Russia crossing - Europe to Asia - May 2017
 

Hi all,
My upcoming trip next year around April or May is going across Russia from Switzerland and I wanna end up in Vladivostok.:scooter:
I’m trying to find an adventurous companion joining me on this trip or at least in Russia since I know it can be quite challenging there in the remote areas. I’m an open-minded uncomplicated guy being always ready for all kind of fun:rolleyes3:

If you have any advice or you intend to go for a similar journey at this time, I look forward to your reply.

Cheers
Ken

Nice, I´m going cross Russia from North to South, San Petersburgo to Azerbaiyan on the boreal summer 2017. How much time are you traveling?

I will be coming from Vladivostok to st. Petersburg...we will cross each other..shall connect..goodluck!

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

Looking at same trip
 

Hi Ken:

I am looking at the same trip next summer. My VStrom is in Germany. I ride each summer, and have been doing that for the last five sumers, storing my bike and coming back to home and family during the winter months. Some questions: What do you plan on doing with your bike once you reach Vladivostok? Are you going to go on by ferry to either Korea or Japan? Or are you going down to China? Have you researched leaving the bike for a time in Vladivostok? Or are you going to put the bike on the train and ship it and yourself back to Moscow? These are all questions I need to figure out the answers to. I can't sell my USA registered VStrom in Europe, and I expect it is the same in Vladivostok -- I imagine that the Russian authorities will insist you leaving the country with the bike you brought in. Have you found out anything different?

Ron

I guess minimum around 3 months. Also I consider a detour over Mongolia and Kasachstan. I'm quite flexible regarding time, can be also more if I get stuck at nice spots.:)

If possible I wanna get rid of the bike somewhere cuz it's anyway very old unless I can dispatch it by airfreight for a reasonable price. I assume there are hardly any countries you can dispose of the bike. I already had a bad experience with seafreight, harbor costs in Italy were surprisingly high.
A trip to Japan would be nice. Whether I do it or not depends about the price for shipping back the bike.
To send the bike by train back to Moscow sounds interesting. Any idea about the costs?
A Russia visa has a validity of 30days. Do you know if it is possible to extend it or has a boarder to be crossed for this?
To China I will not go, only to Kasachstan and Mongolia.

Hi Ken:

I remember seeing somewhere that it is possible to get a visa through Russia for longer than 30 days. I will do some research and get back to you. Figuring out what to do with the bike in Vladivostok is a big concern for me. I know I can't sell it there, so taking it on to Japan is definitely something to consider doing. Once in Vladivostok there is a ferry to South Korea and then it goes on to Japan. The cost (as of today) is $245 (225 Euros) to Korea or $305 (277 Euros) from Vladivostok to Japan. I don't know what the entrance requirements are if someone wanted to take the bike into South Korea for a while. I think taking a bike into Japan is pretty easy, although big bikes are not very common in Japan where 250 cc or below is the most common motorcycle. There are also some inspections that have to be done on larger bikes, but I suspect those are not too difficult. I am sure there would be no problem in finding a place to store the bike(s) in Japan.I have looked at shipping from Japan to the United States and I see that it is done all the time, so that is definitely a possibility.

What size motorcycle do you ride?

Ron

More information
 

Hi again Ken:

Here are some things I have learned:

1. It is possible to get a "Business" visa to stay in Russia for 90 days. However, from what I have read the 30 day visa should give more than enough time to get to Vladivostok without hurrying.

2. Taking a motorcycle from Vladivostok into South Korea by ferry is no problem. The biker is required to buy insurance (probably on the ferry), and is not allowed on the four-lane toll roads.

3. Shipping a motorcycle from Vladivostok to Europe is quite expensive. Apparently some people have had success finding another rider who would like to ride the bike back for them. This sounds like a terrible idea to me.

4. There is a motorcycle shop near Seoul that does long term motorcycle storage for people in South Korea. I am confident that there will be lots of places in Japan that would do the same thing.

That is all I know for now.

Ron

I've actually been thinking that it would be fun to do that... ride somebody's bike back for them. (I live in Estonia, but I'm fluent in Russian, which would obviously be quite helpful.) I think the biggest problem would be getting the paperwork to convince Russian road police that you have the right to ride that motorcycle, basically you need some kind of notarized letter of authority from the owner in addition to the other documents. The easier way would be for someone looking to do a Europe-to-Vladivostok trip to buy a bike in Estonia, where the paperwork is quite simple, and put the returning rider onto the paperwork as an "authorized user". Then cross the border at St. Petersburg.

Not that this is anything more than vague notions at this point... but if you're riding an old, cheap bike that you're not particularly sentimentally attached to, it might be a good way to get around the obligation to take the bike out of the country so that you get let back into Russia next time.

Hi,

Just reacting on the Japan part ( I have been living in Tokyo for 10 years now), bikes over 250 cc are everywhere so that will not be the problem and also long term storage will be easy to organize.

Hi Ron
Thanks for your research

[QUOTE=Ron Youngs;544041]Hi again Ken:

Here are some things I have learned:

1. It is possible to get a "Business" visa to stay in Russia for 90 days. However, from what I have read the 30 day visa should give more than enough time to get to Vladivostok without hurrying.

For the Business visa you normally need an invitation letter. Might be difficult.
30 days is not so much for riding more than 10000km. So for me is an option making a visa renewal in Kasa or Mongolia.
Would you be in to explore those countries as well?

2. Taking a motorcycle from Vladivostok into South Korea by ferry is no problem. The biker is required to buy insurance (probably on the ferry), and is not allowed on the four-lane toll roads.

I think I'll go to Japan or Korea too. After Russia it's cool to make those countries also unsafe;)

In practice it isn't. Any travel agency that advertises Russian visas will arrange this for you. Basically they pay a shell company to issue a letter of invitation. It sounds dodgy, but it's how it's done across the board.

Vladivostok/Magadan back to the UK
 

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I was wondering if anyone knows the availability of decent bikes in Eastern Russia. I was thinking of a one way trip preferably from Magadan back to the UK but rather than ship my own bike out there I would sooner fly out and buy one locally. I'm not sure how I would go on with registering it in my name etc. so any advise would be welcome.

Some more thoughts
 

Hi guys:

1. Ken, I am thinking strongly of riding across Russia to Vladivostok next summer, and then going by ferry into either South Korea or Japan (or preferably both). Once in Japan I will either store my bike for the winter and come back home, or I will ship my bike to my next destination. I usually find it is better to ride alone, but if you would like to join me on some (or all) of this trip it would be okay. Please email me and we will talk. You can check out my blog to see if you think we might be compatible.

2. AnTyx -- I think you have some good ideas about sharing a bike and riding it back to Europe from Vladivostok. I especially like the idea of buying a cheap bike in Estonia to ride one way to Vladivostok and trading it off to someone there to ride back to Estonia. I can tell that you have done a lot of research. Unfortunately, the plan will not work for me since I am a United States citizen, but Ken (Woodylight) might be interested.

3. MarcelW -- It is good to hear from someone who actually lives in Japan and knows the requirements there. Can you tell me if the Japanese authorities will allow me to leave the country without my motorcycle if I store it there for the winter and come home? And, do you have any ideas on where I can store it for the winter. Also, I hear that for a 650 CC motorcycle like mine I will need to have a special inspection done. Is that correct?

Thanks everyone,
Ron

The Russian Far East is basically Japanese import country. If it's a motor vehicle that was sold in Japan new and is now old enough to export profitably, you will find it around Vladivostok. So I don't know about adventure-ready bikes (not a huge long-distance touring market domestically in Japan, for obvious reasons), but there's definitely a selection. I think you'd be best off flying to Vlad, buying a bike and getting the help of local mechanics to outfit it.

The problem, as ever, is paperwork. I am not at all sure you can register a bike in your name in Russia as a non-resident. You could possibly buy it in Vlad, ride it to Moscow or SPb on a letter of authorization ("доверенность") and sell it on there, but that would require further research, and just because something is formally legal in Russia doesn't mean you'll get away with it.

That said...
Quick google turns up Продажа мотоциклов во Владивостоке. Basic terminology there:

исправен - in good running order, nothing immediately or obviously broken
птс - registered in Russia (conversely, "без птс" means it doesn't have papers, so for offroad/private road use only)
без пробега - fresh off the boat, has not been ridden on Russian roads (conversely, "с пробегом" means it's been used locally)

Use Google to convert roubles to euros or dollars. LMK if you need help with Russian, but it looks like you can pick up something like a decent enduro for ~3K euros, which, even with the cost of outfitting and a loss on reselling quickly in Western Russia, will work out cheaper than transoceanic shipment.