Seek partner for Almaty, Kazakhstan adventure. I will do Mongolia first, but theride begins in Almaty, Kazakhstan because it seems like the first city in the Stans to buy a bike (from Mongolia must do Russia or China).
Our tentative route would be Bishkek, Tashkent, Dushanbe, Samarkand, Gates of Hell & Turkmenbashi, ferry to Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Cappadocia, then ?
If decent bikes available in Almaty, start this July and enter Turkey about October. I dreamed of this trip to end in St Petersburg, but with Ukraine . . .
I am an old, banged-up, USA moto traveler stranded 2+ years ago in Ecuador after riding in from Perú on my 4th WeeStrom. Before covid I spent 12 years riding full-time in 65 countries and have lived and worked in, or traveled to, 111 countries ... so far. I started racing bikes 40 years late at 55, hence my nickname, El Pinche Gringo Loco.
As an explorer descendant, and retired teacher & coach, I love connecting with locals, but with 100+ fractures and 3 prosthetics, I am less capable riding off road.
I speak English, Spanish; get along in French, Italian, and Arabic, but am vegetarian. Cuenca, Ecuador til departure.
Suggestions about route or anything else are invited!
Chris Brown, motomon@pobox.com, 593 098-999-9555 WhatsApp

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motomon at pobox dot com
Have returned to Latin America ... again in 2024/2025. +15179800336 WhatsApp

Russia and Turkmenistan land borders are closed to non citizens, last I heard Kazakhstan was too but I heard a rumour they may be opening.

I used to live in Almaty and I know the bike market isn't exactly thriving. With the harsh winters bikes are not all-year transport, so the only people who tend to buy them are the rich kids who love supersports machines to blast up and down al-Farabi at night in summer. You would need a local address and a local fixer to guide you through the Russian language bureaucracy. The better educated and younger Kazakhs often speak some English but that counts out the civil servants. Almaty is probably the most cosmopolitan city in the entire region so it won't be any better anywhere else.

Maybe start a dialogue with the local Yamaha dealer: https://motoland.kz/equipment/motorcycles/

Also you'll struggle as a vegetarian. Central Asian cuisine is heavily meat based.

I'm not sure this is the year to be going to the region, and I've been holding off since 2020. Use this as a planning year though and you may be luckier in 2023, in which case I may see you on the road

I am interested. My bike is in storage at MotoCamp Bulgaria.