Leonards??
Paul
One new set of tyres got me to Almaty and had life left when I got there. I think by Leornards you must mean MyTown Moto, Leornard is the top guy there. There is one blond guy who speaks excellent english but doesnt work there all the time and Pavel speaks good German. The guys are the only bike place in Kazakhstan, they have fairly regular ride-outs and are ace in every way. Like to drink, surprise surprise! David at Stantours can tell you where they are as he lives not far away. The road from Shymkent to Almaty is probably one of the best fast roads in the world, brand new, smooth, sweeping visible bends and no traffic to mention!
If you have an Italian bike take lots of oil filters (or a Japanese bike). Jap spares can be found in siberia and Kazakhstan. There is one guy in Ashgabat who imports bikes from Dubai and has spare filters, spark plugs etc. You will probably want to change before and after Turkmenistan, especially in summer as the desert cooks oil pretty badly. Take plenty of spare plugs in case your oil does get bad. Oil is readily available in all major cities so don't worry about taking oil from home, just a top-up bottle. If you normally run 4T you might want to consider 25W50 in the desert.
The stans are amazing, enjoy!
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