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.

Gadget Boy · 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 "Moto Porn"ographer Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Sunny London Oddometer: 1,739	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! __________________ . www.SibirskyExtreme.com www.Endless-Highway.info 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: 2,335	WOW! Serious road. Or, should we say TRAIL? Thanks for sharing. Oh yes, the girls make those bikinis look good. __________________ '43 Andy Chesley '03 Chevy truck 49554 miles '07 Bandit 1250S 38,340 miles

12-14-2009, 05:13 AM	#3
Gadget Boy ADV Plenipotentiary Joined: Aug 2002 Location: Toronto, ON Oddometer: 45,077	wow!! that is the ultimate challenge!! Thanks for sharing your Siberian adventures Looking forward to learning more about the BAM __________________ ADV flag, decals & patches? Here

12-14-2009, 05:18 AM	#4
Teeds Don Quixote Joined: Jul 2006 Location: 427 miles ENE of Orla Texas Oddometer: 1,544	OMG, that looks like fun ... subscribed __________________ Tony Eeds aka Teeds aka Dad aka Grandpa aka TMTC President Proud member of the Peanut Gallery and the Pajama Economy Good roads bring bad people Bad roads bring good people RiderDown.org - in memory of Stevie 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: 5,477	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 tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson. Interest on the US debt is $26,000,000,000 (26 Billion) per month! How many schools, roads, and Social Security could we pay with that? Democrat and Republican both are to BLAME!

12-14-2009, 06:17 AM	#6
DockingPilot Hooked Up and Hard Over Joined: Mar 2004 Location: Andover, N.J. Oddometer: 4,661	Terrific ! __________________ Frank Reinbold "Every bike I ever had, was the best bike I ever had, when I had it" *"FOREVER WEST" ADVENTURE NEXT* New England & NB Canada offroad on my F800GS 2009 Trip HERE IDAHO 14 DAY ADVENTURE ON MY 950 HERE TRANS AM TRAIL WEST OF THE ROCKIES ON MY HUSKY TE610HERE MY FAVORITE OVERALL TRANS AM TRAIL SECTION VIDEO HERE Looking for the Guru of Backcountry Routes ? Click here.

12-14-2009, 07:20 AM	#7
prsdrat Gnarly Adventurer Joined: Sep 2008 Location: San Diego, CA Oddometer: 166	In like Flinn! Can't miss all the eye candy. Thanks for sharing.

12-14-2009, 07:40 AM	#8
MoBill That smells good Joined: Mar 2007 Oddometer: 9,092	Excellent! Looks like a lot of dismounted recon getting done... __________________ WR250R Data Thread

12-14-2009, 08:45 AM	#9
gregneedham I seem to fall often Joined: Dec 2005 Location: Key West, Florida Oddometer: 767	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 nOOb2you Joined: May 2008 Location: Key West Oddometer: 28	Best of Luck Gentlemen ! Hell yea....Will be grabbing a cocktail and checking in here

12-14-2009, 08:59 AM	#11
Colebatch "Moto Porn"ographer Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Sunny London Oddometer: 1,739	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. __________________ . www.SibirskyExtreme.com www.Endless-Highway.info Colebatch screwed with this post 12-14-2009 at 09:17 PM.

12-14-2009, 09:09 AM	#12
Colebatch "Moto Porn"ographer Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Sunny London Oddometer: 1,739	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: __________________ . www.SibirskyExtreme.com www.Endless-Highway.info 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, USA Oddometer: 4,612	Subscribed!! __________________ Nulla tenaci invia est via Save $5,= on Smugmug hzbo97T9ucTEs TAT RR http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371050 AK RR http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=254785

12-14-2009, 09:12 AM	#14
Colebatch "Moto Porn"ographer Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Sunny London Oddometer: 1,739	Then it gets interesting: Why mix with the boys, when there are so many Vladivostok girls about ?! __________________ . www.SibirskyExtreme.com www.Endless-Highway.info

12-14-2009, 09:17 AM	#15
Colebatch "Moto Porn"ographer Joined: Jul 2006 Location: Sunny London Oddometer: 1,739	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 ... __________________ . www.SibirskyExtreme.com www.Endless-Highway.info

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