacific Ocean and back - quite a ride!

As someone basically said above, a road that's one riders hell is another riders heaven.

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  #12  
Old 14 Jun 2005
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Quote:
Originally posted by liketoride2:
.

I've read Steve Attwood's diaries of his ride from England to Sakhalin Island to join Kneebone, Higdon, and the other rider, and he's far more positive about the experience than Higdon was about the trip westward. I've also had some email correspondence with Steve, and I don't think I would be misquoting him by saying he had a wonderful experience that he thoroughly enjoyed. Steve was on a KTM 640 Adventure, and is obviously experienced and skilled in off-pavement riding. England across Europe and Russia to the Pacific Ocean and back - quite a ride!

As someone basically said above, a road that's one riders hell is another riders heaven.

[/B]
Hi i am other from those finns wich were told about on Bob Hidgons story. We saw Steve on his way to East on our way back to west. Where from did you read about Steves diaries. I am interested about it too.

Pekka
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  #13  
Old 14 Jun 2005
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Quote:
Originally posted by liketoride2:
I've read Steve Attwood's diaries of his ride from England to Sakhalin Island to join Kneebone, Higdon, and the other rider, and he's far more positive about the experience than Higdon was about the trip westward.
**diaries**
can these be accessed on the internet?
or purchased in printed book form? (ISBN number?)
Les


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Old 15 Jun 2005
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Some time ago Steve sent me his diary by email. As far as I know, it hasn't been published anywhere but is just his personal account of the experience of riding from England to Sakhalin Island. I've emailed Steve suggesting he post the diary on HU but no reply yet.

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Mike

[This message has been edited by liketoride2 (edited 15 June 2005).]
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  #15  
Old 18 Jun 2005
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I've just received an email from Steve giving the ok for me to send his diary to anyone who's interested. Anyone who is, please email me your email address and I'll forward it (The diary is too long to put in a HUBB post).

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