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Route Planning Where to go, when, what are the interesting places to see
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  #1  
Old 18 Nov 2013
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East to West - Russia to UK
I hope this is the right section to post ...

It appears that the majority of people go West to East from UK and end up at the far side of Russia. I assume there are reasons for this such as carrying on any RTW trips and I think I read somewhere once it was more pleasant not having to ride into the setting sun in the afternoons. But are there any more important reasons?

Only asking because I can't see me ever being able to afford shipping my bike from the far side of Russia to the States or wherever to carry on a trip and of course then there's the time to take off work too.

So, is riding from say Vladivostok back to the UK a bad idea or just not as common? I have only found a handful of trip reports of people going this way, but maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. Cost wise there are a couple of chaps shipping a container over there from the UK/Ireland and it appears to be pretty well priced. I'm tempted to put some thinking into it, ship the bike with them and see if I can get it stored there for a few weeks until I can fly over and then ride home via Mongolia and some of the Stans.
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Old 18 Nov 2013
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Hi,
I did it last year with a friend from Magadan to London.
There are pro's and cons to either way, just depends on what you want to do and how easy and cheap it is to ship.
We have a container going from Ireland to Vlad in 2014 with spaces available either or both ways if you are interested.

Cheers
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Old 18 Nov 2013
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Mark, yours is the container I've seen, hence this line of thought
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Old 18 Nov 2013
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What bike are you looking at taking? and are you looking at more trail/off road or tarmac riding?
Riding back into the sun can be a bit of a pain but only if you are riding late into the day. One advantage with riding east to west is that it's harder to chicken out because you can't turn back and go home early on!
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Old 18 Nov 2013
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Hi Mark,

At the moment it's my F800GS. Yes yes, I know, it's big and heavy and will kill me. Which I agree on, but I won't be going too mad offroad even though the plan would be to avoid tarmac as much as possible without being stupid.

I still have feelers out for an X-Challenge but the cost to prep it could be an issue and the fact I'm a short arse at 5 foot 6 puts lots of high bikes out of my reach. The 690 with all the Rally Raid stuff would be the business too, but they never come up for sale pre done and it's simply too expensive to do myself, oh, it's bloody tall!

On the plus side, my 800 is nice and reliable and I know it fairly well. Weak rims and all.
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Old 18 Nov 2013
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Have you a basic route planned yet?
Are you looking at doing the western BAM, or dropping into Mongolia?
I think you can pretty much do most things on any bike if you want to put enough effort in, just depends on what you like doing.
The F800 will be a much better bike for eating the miles up on the tarmac but may struggle on the rough, especially if the weather is against you.
Maybe look at getting some better rims for it as they will take a serious pounding.
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Old 18 Nov 2013
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Hi Modman

Me and my good pal Mark did East to west in 2011 for no other reason than Mark wanted to finish the trip by riding up to his front door rather than flying home and waiting for his bike to arrive weeks later.

I did a blog of the trip which can be found here
Round the World in 80 Ways: On Our Way

Martin
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Old 18 Nov 2013
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Have you contacted james cargo or fly ride fly to name just 2 to see how much it will cost?
Only asking as a mate of mine did it and supprised how cheap!

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Old 20 Nov 2013
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Quote:
Originally Posted by strimstrum View Post
Hi Modman

Me and my good pal Mark did East to west in 2011 for no other reason than Mark wanted to finish the trip by riding up to his front door rather than flying home and waiting for his bike to arrive weeks later.

I did a blog of the trip which can be found here
Round the World in 80 Ways: On Our Way

Martin
Hi Martin. Just spent the last couple of days reading your blog when I had time and really enjoyed it. Thanks for the links. I think you're the chap organising something in Bulgaria later next year aren't you?

At least I know it is do-able even though my thoughts on a route would be ever so slightly different, Mongolia for starters would be a destination and not an accident like yours was
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Old 20 Nov 2013
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Modman View Post
Hi Martin. Just spent the last couple of days reading your blog when I had time and really enjoyed it. Thanks for the links. I think you're the chap organising something in Bulgaria later next year aren't you?

At least I know it is do-able even though my thoughts on a route would be ever so slightly different, Mongolia for starters would be a destination and not an accident like yours was
Yes, me and Mark (Bushman) are organising a trip from the UK to Doug & Polly's Motocamp in Idilevo where I also have a house - in fact I'm sat in my living room in Bulgaria typing this.

We are not being paid to do the trip but thought it would be nice to introduce some of the guys to the wonders of Bulgaria.

Whereabouts in the Midlands are you as I live in Alcester (about 8 miles west of Stratford-upon-Avon).
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