Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by Thomas B.

and what were the vikings riding on their x's.
Stock wheel? were they though enough?

Yes stock wheels

Kinda tough enough to survive in some cases but not in all cases - stay tuned for details as they emerge

[Thomas B.]

ok, Walter, I'm waiting.
thanks for the answer.
Thomas

[Twinmike]

Hi Walter

Do you know the travel weight from your XC with all the modification and full fuel front and back and your luggage.

Thank you

[tee bee]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Terry's front wheel, as mentioned, is a stock 21 inch KTM wheel with an Excel signature rim (not all KTM wheels use good rims) - so its pretty tough.

I cant recall but think he had custom wheel spacers, and or axle made up. Terry? enlighten us?

.

Yes i had the original axle lengthened, and had some spacers laying around that fitted .

Sometimes things just fall into place real easy, this was one of those times.

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by Twinmike

Hi Walter

Do you know the travel weight from your XC with all the modification and full fuel front and back and your luggage.

Thank you

No - never specifically weighed it.

But if you look at this page ... http://www.ultimatejourney.com/prep.html ... you will see their F650 Funduros with metal boxes weighed 240 kgs ready to ship (no fuel), and 300 kgs once in the shipping crate.

Terry and I shipped our bikes back at the end of our journey this year and each bike with all the luggage and in full wooden crate was an avge of 248 kgs - and we still had fuel in the bikes because we truck / freighted back, whereas the numbers on the page above for the F650GS were without fuel because they were airfreighting. So our bikes would be about 55 - 60 kgs less than the F650s above if we had no fuel in the bikes.

Now, about 20 - 25 kgs of that difference will be the basic bike difference (XC vs F650 Funduro weights). The other 35 kgs will be the much lighter luggage, and no metal boxes (the guys above used full size Jesse Panniers).

If you assume the crate weighs about 60 kgs (as per the information above), the the bikes all loaded with luggage but light on fuel are about 188 kgs. Call it 195-200kgs with full fuel, all tools, spare parts and full luggage. Terrys would be slightly lighter than mine, with a few kgs less luggage and without the front fairing.

That would compare to about 250-260 kgs for a Dakar with metal boxes, or 290 -300 kgs for a 1200 GS all loaded up with metal boxes and full of fuel.

If you are thinking GSA or Super Tenere or Tiger Explorer, with the sorts of luggage you see people carry on those big rigs, then you are potentially up around 325 -350 kgs for a wet fully fuelled bike with full touring luggage, spare parts etc.

[Colebatch]

I am terribly sorry guys ... but we have forgotten to tell you about a chance encounter a few days back ....

While Terry, Geir and myself had arrived on Olkhon Island, and Erik and Steve were a few hours behind us .... they refuelled where the road to Zhigalovo and the road to Olkhon Island split.

While Erik and Steve were there, a fast talking, high energy Basque guy rode up to them on a KTM 990. He said he was off to Magadan and intended to break the speed record over the Vitim River Bridge. Then he zoomed off towards Zhigalovo pulling a wheelie on his fully fuelled and loaded 990 till he was out of sight.

Erik and Steve were totally flabbergasted ... they didnt expect that ...

But the chap in question was Iker Iturregi ... a Basque Spaniard who has 8 motocross titles to his name and was due to ride the Dakar a few years ago (had the bike, registration everything) but the crisis hit Spain and a key financial sponsor had to pull out on him, forcing him to withdraw. The point is, the lad can seriously ride a bike.

His blog site (if you can read spanish) is here:
http://www.blogseitb.com/rogeblasco/...beria-en-moto/

But most interesting are his helmet cam videos ... such as this: http://youtu.be/8GywvXk85GI

And his signature piece ... his third crossing of the Vitim Bridge (he had two practice runs first), in just 40 seconds ... at speeds above 90 km/h (55 mph)
http://youtu.be/tqtzmJrHdxw?t=3m13s
It will give you an idea what short of adrenaline rush is coming up for us in a few days time.

[lakota]

I feel like it's Christmas in January - the next chapter of the ride report is falling into place.

[ROD CURRIE]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

And his signature piece ... the 40 second crossing of the Vitim Bridge, at speeds above 90 km/h (55 mph)
http://youtu.be/tqtzmJrHdxw?t=3m13s

Just watched it. Jesus.

Mad, bad and seriously dangerous...... Dead's forever.

I suppose it's about confidence, and truth is I haven't got it in those quantities-but I still take my hat off to him.

I remember when I showed a pic of the Vitim bridge to a certain "Murkin" friend of our mutual acquaintance he replied..."jeez...can I just crawl across and pull the bike over on a piece of long rope...

[francs]

Yep, that's Iker, the craziest guy I ever met

[mikecbrxx]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Terry and I shipped our bikes back at the end of our journey this year and each bike with all the luggage and in full wooden crate was an avge of 248 kgs

Hi Walter. Are you sure about that figure? When we weighed my crate before loading to go to Kazakhstan, it was 305kgs in total...still 40kgs lighter than any other crate though and that was a DRZ400

The bike had fuel and all my stuff was in the crate, but that is a large difference. Maybe it had something to do with the MDF the crate sides/top was made of ? Not sure if that is heavier than 'real' wood.

[stemic01]

Thanks for the nice words Walter, but it is more you guys to honor than me. The BAM would never happen to me if it was not for Erik and Geir in the first place which invited me to come along. And second that we later met you and Terry in Irkutsk and invited us to come along. I was sitting home planning my trip and dreaming of the BAM road and the Road of Bones, but doing that without any experience and solo was just out of the question! And here I was, finding myself in a position where the dream was about to fulfill :) Thank you guys!

[Dekatria]

Originally Posted by stemic01

Some more photos from the first part till the start of BAM.


Steve is changing both front wheel bearings and front tyre on the F800GS.


Steve is changing both front wheel bearings and front tyre on the F800GS.

Maybe this question has been answered already (if so, apologies for the 205), but what kind of toolkit are you guys lugging around, and where do you put it?

Great pictures

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by mikecbrxx

When we weighed my crate before loading to go to Kazakhstan, it was 305kgs in total...still 40kgs lighter than any other crate though and that was a DRZ400

The bike had fuel and all my stuff was in the crate, but that is a large difference. Maybe it had something to do with the MDF the crate sides/top was made of ? Not sure if that is heavier than 'real' wood.

Well depends on the construction or if its plywood or what ... certainly they can be a lot heavier than that. This mob in the States makes motorcycle crates from wood that weigh 377 lbs (171 kgs) http://www.crateoutlet.com/blog/tag/motorcycle-crate/. So it varies on the topside for sure.

Factory shipping crates just use cardboard for the sidewalls and top and have no base plate - just a frame for the forklifts. Some use lightweight 3 ply, while like the guys listed use solid sheets for the walls and base. So on the top side there is a lot of variance to the weight. But the bases have to be solid as they are moved around by forklift, so there is only so low the weight can go and still be affordable. But you definitely dont need a wooden sheet for the walls, or top or even for the base (as mentioned OEM shipping crates have none of those) ... unless they are being stacked. Your guys must have crated them pretty solid.

Terrys was 246 kgs and mine 250 kgs I believe. I just averaged them to call it 248 kgs each. We had no tops or sides on our boxes, just framework.

[Motorrev]

If you haven't read the ride report from the Tokyo to London adventure, you owe it to yourselves to do so. Its an amazing trip and something you can't stop reading. Any of us that have ridden for a lifetime have been through a lot of stuff, good and bad, but few have experienced what these two guys did back in 1994. Check it out.

Thanks again Walter and company for taking us along on the ride!

Bob

[Prutser]

Mike's crate was pretty solid. And needed to be stacked for transport.

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Well depends on the construction or if its plywood or what ... certainly they can be a lot heavier than that. This mob in the States makes motorcycle crates from wood that weigh 377 lbs (171 kgs) http://www.crateoutlet.com/blog/tag/motorcycle-crate/. So it varies on the topside for sure.

Factory shipping crates just use cardboard for the sidewalls and top and have no base plate - just a frame for the forklifts. Some use lightweight 3 ply, craters like the guys listed use solid sheets for the walls and base. So on the top side there is a lot of variance to the weight. But the bases have to be solid as they are moved around by forklift, so there is only so low the weight can go and still be affordable. But you definitely dont need a wooden sheet for the walls, or top or even for the base (as mentioned OEM shipping crates have none of those) ... unless they are being stacked. Your guys must have crated them pretty solid.

Terrys was 246 kgs and mine 250 kgs I believe. I just averaged them to call it 248 kgs each.