The BAM Road - ultimate test of man and machine

Colebatch · 12-14-2009, 05:00 AM

Warning: this thread will contain images of killer roads, awesome forest, riding across collapsed wooden bridges, Russian girls in rather small bikinis, extraordinary hospitality and 3 experienced riders pushed to the absolute limit by one of the greatest adventure biking challenges still out there ... the BAM road!

The BAM Road is one of the (if not THE) toughest adventure roads left on this planet. The Road runs 4300 km (2700 miles) across extreme Siberia from Vanino on the Russian pacific coast through Komsomolsk, Fevralsk, Tynda, Severobaikalsk, Ust Kut, Bratsk and back to the Trans-Siberian Highway near Taishet.

The road is split in half roughly at Tynda. There are only a few people who had ridden the western half, between Bratsk and Tynda. Only one pair of guys (Poles of course) had ridden the eastern part (from Vanino to Fevralsk).

Never before our journey, had someone seriously attempted to ride the whole road.

So how tough was this road? Compared to say, the Road of Bones?? Well put it this way ... the Road of Bones took us 3.5 days ... the BAM Road would take us a MONTH!!!

- - -

This thread is designed to follow on from the Road of Bones thread posted here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=529114.

- - -

Lets start with a brief pictorial summary (with some small pics) - a taster for what will unfold over this insane journey across Siberia!

achesley · 12-14-2009, 05:05 AM

WOW! Serious road. Or, should we say TRAIL? Thanks for sharing. Oh yes, the girls make those bikinis look good.

GB · 12-14-2009, 05:13 AM

wow!! that is the ultimate challenge!!

Thanks for sharing your Siberian adventures

Looking forward to learning more about the BAM

Teeds · 12-14-2009, 05:18 AM

OMG, that looks like fun ...

subscribed

Zecatfish · 12-14-2009, 06:12 AM

Get to it.

Looks like an awesome ride.

DockingPilot · 12-14-2009, 06:17 AM

Terrific !

prsdrat · 12-14-2009, 07:20 AM

In like Flinn! Can't miss all the eye candy. Thanks for sharing.

MoBill · 12-14-2009, 07:40 AM

Excellent!

Looks like a lot of dismounted recon getting done...

gregneedham · 12-14-2009, 08:45 AM

in....

gun 4 hire · 12-14-2009, 08:55 AM

Hell yea....Will be grabbing a cocktail and checking in here

Colebatch · 12-14-2009, 08:59 AM

Tony and I were the same two chaps who had just ridden across Eurasia the hard way, as per the Road of Bones thread. But to recap ... Tony is a 67 year old pensioner, with 500,000 miles and 50 years of motorcyling under his belt. He spend most of his younger days in the European car rallying scene, but now prefers to get his kicks exploring Russia on two wheels. He lives part of the time in Moscow and part of the time in London. Tony's steed? an F650 Dakar.

Terry is the new boy in the team. Terry, a fellow Englishman, is midway between my age and Tony's. Terry's motorcycling pedigree includes racing enduros for 20 years. Terry had a huge amount of off road experience, and has got into the more adventure side of things recently. His extensive enduro experience would be a huge asset to Tony and myself when the going got tough. Terry had very limited experience in Russia however, and pretty much no Russian language. Terry's ride? An XT660R.

And then there is me ... on my G650 X-Challenge.

Colebatch · 12-14-2009, 09:09 AM

We left off in the Road of Bones thread with Tony flying down from Magadan to Vladivostok to meet Terry. Terry had flown himself and his bike from England to South Korea, ridden across Korea and taken a ferry from South Korea to the Russian port of Zarubino. From there he rode the 4 hours into Vladivostok to wait for Tony to arrive.

You might think, for a fresh visitor to the country, and with no language skills, Terry would keep a low profile and await Tony's arrival. But no! Terry had immersed himself into Vladivostok's famous summer biker party season and had won a whole bunch of new Biker friends in town.

Sadly I wasnt there to witness the next couple of days ... I was in Moscow working, but this is how Terry was adapting to life in Russia:

Terry is the smiley one in the middle:

rider1150gsadv · 12-14-2009, 09:11 AM

Subscribed!!

Colebatch · 12-14-2009, 09:12 AM

Why mix with the boys, when there are so many Vladivostok girls about ?!

Colebatch · 12-14-2009, 09:17 AM

Yep, no doubt about it, Terry was doing it tough. Russia was clearly a frightening place! The Iron Angels bike club was obviously some kind of hell on earth.

Luckily Tony arrived to rescue Terry from this drunken debauchery ...

Then the Mariachi hats and Lenin Banners came out ...

And I don't know about you guys, but i am not sure I like where this one is leading ...

12-14-2009, 05:00 AM	#1
Colebatch ^OP "Moto Porn"ographer Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Sunny London Oddometer: 3,832	The BAM Road - ultimate test of man and machine Warning: this thread will contain images of killer roads, awesome forest, riding across collapsed wooden bridges, Russian girls in rather small bikinis, extraordinary hospitality and 3 experienced riders pushed to the absolute limit by one of the greatest adventure biking challenges still out there ... the BAM road! The BAM Road is one of the (if not THE) toughest adventure roads left on this planet. The Road runs 4300 km (2700 miles) across extreme Siberia from Vanino on the Russian pacific coast through Komsomolsk, Fevralsk, Tynda, Severobaikalsk, Ust Kut, Bratsk and back to the Trans-Siberian Highway near Taishet. The road is split in half roughly at Tynda. There are only a few people who had ridden the western half, between Bratsk and Tynda. Only one pair of guys (Poles of course) had ridden the eastern part (from Vanino to Fevralsk). Never before our journey, had someone seriously attempted to ride the whole road. So how tough was this road? Compared to say, the Road of Bones?? Well put it this way ... the Road of Bones took us 3.5 days ... the BAM Road would take us a MONTH!!! - - - This thread is designed to follow on from the Road of Bones thread posted here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=529114. - - - Lets start with a brief pictorial summary (with some small pics) - a taster for what will unfold over this insane journey across Siberia! __________________ Sibirsky Extreme 2009 BOOK and DVD available HERE Moroccan Extreme 2011 DVD available HERE World Motorcycle Altitude Record video HERE www.sibirskyextreme.com Colebatch screwed with this post 12-30-2009 at 12:42 AM

12-14-2009, 05:05 AM	#2
achesley Old Motorcyclist Joined: Mar 2003 Location: Jennings, Louisiana Oddometer: 3,146	WOW! Serious road. Or, should we say TRAIL? Thanks for sharing. Oh yes, the girls make those bikinis look good. __________________ An '00 KLR 650, An '07 1250S, An '03 5.3L Chevy Truck + '43 style dude , Simper Fi ;-)

12-14-2009, 05:13 AM	#3
GB Mod Squad Joined: Aug 2002 Location: Toronto, ON Oddometer: 53,498	wow!! that is the ultimate challenge!! Thanks for sharing your Siberian adventures Looking forward to learning more about the BAM __________________ ADV decals, patches & flag? Here

12-14-2009, 05:18 AM	#4
Teeds Don Quixote Joined: Jul 2006 Location: 427 miles ENE of Orla Texas Oddometer: 1,569	OMG, that looks like fun ... subscribed __________________ Tony Eeds aka Teeds - Proud member of the Peanut Gallery and the Pajama Economy Good roads bring bad people Bad roads bring good people we are NOT human beings having a spiritual experience, rather we ARE spiritual BEINGS having a human experience - johnjen

12-14-2009, 06:12 AM	#5
Zecatfish XTique Rider Joined: Dec 2006 Location: Arkansas USA Oddometer: 7,919	Get to it. Looks like an awesome ride. __________________ Google Earth GPS Howto (still a work in progress) use USGS TOPO Maps to layout trails. http://home.windstream.net/catfish/GPS The Early Bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. https://sites.google.com/site/ozarkadventuretours/

12-14-2009, 06:17 AM	#6
DockingPilot Hooked Up and Hard Over Joined: Mar 2004 Location: Andover, N.J. Oddometer: 7,563	Terrific ! __________________ Frank Reinbold "Every bike I ever had, was the best bike I ever had, when I had it" *2010 FOREVER WEST* NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA OFFROAD F800GS 14 DAY IDAHO ADVENTURE KTM 950 TRANS AM TRAIL WEST TRANS AM TRAIL VID CLIP THE DEAN OF WESTERN ADVENTURE ROUTES

12-14-2009, 07:20 AM	#7
prsdrat Gnarly Adventurer Joined: Sep 2008 Location: San Diego, CA Oddometer: 433	In like Flinn! Can't miss all the eye candy. Thanks for sharing.

12-14-2009, 07:40 AM	#8
MoBill Smiles when says dat Joined: Mar 2007 Location: NJ Oddometer: 12,784	Excellent! Looks like a lot of dismounted recon getting done... __________________ WR250R Data Thread Pix: Sets for 2007 DL650 Build. , Custom Wolfman Tank Bag..Yamaha Super Tenere Build and now 2012 DL 650 Bulid

12-14-2009, 08:45 AM	#9
gregneedham I seem to fall often Joined: Dec 2005 Location: Austin, Texas Oddometer: 846	in.... __________________ 2002 KTM 640 Adventure 2000 BMW R 1150 GS (sold) 1982 BMW R100RT (sold) My 640 Adventure blog My 1150 GS blog (retired) Memphis to Moab - TAT 09 Blog designkeywest.com

12-14-2009, 08:55 AM	#10
gun 4 hire FTR # 90c Joined: May 2008 Location: Key West Oddometer: 76	Best of Luck Gentlemen ! Hell yea....Will be grabbing a cocktail and checking in here

12-14-2009, 08:59 AM	#11
Colebatch ^OP "Moto Porn"ographer Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Sunny London Oddometer: 3,832	The BAM Team Tony and I were the same two chaps who had just ridden across Eurasia the hard way, as per the Road of Bones thread. But to recap ... Tony is a 67 year old pensioner, with 500,000 miles and 50 years of motorcyling under his belt. He spend most of his younger days in the European car rallying scene, but now prefers to get his kicks exploring Russia on two wheels. He lives part of the time in Moscow and part of the time in London. Tony's steed? an F650 Dakar. Terry is the new boy in the team. Terry, a fellow Englishman, is midway between my age and Tony's. Terry's motorcycling pedigree includes racing enduros for 20 years. Terry had a huge amount of off road experience, and has got into the more adventure side of things recently. His extensive enduro experience would be a huge asset to Tony and myself when the going got tough. Terry had very limited experience in Russia however, and pretty much no Russian language. Terry's ride? An XT660R. And then there is me ... on my G650 X-Challenge. __________________ Sibirsky Extreme 2009 BOOK and DVD available HERE Moroccan Extreme 2011 DVD available HERE World Motorcycle Altitude Record video HERE www.sibirskyextreme.com Colebatch screwed with this post 12-14-2009 at 09:17 PM

12-14-2009, 09:09 AM	#12
Colebatch ^OP "Moto Porn"ographer Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Sunny London Oddometer: 3,832	Terry's arrival in Russia We left off in the Road of Bones thread with Tony flying down from Magadan to Vladivostok to meet Terry. Terry had flown himself and his bike from England to South Korea, ridden across Korea and taken a ferry from South Korea to the Russian port of Zarubino. From there he rode the 4 hours into Vladivostok to wait for Tony to arrive. You might think, for a fresh visitor to the country, and with no language skills, Terry would keep a low profile and await Tony's arrival. But no! Terry had immersed himself into Vladivostok's famous summer biker party season and had won a whole bunch of new Biker friends in town. Sadly I wasnt there to witness the next couple of days ... I was in Moscow working, but this is how Terry was adapting to life in Russia: Terry is the smiley one in the middle: __________________ Sibirsky Extreme 2009 BOOK and DVD available HERE Moroccan Extreme 2011 DVD available HERE World Motorcycle Altitude Record video HERE www.sibirskyextreme.com Colebatch screwed with this post 12-14-2009 at 09:43 AM

12-14-2009, 09:11 AM	#13
rider1150gsadv € Fl Keys Fishing Guide € Joined: Oct 2003 Location: Florida Keys/Ft Likkertail , USA Oddometer: 5,885	Subscribed!!

12-14-2009, 09:12 AM	#14
Colebatch ^OP "Moto Porn"ographer Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Sunny London Oddometer: 3,832	Then it gets interesting: Why mix with the boys, when there are so many Vladivostok girls about ?! __________________ Sibirsky Extreme 2009 BOOK and DVD available HERE Moroccan Extreme 2011 DVD available HERE World Motorcycle Altitude Record video HERE www.sibirskyextreme.com

12-14-2009, 09:17 AM	#15
Colebatch ^OP "Moto Porn"ographer Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Sunny London Oddometer: 3,832	Yep, no doubt about it, Terry was doing it tough. Russia was clearly a frightening place! The Iron Angels bike club was obviously some kind of hell on earth. Luckily Tony arrived to rescue Terry from this drunken debauchery ... Then the Mariachi hats and Lenin Banners came out ... And I don't know about you guys, but i am not sure I like where this one is leading ... __________________ Sibirsky Extreme 2009 BOOK and DVD available HERE Moroccan Extreme 2011 DVD available HERE World Motorcycle Altitude Record video HERE www.sibirskyextreme.com

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