Rode Samarkand to Khiva in august 2016 on a motorcycle rented in Almaty.
I can say that the A380's tarmac from Beruniy to about 20 km southeast of Gazli direction Bukhara is in excellent conditions, but take care of fuel consumption, as there's no fuel stations for a very long stretch, I mean about 250-260 km (you can find some places with emergency fuel, anway, it's what saved me because the motorcycle I rented had a small tank not suitable for a long desert ride).
Did not go north of Beruniy, so I can't know how the road conditions of the A380 are in direction of Nukus (but I think they were still extremely good).
If you plan to go to Khiva, the 6-7 km stretch from the exit of A380 to the bridge on Amu-Darya is in terrible conditions, full of potholes as if it was bombed by F-16's, but after the bridge it improves immediately up to Khiva: not in perfect conditions, but you can ride with no problems.
From 20 km southeast of Gazli to Bukhara, the A380 becomes quite bumpy but you can still ride 75-80 km/h with no major problem (don't do it at night like I did, there's many potholes even if not so deep).
Bukhara to Samarkand is again excellent and with fuel stations.
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Nick and his 2010 Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré
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