Ulan Ude or Irkutsk to hit the Bam Road
 

Helo,im trying to decide whether to go east or west of Lake Baikal (linking onto BAM)is there a usual route that seasoned Riders prefer? Cheers

Depends how hard you want it!

The 'normal' route is west. If you go east, you'll be doing the more hard-core 110 in the north before you join the BAM.

This map shows where we went in 2015, I've also added the 110 (if you 'un-hide' it):

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?m...uY&usp=sharing

I believe the East route is quite hardcore past Barguzin. We drove it up to Ust-Barguzin, where you can go onto the peninsula and camp on the beach. We liked it (although quite some washboarding roads), but we were not going to do the BAM road and were not coming from West so not coming over Irkutsk.

It seems most travelers stick to the west Route....whose to say the condition il be in Physically and mentally to say il go the hard way....if the western route is a boring slog to hit Severobaikalsk then id like to think id be brave enough to try,baring in mind id have the BAM ahead of me as well ,ive went over the East route on Sat images and it looks like trouble in the northern sections,im wondering about the river crossings in those areas around July,id be hoping the thaw should be well receded by then.Your Routes are not far off mine,but im going via Iran and pending Turkmenistan Visa

I think it is the rocky river crossings that can make it hard in the north (The 110), and water levels. I doubt anyone's done it on a big bike.

West side not that exciting, but I think the graded dirt started reasonably soon north of Irkutsk.

Just uncovered that 110 route on your map....some useful information bier im doing it solo on a 81 Harley Davidson Shovel Head :cool4: only kidding mate its a DRZ400,i think the only call i can make on this is get to Ulan Ude and make a split decision based and current events weather etc,il keep planning :smiliex:

Hi Brian,


The west road has some scenery on certain sections and is quite boring on others. You can take a detour to Olkhon island, quite nice.

If you want to attempt the 110, the issues are mainly the Barguzin river to cross twice - it may be unpassable if the river is not at low level, then ride in the river beds in the some places and huge bogs.
As far as I know 110 has only been done once or twice on motorcyles.

I will be in that area between early and mid june and will see how the conditions are for the 110 in case you want to join and want to try it.

Kim

Or go in late February to March and drive straight across the lake :)

https://image.ibb.co/iNNHiJ/Stage_44_55.jpg

EO

A few of us are planning to ride from SB along the BAM and then to the 110 next February to Ulan Ude. Whilst river crossings will be frozen and bogs will not be bogs it's likely that the extreme cold is going to be the bigger challenge :freezing:
I rode a bicycle across Baikal a month ago in March but in terms of cold it was only -12. February will be much colder.
Any good links to the BAM and 110?
Thanks
Declan

Hi Declan

Sounds like a nice plan, I think the section of the BAM road you're taking will be fine. Not sure I'd want to ride a motorcycle in those temperatures.

I've never really looked into the 110 track, but the BAM in winter was something I looked into (Severobaykalsk to Tynda). My impression is that for much of the route there would be nobody using it (as nobody would clear the snow), so I drove on the Lena River instead.

Sorry not to be more help!

EO

Thanks EO. Research ongoing at the moment.

Hey guys it would be great to join you.....but my trip is for 2020:( i want to do the 110.....but the decision will be made when i reach Ulan Ude.If the rivers are down im going to try push through. Im sure when the time comes the locals can update me more on the conditions.