If you need fresh infos about the route, you need to ask someone who drove it recently and it does not help to ask someone who lives 1500km away from that.

just my 2 cents

I agree and I'll also try to get in touch, along the way, with travelers coming from where I'm going, but someone who lives nearby has a very big chance to have fresh (and maybe more detailed) info, from the same source.
At least that's my thinking :).

Well, what do you understand with "nearby" ??

If someone is about 1200 - 1500 km away from the tracks in Mongolia I would not consider it nearby.

I dont know him, maybe he knows the roads very well.
But usually it makes more sense to ask people who just drove that, and not "hearing from someone who was told"

And even if someone tells you about the road, it depends on his driving skills and preferences.

I remember when we asked car drivers, they said "good road" and it was nasty tracked sand. Perfect for a car to avoid potholes, but sometimes hard for a biker who is not an experienced offroad driver.

So I rather would have some "bad" potholed gravel road which is easy to drive for bikes.

And by the way, nearby is if you ask someone in London how the roads are in Swizzerland

Hello everyone, we finally postpone the trip until next July and we keep the idea of doing the route: Tashanta - Olgii - Khovd - Altai - Uliastaay - Tosontsengel - Jargalant - Tsertseleg Kharkhorin - UB.
We have modified the route to Mongolia through Georgia and Kazakhstan from Turkey.
Any comments or recent info will be welcome.
Thanks in advance!!

Did the route 2 weeks ago on a 1150GS

Olgii to Altai is almost everything paved except 70 km between Olgii and Khovd.

Altai to Uliastay is good gravel road ( was completely different 2013 )

Uliastay to Telmen is prepared gravel and normal gravel, ok to drive.

Then again mostely asphalt, except some detours ( sometimes 20km ) for construction.

So most of the middle route is also asphalt now.

Thank you very much klausmong1.
In spite of not being a complicated trip our group will be composed of experienced pilots in off road and long trips and we will take tires type Mitas E07 or similar.
How is the theme of gas stations from Altai to Tosontsengel? I think there's one in Uliastai, isn't it? And from Khovd to Altai I think there's no

Gas is not the big Problem anymore.

From Olgii to Altai you find it in the cities and inbetween

Then again in Ulaistay ( less then 200km ) and then in the cities again, also Telmen, Tosontsengel, Tariat, Tsertseleg, Kharkhorin.

So at maximum it can be that you need gas für 250km, but usually you find benzin before that

Thanks klausmong1 :mchappy:
How long the wait is going to be after having to postpone it!!
This first trip will help me making contact with the country because my dream is to do the north route in maxitrail, but for that I will have to select 1 or 2 riders with good off road level and very used to solve problems on the fly...

Trip report
 

I've just returned from this year's trip, including Mongolia. Here is the relevant part, written just after crossing Mongolia, as advise for a friend:

"About Mongolia: from the border to Olgii you have 100Km, half it's good gravel, half is asphalt. After Olgii to Khovd you have the first 70Km asphalt and than gravel until the last 50-60Km where you have asphalt again. Roughly in the middle there are some sandy sections, not too bad but annoying and you need to go slow. After Khovd you have 2 options: go to Altai, the road is only asphalt, or to Ulaangom, 250Km of gravel road. We took the road to Ulaangom, it was not bad at all but around half, before a small village called Ulgii, there are again some sandy sections. If you take this road, do not go all the way to Ulaangom: 20Km before the city there is a small road to right, you can see it on Maps.me - take it and in 15Km you are on the asphalt again. Than you can go to Ulaangom for gas, on the asphalt road. From here to Songino you have very good asphalt until 47Km before Songino. From here you have gravel and packed dirt all the way to Tosonongel, 190Km between Songino and here. From here it's asphalt all the way to Ulaabataar, with maybe 10-15 Km in total of gravel on some parts.
All along this way you will ride next to the new roads that are being built. You can try and go up the roads but take care, some sections are blocked and you need to find a way around the blocks or even return a few Kms.
If you go to Altai, from Altai to Uliastay it's a bad gravel road, some friends took that part with a car. After Uliastay to Tosonongel it's OK gravel road and then asphalt all the way to UB."

I hope this helps :D.

Be careful.

As already mentioned, as a biker never ask someone with a car how the road is.
If the cardriver says "good road" in Mongolia that usually means sandy parts, because a car likes that.

If they say "bad road" they mean gravel with stones or potholes.
And biker can get easier on that than on sand .
Except you are an experienced sandrider :scooter:

Thank you very much for your answer, it's very useful for us.
I don't worry about there being sandy parts, almost all of us have experience in Africa, nor do I worry if there are a couple of stages in bad conditions, Ulaangom is a very interesting option... Can this route be more attractive than by Uliastai?

No, in my opinion the route from Atail to Uliastay and then Telme, Tosntsengel and Kharkhorin is much nicer than the route in the north.

I have don both of them and would ever advice the middle route .
Nicer landscape.

If you want more selective offroad, take the nothern route

If you have plenty of times and skills, i would recommend that from Ulaangoom to continue North and take the North route all the way, skipping Songino, Tosontsengel, etc. Go to the big lakes in the North. I haven't took that route but from what info I have gathered it seems to be the most captivating one - also the hardest. If you take that route, make sure to check the river crossings status at the time.

I have been there and I have done other routes also, with the bike.

And in my opinion it is not the most boutiful and scienic one.
it is also much deeper from the seelevel than the middle route and also at the middle route you have big mountains and also lakes like the Tsaagan Nur ( white lake ) which is built by a vulcano which you also see there....

But iv you heard that it is the more beautiful route, it must be true what you heard......

I think both would be spectacular for those who have not yet visited Mongolia, but we are not going to change anything by now, I think we already have a very compensated and contrasted route with travelers, so ... here we go.
Thanks!!