Sweden to India - n00b questions
 

Hi,

What a great community this is. I have been a long time a member and am now starting to think and plan about going from sweden (work) to india (home)

I have tons of questions and i have read quite a bit on the forum but then, the temptation to start a thread and get into a real conversation is too much. So here goes:


My name is Chanderjeet and I have been a long time member here and on ADVRider. I am from India but have been in Sweden for some time. I want to take a bike ride back home. What are you suggestions and how would you go about planning this?

- Which bike should I look into which is not expensive, easy to maintain as I do not know much about the machinery. I can do small repairs but nothing big.

- Which is the easiest route?

- Which is the most scenic route?

- How much time should I be looking at?

- Advisories, areas to avoid?

- Stuff to carry and avoid?

- Expert advise and any other things.


I am planning this for 2017. So please do pour in with your suggestions and think of it as if you are planning it for yourself :)


Cheers,
Chanderjeet
aka MangoLassi of the bum****ed hillbillies MC club.

Hi Chander,
I am starting my rtw from india: westbound from ist april 2017 and will be in Scandinavia in 60 days or so and continuing around to india. Its a 365 day plan, through europe and Atlantic to new jersey to canada to southam and fly to aus...etc..let me know your thoughts.
Cheers!

'Bike on a Hike'. Available at WWW.Amazon.com

" Advisories, areas to avoid? "

I rode from Eu to India 8.5 years ago. My info's not fully up to date but it still seems like two main routes exist: round Afghanistan via the south (=my route, included Iran) or north (via several Stan countries and a small bit of western China). Both routes include Pakistan. Western Pakistan is known to be a bit risky, but it can't be avoided on that southern route unless you send the bike from Iran/UAE to India as freight. Also i'm not sure if you can get a Pakistani visa. Your bike will need a carnet to get to India&Pakistan and most likely Iran as well. Dunno if being Indian makes any difference to the carnet requirement, though.

My first thought is "thats amazing" and all the best.
Keep in touch, for all that we know and if the time allows, I can host you.

Cheers
Chanderjeet

I was thinking more like Denmark, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia, China and India avoiding the no-go zones entirely.

I don´t believe you can actually cross from China directly to India. You could in theory go to Tibet, and to Nepal from there, but that route is very rarely used, a bit of a guess, but probably costs too much to arrange. Tibet=sensitive area=>expensive.

Hey i am a german citizen and i want to ride from germany to india or probably even vietnam via turkey, iran parkistan beginning this october. As far as i know China is expensive as hell because you need a guide.. Only the stan countries might be an option but i think you would have to cross a part of china or Afghanistan in that case... Lets keep in touch i am looking for hints es well

Gesendet von meinem ONE A2003 mit Tapatalk

Other alternative is to ride till Iran and from Bandar Abbas,you can ship your motorcycle to Mumbai.

Cheers
Biru

Dutch guy to india
 

leaving and of september maybe we can travel together i skeak german

Cheers pierre

Just saw ur old post...how u doing n planning for ur trip...all on??

'Bike on a Hike'. Available at WWW.Amazon.com

You can travel through China and Tibet to Nepal and it is best to keep an eye out for other people on here heading that way wanting to share the guide. As to the best bike I would recommend something 250-400cc possibly a trail bike but a road bike will be perfectly capable. I would look for something older, 8-15 years but with low mileage, this will keep the price of the carnet down but be reasonably reliable. My other tip would be don't take too much luggage, less is best.

Be aware that Vietnam is very difficult to get permission for self drive. Thailand has just introduced new laws that effectively block foreigners driving through, and of course Myanmar and China are expensive because guides are required.