Hi all,
I am thinking of doing a trip from Vladivostok to Europe mid 2014. From Australia it would be best to travel via South Korea and than take the ferry to Vlad. However, after just watching The long way Round, once again I noticed that the camera man had to buy a new Russian bike for which they paid something like $1200. This would possibly be cheaper than freighting my own bike to Russia. In that case it would be just a matter of going to Vlad. with some throwover panniers and riding gear and start the journey. Local bikes can be fixed easily and cheap. I don't know if it is possible to ride out of Russia into Europe. If not...even if the bike is dumped it is still a lot cheaper than crating your own bike back to Aus.

Anyone out there with any experience in this. anyone interested? Riding buddies? I have placed message on the hub to the Vladivostok members but without any reply. I have no idea if how many members there are over there if any.
cheers
Richard

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Richard Wolters
Brisbane, Australia

Hey Richard ... long time no speak.

No one in Russia rides Russian bikes except old farmers - usually with side cars attached, and with a dog or the wife in the rig. Russians don't consider them to be "bikers".

All the russian bikers ride either Japanese, European or US bikes. You MAY be able to buy cheap chinese bikes in Russia.

You can buy an Izh planeta 5 (as per LWR) if you really want, but it will break down every 300 km (also as per LWR) and use 2-3 times as much fuel as a modern bike. It may, or may not start for you each morning.

Any bike can be fixed easy and cheap in Russia. All mechanics seem happy to take on a broken bike and work till they fix it, often without charge for foreign bikers. The only question is do you want that happening once in your trip, or 30 times?

If you are cool with breaking down 30 times in 30 days, then the Izh is a possibility for you. Otherwise, save yourself the grief. Its an all asphalt highway across Russia now. You can take a goldwing a ZZR1400 or an R1 on that highway. LWR is a decade old. Its completely out of date in terms of info and ideas.

You cant permanently take vehicles across customs borders unless you pay import duty. So bringing a Russian registered bike to Europe will mean you either have to import it, and pay all the import duty (I doubt you would get an Izh into the EU as an import because of its emissions), or you have to take it back to Russia.

I would guess your best bet is to freight it to South Korea and then ferry to Vladivostok.

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Hi Walter, Good to hear from you again and thanks for your input. I got a message from the Moscow community who directed me to a bikes sales site and you are right. Mostly western bikes and at he same price level as here or Europe. I Visited Russia and Mongolia this year and loved it. This trip was the first ever without my own bike. I started in Singapore traveling by train/bus to northern Thailand and rented a Kawasaki there , later I ended up in Saigon and bought a small Honda which I sold a month later in Hanoi. Then train into China and the Trans-Mongolian to Irkutsk-Moscow- st Petersburg and on to Amsterdam where I collected my other bike which is always parked there. Did a Euro trip before retuning to Aus. We need to catch up next time. Cheers Richard

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Richard Wolters
Brisbane, Australia

Richard,

Have a look at my website (below) and FB page (in my footer) for more info on riding across Russia. I am still doing it almost annually. Then drop me an email (if you still have it) and I will advise you on travel there. There is great adventure to gbe had, but you do have to get off the trans siberian highway.

[url=http://www.sibirskyextreme.com/]Sibirsky Extreme

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Thanks Walter, I emailed you back but it ended up in the general HU mail. next week I will be getting a F650 GS and sell my 1150GS. If nothing comes out of it I will use that bike. Perhaps change later to a good Dakar version.
I studied your site and most of the links. a lot of good advise.
where are you residing at present.
regards richard

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Richard Wolters
Brisbane, Australia

I am also looking at getting into Vladivostok however, from Japan. (Would send my bike from Sydney)

Are there any key benefits/disadvantages between Japan or S.Korea as the ferry point?

Hi, I am not sure if Korea has a preference over Japan. I know some people who arrived from Vlad and continued via Korea to go to Aus. Also a friend of mine shipped from Bris to Korea and took a ferry from there.I will be visiting him next week and get more details of him. To me it does not make any difference. it depends a lot if there as savings one way or the other. Not sure if you need a carnet for japan.
anyway lets keep talking on this one.
Although I have always owned big BMW's (R100GSPD- R1200GS- and now R1150 GS) I plan to use a smaller bike this time and bring less gear. I just purchased a used F550 GS to see if I like it. Thus far I rode 1200 km (purchased earlier this week in Sydney) and rode it back to Brisbane. Handling and power are good and fuel consumption is amazing at 27 km / ltr
keep taking
Richard

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Richard Wolters
Brisbane, Australia

Hi Walter
What is a good source for getting some maps for the route Vlad-Moscow?
cheers Richard

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Richard Wolters
Brisbane, Australia

Richard,

I have also been looking at Japan vs. Vladivostok for a bike to be sent from Sydney mid 2014.

With regards to carnet in Japan what I have found is that the general consensus seems to say that unless you are arriving by ferry (from Russia or Korea I would assume), in which case you can use a C5014 form of temporary import, then a carnet is required.

Although I had originally penned Japan as my first stop, I am now considering a shipment direct to Vladivostok if possible in terms of cost as it would also allow me extra time to explore Central Asia while the weather is still favourable.

Would love to stay updated on your plans as perhaps if things line up, there may be an opportunity to share freight costs?

Hi,

I am also from Australia (Melbourne) but I will most likely be buying a bike in Ireland.

I am looking at going either way Vlad to Europe or reverse. What time frame and starting date are you looking at?

If I was going Vlad to Europe i'd be looking at early-mid July for about 2 months going all the way to Ireland maybe via Georgia/Turkey and avoiding the stans due to visa hassles? I can get my bike on a container going to Vlad in early July.

This would be my first big bike trip and given the remoteness i'd rather not do it alone.

Cheers,

Tom.

Daze - Unsure if that was directed at me but will answer from my point of view just in case it was.

The first leg of my trip I actually intend to be in India around mid/late September and am also quite interested in Central Asia hence the route and June start date.

Initially I was looking at shipping to Japan, riding there and then the ferry to Vlad. But this may be scrapped in interest of time and cost.

Another option I am trying to read up on now is also shipping to South Korea and then the ferry to Russia (The name escapes me, but its an island I believe) where the bike can either be ridden to the ferry in Korea or also sent by truck.

Happy to work with other plans if a group can be assembled for the Aus > "that part of the world" freight though.

Hi There,

Early planning stage for the same trip coming from the US. June 2014 may work better for me. Prefer to ride it with other rider. Let me know if interested.

Yigal
NH-USA

Hi, The reason for either going via Korea or Japan was that (I was told) it is very difficult to ship from Australia directly to Vladivostok. If someone knows about a direct way, all the better as it will save a lot of costs. June would be the a better time as the weather would be optimum. I travelled though from Beijing to Ulan Bator to Moscow last June and it was neither hot nor cold. Riding with a small group would be good although one does not necessarily have to stay together. Two by two would be great but who knows a larger group would work fine as long we all enjoy the same pace/route etc. In '97 I went from India to Europe with two friends. In the end we found it cheaper and less hassle to fly the bikes from Brisbane to Madras. By Ship often appears cheaper but is often subject to many charges. When we flew the bikes the were place on an aircraft pallet with plastic wrap around them and that was it. (drain the tank and disconnect the battery- Malaysian Airlines) In reply to Daze 55556: if sending by ship it could be a month from go to collect or perhaps more)
cheers Richard

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Richard Wolters
Brisbane, Australia

Richard,

The best paper maps are available at bookshops and modern fuel stations in Russia. They may be oldish and out of date. There is a lot of road construction going on in Russia.

The best electronic maps are available here: http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/43.1096/131.8855, and accessible on GPS here:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...eet-maps-64135

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I've had a look and it appears really expensive to get a bike from Australia to Vladivostok

These guys want $2800 one way
Vladivostock Russia

I reckon I'd be better off buying in Europe and selling for a small loss.

Tom