Hi
Here’s a ride report from a bike trip I did in the summer of 2013: It involves off-pavement riding from Ulaan Bataar, the Capital of Mongolia across eastern Siberia in Russia via Irkutsk, Lake Baikal, the western section of the BAM Road, Tynda, Yakutsk and the Road of Bones to Magadan.

The journey started on a 1988 Honda XL600V Transalp (The Shed) and finished on a 2008 BMW G650 X-Challenge (The RBA). There were lots of adventures: Either because they would have happened on any bike, or special bonuses based on my unsuitable bike selection.

I met lots of great local people and had some super riding buddies. They were, in chronological order:
Mr Pete-the great dancer-Berry
Mr Bod Waters
Mr Andrew Don
Mr Jon Boulton (AD and JB’s website is J.A.B.A MUNDUS | Motorcycling Around The world )
Mr Adam Lewis ( Short Way Round | …short on legs…short on hair…and short on cash – riding around the world the ShortWayRound! )
And last, but by no means least, Mr Felix -Mullets are back in fashion- Wright

Most of the images are mine, but some belong to the boys. I have asserted their copyright as appropriate. Thanks for letting me use them. There are also a few videos. They’re not really edited “with love”, but they hopefully help to tell the story of one hell of a trip.

I’d also like to thank Mr Walter Colebatch (Sibirsky Extreme | Going where no motorcycle has been before ) for his advice and navigation aids (Next time I’ll follow the advice more closely…) and Mr Phil Kneller for allowing me to complete the trip on his bike while he spent more with the beautiful and charming Zarina.

Here are some pictures to give you a feel for what I encountered.

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TBS.com

Gives me something to read at work today


Mark
www.bamriders.com

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

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Mark
www.bamriders.com

I'll start properly next week. Lots of pics and vids to come.

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TBS.com

Hola Chris,

thank you for posting this here, good pictures, waiting for more to come.

What happened to the Transalp? Did you forget to fill oil in? As you know, I traveled solo on an XL250R in 2003 to Magadan, it was fun, but hard at times. I did not take many pictures, because the camera got wet, so I wait for yours.

But next year I will go back to Russia, but not to Magadan.

Saludos desde Bolivia
mika

Hi Mika

The TA never actually died. At the end of my trip I rode it back to Ulaan Bataar and shipped it to Europe. It's on its way at the moment: 5 months late! Don't freight anything to/from Mongolia!

Issues with the bike:

The radiator started leaking in various places (caused by bumpy road)

The shock was about to explode (caused by bumpy road)

I had already toasted 1 clutch and replaced it with a spare: I didn't have another spare (caused by bumpy/muddy road and river crossings)

Where I turned back, half way along the western BAM (before the Vitim Bridge) was the easy bit. The hard part would have been to come!

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TBS.com

Waiting for more pics...Awesome ride!

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3mountainsadventure