Hi i starting (again ) myplans to goinf from europe to ulanbator mongolia;
i will ride on bmw gs 2up

Whats average kms you ride by day on this part of the world ?

How about gas ?? can it be found on 400kms distance ?

Whats the more dificult issue crossing russia ?

thanks

Hi fcaeiro

I guess you will drive to ulan-ude in russia and then heading south to mongolia? I can tell you that until ulan-ude you will find fuel stations at a maximum of about 150kms along the main road.

I drove about 300kms a day, but just because i was not in a hurry and wanted to see some things from the country. I know people which drove approx. 800kms a day on this route.

But how it is in mongolia i can not tell you...

Marco

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Marco
http://www.schnueriger.net

Did you maked this route ??
Can tou send-me the route you made ?
Whats the price of gas ?
unlead gas ???
How about police/army controls ? many bribes ??

thanks

Hi!

Yes, i drove up to norway (northern cape), then to murmansk - st. petersburg - ekaterinburg - chalyabinsk - omsk - novosibirsk - barnaul - altai - krasnojarsk - Up to the Lena River - Baikal - Irkutsk - Ulan-ude - Chitta - Vladivostok.

As i wrote, i have not been in mongolia, but i can tell you for the russian part. The price of gas is at the moment about 16-17 roubles per liter (95 octane). Exchange rate for rouble at the moment 1$ = 30 roubles. Of course, there is only leaded gas in whole russia i think :-) It will clean up your cylinders, don`t worry :-)

I had army controls only in the very northwest, before murmansk. But this was no problem, those army guys were only a bit surprised to see a westerner up there. Along the main road, i have sometimes been stopped three or four times a day, but most of them only want to talk a little. If they wanted some documents i just said `ne panimaju` (i don`t understand), and after 10 minutes or so, the will give up and just let you drive :-) The same if you will be catched by a radar trap. But all in all, the police in russia is not as bad as many people think. I sometimes even parked my bike at the police station, because nobody will touch it there!

It depends on what you mean with bribes... i only once had to pay 200 roubles because of driving to fast, and i didn`t get a receipt, so it`s quite obvious that the money went into the officer`s pocket... but as long as they don`t want money for senseless reasons, i think it`s ok.

Marco

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Marco
http://www.schnueriger.net

Hello fcaeiro: I do not know much about Russia, but I do know Mongolia. You will not have any trouble in Mongolia getting fuel when you need it. If you go far into the countryside then you may only be able to find 76 petrol, but on the main routes you can alostalways find 92 petrol.

On the good roads in Mongolia (not very many) you can ride 400 km in one day. From the Russian border to Ulaanbaatar is about 370 km, and you can ride it in about 6 hours.

I live in Ulaanbaatar, so let me know if you have any questions about Ulaanbaatar or Mongolia.

What year is your GS?

-Scott

Hi scott
Is the road from russia to Ulaanbaatar paved ?
Do you know if i will need a carnet to enter mongolia ?
i will not have much time for this trip.
So i'm thinking on shipping the bike (and.me) from moscow to ulanbathar and then do ride back home..

My bike is 2001 BMW R1150GS.

The road from Russia to Ulaanbaatar is paved, and generally in pretty good shape. You can ride 100k/hour or faster almost all of the way from the border to Ulaanbaatar.

You do not need a carnet to enter Mongolia.
Let me know if you have any other questions.

-Scott

good news.
Whats the legal topspeed in mongolia ?

thxk

hello

i was there (russia, mongolia, central aisa) in 2002.
things change though (like the new borders in mongolia, a nice guy wrote to us a note here about it recently)
you can have a look on my website, especially this link :
http://vincent.danna.free.fr/infos/index.html

have a good trip
you ll see, no problem almost there :-)

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Vincent Danna

* www.va-project.com
Sept 2008 - dec 2009 : Voyage et art contemporain en Amérique du sud.

* http://vincent.danna.free.fr/
2002 - 2004 : Un tour du monde en moto.

I've never heard of a speed limit in Mongolia! It might be 80kph?? But I've been here two years and I have NEVER heard of anyone fined for speeding. The police do not have radar guns and I don't think they care about speeding. I almost always drive over 100kph on the main highways.

Russia is different. I have heard of many riders/drivers fined for speeding in Russia.

In Mongolia it is usually not safe to ride faster than 120-130 kph, because the roads are not well maintained and there are often cows, goats, sheep, horses and camels standing in the road.

-Scott

(1) 300 - 400 klms a day is plenty.

(2) Benzin (fuel) is everywhere you need it between Moscow and UB

(3) The biggest difficulty crossing Russia is finding somewhere secure to park bikes if you stop in a city. Try camping in the forest most of the time.

(4) as for bribes, keep a second wallet with expired or cancelled credit cards in it and small bills. The bribe size depends on how much you have in your wallet. It the cop sees $1000 in your wallet the bribe might be $300. If he sees 200 rubles, the bribe will be a maximum 200 rubles. Outside of Moscow, 100 rubles is all you should need to pay.

(5) I wouldnt worry about the 300klms from Sukhbaatar to UB ... its a tiny portion of your journey. Its paved - built by the Russians to get to their bases around UB. The handful of paved roads in Mongolia were all built by the Russians who used Mongolia as a buffer against China in the cold war days. No point driving that section fast as there are some good grasslands vistas from the road.

See www.TokyotoLondon.com under the Siberia and Mongolia sections

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It is very Big!

I found 400kms in one day to be alot. As Vincent said somewhere..dont ride into the cities at night, it is difficult, much better to stay in a small guestinitsa or camp outside and tackle in the daylight.

The parking places are called.."Avtostayanka" in the cities. Usually the hotel can show you a one nearby.

If you are freindly the police generally treat you well and just want to check out the bike, although the checkpoints can be often and if you are trying to make time it can slow you down to the point where you have to stop earlier than you planned.

The 30 day tourist visa is not long enough to really enjoy the place and I only made it halfway across.

cheers

alec

http://users.netlink.com.au/~asimpson

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