In 2016, we shipped our bikes to Magadan in Siberia, rode the Old Summer Road section of the road of bones, and left the bikes in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia.
Ride report here: http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...Siberia?highlight=Granny+on+the+road+of+bones
The intention was to return in the summer of 2017 to pick the bikes up and ride them closer to home.
However, we got sidetracked ride report is one of the sticky’s on here - Top of the World- trip to the Andes.
Kev had been in Mongolia before. He rode his bike from Magadan home to Dublin in 2012. At that time there was asphalt from Ulan Ude in Russia to Ulaanbataar, and from Ulaanbataar west for maybe 100km. That was it. We had heard that there was much more tarmac there now.
So, in July of this year, we flew to Ulaanbataar to pick up the bikes. We had left them in a customs warehouse, so were fairly confident they were safe. They’d been sitting there for 23 months, so both needed services, new batteries and some tlc. Kev’s 690 had had radiator issues in Magadan so he had no idea how it would have fared sitting in a warehouse through 2 harsh winters.
We also weren’t entirely sure what we had left with the bikes!
We flew out on 24th July, hoping that we’d get going in 3/4 days.
Fritz, who had been in Siberia with us but had shipped his bike home, shipped it back to ub to do this trip with us. He flew out the day after us.
We arrived in ub and went straight to Oasis guesthouse, a renowned hostel/guesthouse for overlanders. Kev had been there twice before, in 2012 and 2016.
One of the lads there with Kev in 2016, Gary, had a contact there. A local woman, Oggie, had lived in Ireland 10 year previously and had looked after Gary’s cousin’s kids.
We had contacted her before we left and she arrived into Oasis shortly after we did. She was such a huge help over the next few days, getting our bikes out of customs and helping Fritz get his bike too.
So Kev worked on the bikes for a couple of days. My bike started first time, all it needed was a battery. What a fabulous little bike!
Kev’s needed a lot more encouragement. He got them both services and topped up with various liquids, changed the tyres as we had spares there. Then, noticed a leak in his rad
Fritz arrived, got his bike through customs and back to Oasis.
The weather was atrocious. It rained and rained. While everyone at home was basking in glorious sunshine, we were being absolutely pissed on!
When the sun came out, it dried up very quickly, but then it rained again.
I have to say, I wouldn’t go back to Oasis. The staff weren’t very nice or helpful. The food wasn’t great and very overpriced. The showers were shite!and dirty! The manger was rude and unhelpful when we suggested she might have made a mistake with the price(she had-it was a mutual misunderstanding) the beds were horribly hard, and the pillows weren’t worth having. Just imo. The only plus was that we met other overlanders.
On the Saturday we left Oasis and headed east to see the Chinggis Khaan statue.
It was the first day on the bikes, it was lashing rain, and Kev had to be push started. You’d think that would’ve given a little clue as to what was to come
It was only 100kms there and back to ub. Our intention had been to go east, see the statue, then come back to ub and head south towards the Gobi Desert, and maybe camp after 150kms, but the weather was so bad, the asphalt was so lumpy and bumpy, the traffic was so bad, that we got back to ub and decided to find a hotel. We got a really nice hotel, with really nice showers and reasonable pillows, and our own rooms, for less than we paid in Oasis! And free dressing gowns
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ride report here: http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...Siberia?highlight=Granny+on+the+road+of+bones
The intention was to return in the summer of 2017 to pick the bikes up and ride them closer to home.
However, we got sidetracked ride report is one of the sticky’s on here - Top of the World- trip to the Andes.
Kev had been in Mongolia before. He rode his bike from Magadan home to Dublin in 2012. At that time there was asphalt from Ulan Ude in Russia to Ulaanbataar, and from Ulaanbataar west for maybe 100km. That was it. We had heard that there was much more tarmac there now.
So, in July of this year, we flew to Ulaanbataar to pick up the bikes. We had left them in a customs warehouse, so were fairly confident they were safe. They’d been sitting there for 23 months, so both needed services, new batteries and some tlc. Kev’s 690 had had radiator issues in Magadan so he had no idea how it would have fared sitting in a warehouse through 2 harsh winters.
We also weren’t entirely sure what we had left with the bikes!
We flew out on 24th July, hoping that we’d get going in 3/4 days.
Fritz, who had been in Siberia with us but had shipped his bike home, shipped it back to ub to do this trip with us. He flew out the day after us.
We arrived in ub and went straight to Oasis guesthouse, a renowned hostel/guesthouse for overlanders. Kev had been there twice before, in 2012 and 2016.
One of the lads there with Kev in 2016, Gary, had a contact there. A local woman, Oggie, had lived in Ireland 10 year previously and had looked after Gary’s cousin’s kids.
We had contacted her before we left and she arrived into Oasis shortly after we did. She was such a huge help over the next few days, getting our bikes out of customs and helping Fritz get his bike too.
So Kev worked on the bikes for a couple of days. My bike started first time, all it needed was a battery. What a fabulous little bike!
Kev’s needed a lot more encouragement. He got them both services and topped up with various liquids, changed the tyres as we had spares there. Then, noticed a leak in his rad
Fritz arrived, got his bike through customs and back to Oasis.
The weather was atrocious. It rained and rained. While everyone at home was basking in glorious sunshine, we were being absolutely pissed on!
When the sun came out, it dried up very quickly, but then it rained again.
I have to say, I wouldn’t go back to Oasis. The staff weren’t very nice or helpful. The food wasn’t great and very overpriced. The showers were shite!and dirty! The manger was rude and unhelpful when we suggested she might have made a mistake with the price(she had-it was a mutual misunderstanding) the beds were horribly hard, and the pillows weren’t worth having. Just imo. The only plus was that we met other overlanders.
On the Saturday we left Oasis and headed east to see the Chinggis Khaan statue.
It was the first day on the bikes, it was lashing rain, and Kev had to be push started. You’d think that would’ve given a little clue as to what was to come
It was only 100kms there and back to ub. Our intention had been to go east, see the statue, then come back to ub and head south towards the Gobi Desert, and maybe camp after 150kms, but the weather was so bad, the asphalt was so lumpy and bumpy, the traffic was so bad, that we got back to ub and decided to find a hotel. We got a really nice hotel, with really nice showers and reasonable pillows, and our own rooms, for less than we paid in Oasis! And free dressing gowns
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk