I am the sole distributor of said patches. And I only distribute them having seen conclusive evidence that they have been earned. (helps maintain their relevance).

PM me with address details and I will send you back my paypal details for a fiver, to cover the cost of production and P&P. It will be waiting for you in the UK when you arrive home.

When I commissioned the patches some years ago, the BAM was unknown to riders. So I never thought there would be demand. Now, I think its as popular as the ROB. I might have to have a word with my badge maestro.... stay tuned.

Looking back Luke, you gotta smile.The little girl fishing....
I wonder if she caught anything.... :)

Thanks Walter. Will do the PayPal thing when I have a decent Internet connection. Put me down for a BAM/ Vitim patch too, if the maestro can weave her/ his way. I think I deserve one. :thumbup1:

I think after reading these stories of BAM i start to be more and more interested to do it with current bike Suzuki DR-Z or even smaller WR250R in summer 2014.

I think it really it is if i can get group of experienced travellers&riders to get interested, arrange logistics to get bike to Magadan including myself.

Well I have been peeing sitting down ever since...

actually I did hear her scream to her father (didn't see where he was but heard him speak back) I didn't see anything on the end of the line but it was at a distance and it could of been something small or something having stolen her bait. The zeya reservoir is good fishing, just not usually over the roads.

I did see some big eddies as things swam away from me, pretty sure it was river otters as I heard a few things jump in the water from tree branches as I came past. Whatever it was it was kind of concerning just how big the things at my feet were. Maybe it was best that I didn't see the creatures.

I'm going to add that to the blog now

Edit: yes it's amazing how much pain you forget after a wash and a beer. Its the good memories that last and the bad become good stories

Chris, I PM'd you. What is the price offered by Yuri and where are you shipping to?

Got your pm this Saturday morning and was going to reply after breakfast, but hopefully you'll read this message before you leave Chara.

Yuri said usd 4900 to Rotterdam from Vladivostok. I gave my bike to Olga at DVS here in Magadan yesterday and it should leave to Vladivostok next Tuesday 20 August. Ship takes about 5 days. Felix's bike was crated last Tuesday 13 August in Yakutsk for its truck ride to Vladivostok. Not sure how long it takes. Maybe 10 days? Both our bikes should arrive at a similar time in Vladivostok.

Do you know anyone else who wants to ship a bike back from Vladivostok to Europe this year? 8 bikes can fit uncrated into a 20 foot container.

A few kilometers before we hit the Vitim, a local told us that 2 weeks ago, a German rider went off the Vitim bridge and died. Does anybody know about this and who it was?

That'll be JoeDakar.He fell off on the way back from the Vitim after taking some pictures there for the f800gsa promo and broke a bone in his hand, I think. Not quite riding off the bridge and death, but similar:funmeteryes:

correct chris.

Local stories travel fast but they also get exaggerated fast.

I dont think was on the way back, i think it was on the way to the bridge. i may be wrong.

In any case, it wasnt the Vitim bridge, it was a few KM before the Vitim Bridge, and it wasnt death.

Seemingly not just a broken bone in his hand but both arms!

It is death ,..for GS800 sales ..... :)

Walter, bam helpdesk is full!

barge was great but its now 5000/m and a 4000 loading charge. dont know about bikes they were not very helpful.

in mirny now being looked after by the police. rightside window exploded on the road from lensk at 2200hrs. doubt it was a stone but thats what everyone here thinks!

will fix with plastic today.

Thanks mate ... i will try n get around to flushing out my mailbox.

5000/m was a good guess then. You got a fair price.

Bikes are a raffle. I have had free rides by being a bike, and others have had free rides as a foreign bike (they can usually tuck the bikes in a small space that doesnt restrict how many cars they can fit). And I have also attempted to be charged the full per metre rate, but bargained it down to half than on the basis that bikes are only half as wide as a normal vehicle and we could fit two bikes into a normal 2m vehicle width.

As for Vilyuisky Trakt ... the hardest part is the new quiet stretch between Almazny (25 km from Mirny) to Suntar. After Suntar its reasonably well populated. More traffic and road in better state of repair generally. It can be quite lonely on the road for the first 100 km or so after the river crossing just south of Almazny.

There is a sandy stretch lasting the 10km into Vilyuisk from the west, but sand is more of a problem for bikes than 4wds I guess.