Newbie (to this forum) tentative planning - London to California

[bigkuri]

Hi everyone,

My first post, and what a great and unique resource this is for travellers.

I've been riding motorbikes, mainly off-road and in competitions, since I was 5. So I'm ok in the dirt, and for years trying to get better on the road. Are not we all... I tend to do about 15,000 miles per year pretty consistently - usually made up of 4 or so big trips, plus a once-weekly 90 mile commute.

I've owned over 60 bikes, maybe 70, but this is slanted with off-road machines, where I may have had 3 or 4 per year for a while when young. Since then I've slowed down, getting a new bike per year, and lately (last 2 years) the very same bike! My wife is ecstatic! ;-) )

There is a 30% chance that I'll be getting a job in California, and so I would like to ride my current bike; a tweaked, tuned, and monster K1300R, "as far as I can" from London.

To be honest I don't really have any specific questions, as just getting stuck into research and potential planning. My headline thoughts so far is to leave the UK with minimal gear (I alpine climb, so all that light stuff) and just see how far I can get. This will be the start of summer I guess. Ideally I'd just like to assume a 6 week trip, and "go" - no planning or booking. Is this possible or just stupid?

My bike is not exactly a great choice - race throttle, ported, about 200 bhp, 175+ at the back wheel. But I like it. And I reckon it will be fine. So then I'm not a GS owner (although had a couple of them in the past), and will be sticking to the metalled roads. The rough route in my mind is pretty much London - France - Baltics - Russia, and then Russia all the way over to Vladivostok. Then either Japan or if time does not permit - to Canada.

Cheers,
Rick

[bigkuri]

Re-reading my thread (don't we all?...) I guess some other details are needed to hopefully stimulate decent and useful responses.

Some of my recent trips have been:
- Around the complete coast roads of the UK in 3 days. Sore butt. A long way and big effort.
- Nurburgring about 4 times in the last two years, and about 5 track days per year, not that that helps a lot on this forum!
- Coast roads of NZ.
- Around the coast of Spain - 10 days. French motorways on the way home just about killed me with boredom...


So what paperwork do I need? Any? Can it be arranged at the border with a hopeful smile and willing intent (bribe)? Camping in Russia - I know the cold aspects; is it safe, are there dedicated areas, or just choose a remote part?

Rick