Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[EtronX]

Originally Posted by 25jack

So no problem carrying a laptop on this trip. Using a flash drive? Disk drives do not handle vibration very well.

This report is an education. Love it!

I brought with me a new 13" Macbook Pro with a standard 1 TB HD. I kept it in a dry bag behind me. No problems. I downloaded pictures, videos and Garmin tracks onto it every night. Then I backed everything up on two different external hard drives, of which I carried one and Erik carried one. Every time we slept over in a hotel, or the likes, I charged the MacBook. Between us we had taken a total of 2.300 video clips and over 6.000 pictures

[Lornce]

Interesting to note: KTM's Dakar competition bike uses a carburetor. Is this a Dakar "rule issue", or is KTM simply hedging they're reliability bets and avoiding the complexity of a an FI system (ie: fuel pump).

Originally Posted by Colebatch

A 450 RR is not an enduro bike or MX bike thats been rallified. Its rally ready out of the box - In principle - everyone who has one seems to change the forks tho. A unique bike designed exclusively for long distance high speed off road riding. So it has a long swingarm and stable steering offset compared to normal off road bikes, big fuel tanks, high spec suspension, an effective fairing .... basically apart from the worked motor, its exactly what I look for in an adventure bike. Yes KTM make it. Its a separate and unique bike from everything else they make, and they sell a few hundred a year, but they arent on the KTM webpage. Supply is limited tho and so KTM prefer to sell them to people on the rally scene.

Yes Lyndon owns a 450 RR, and thats what he is rallying.

http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/mod...ly%20%2011.htm

[EtronX]

This is a short, but true story, about Erik and our newfound friend Alex. The story begins one beautiful morning outside a shop in Zhigalovo

Walter and Terry had just scooted off to put on some new tires on their bikes.




Erik and I was waiting outside for Alex, who shortly arrived.




Just as Alex arrived Erik realized he had to take a dump. Not in five minutes, but now A bit frantic in his eyes he tried to explain this to Alex with not much success He was getting quite desperate when finally Alex got it He jumped over a fence and indicated for Erik to follow him. Erik jumped over with the speed of a man in need. They went to the back of the building and there was an old outhouse with two doors. Erik jumped in through one and squatted down. It was pretty filthy, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Then he realized there was no paper. He called Alex who gave him some old newspaper that was lying on the floor.

Due to the fact that these were strange conditions to Erik shit, literarily, stopped up. Then Alex, now next door, called out for paper. Erik wobbled to the door, stretched out and gave some well used newspaper to Alex who thanked him and finished up. Then Erik wobbled back and concentrated on the job at hand. As he got more comfortable with the situation and the surroundings he relaxed a bit more and got back to business. Then the door opened and Alex was there starting a conversation with Erik So there was Erik, squatting down with his pants on his knees in an old dirty outhouse in Siberia trying to take a dump and Alex wanted to converse ten inches in front of him This was totally normal for him it seemed

I just love the Russian boondocks

[stemic01]

Originally Posted by 25jack

So no problem carrying a laptop on this trip. Using a flash drive? Disk drives do not handle vibration very well.!

I brought my old Thinkpad (Lenovo) upgraded with a SSD drive which has worked very well for me. No problems except it needs to be charged. Two backup disks for photo and video! I also got a dropbox account with copy of vital information and documents just in case. To save weight for the BAM and ROB I sent home the computer and some other stuff from Irkutsk. Watertight bag is smart :)

[C/W]

Originally Posted by Lornce

Interesting to note: KTM's Dakar competition bike uses a carburetor. Is this a Dakar "rule issue", or is KTM simply hedging they're reliability bets and avoiding the complexity of a an FI system (ie: fuel pump).

I would suggest more of an ease of maintenance issue rather than a reliability issue. Simplicity greatly increases maintainability. Carbs require more routine maintenance, but are easily maintained. FI requires less routine maintenance but can be a hassle to debug.

Carbs can be harder to setup in terms of proper & smooth running bike, but rarely does a poorly tuned carb result in an inoperative bike.

In a rally, it's going to be much easier to swap a new carb versus debug a mysterious FI problem. Case in point, the KTM in this report suffered from a fuel pump issue that seemingly baffled the riders for many days. Is it the fuel pump, the electrical system, the ECU, the injectors, the pressure regulators, etc, etc...

[ttr]

I've been reading this report twice and I find it great, it gives me a different idea about russians and for sure I'll visit it by bike in the next years.

I'm in for the book&dvd that I'll buy asap. In the meanwhile, after I read the BAM road report, I have some questions for all the team (Walter&Co). I apologize if my questions were already asked:

- before the trip started did you make any phisical training?
- if not, would you reccomend it to any adult? (any means an exercised one)
- exept for the fall (s), did you experience particular issues during the trip like: pain in the back/lower back, wirsts, shoulders - neck, or any muscle inflammation.

I use to ride a yamaha ttr600 2002, I experience some wirsts/arms pain in trips >400 km/day. I think is a normal thing but I can't figure how did you manage it on a very long trips like the Sibirsky and the BAM.

Anyway, after reading those reports I don't think will be so heavy to cover higher distances

[EtronX]

We spent two nights in Zhigalovo. It took some time getting the bikes ready and we had to celebrate Walters birthday I won't say much about that except that it involved a substantial amount of Vodka, guitar and singing

What happens in Zhigalovo stays in Zhigalovo

We hit the road in the morning and stopped on the outskirts of the town to get gas and the obligatory Snickers. As normal the locals wanted pictures. What I like though is that most Russians are always very polite and always asks permission before to see if it is OK.




After gas we drove a few clicks before we crossed the mighty Lena on a floating bridge. Walter leading the way.




At the intersection between Chikan and Magistralny there is a road sign. It was marked by Sibersky Extreme in 2009 and now it was time to mark it again with the Trans Sibir eXpedition sticker






After the intersection the roads turned worse. It was a pretty wet, slippery and bumpy ride. For a while I was behind Walter and I flagged him down because I thought he had a flat. No such thing. Just his new tires that were extremely slippery in the mud. He was all over the place.




Both man and machine needs fuel




My XC with the Dakar Carbon front fender.




After a pretty rough day we made it to BAM proper. All alive and none hurt. Just a bent front wheel on the list




We got some gas from the local gas station. This one might look basic but just wait and see




Next stop was Severobaikalsk

[O'B]

Originally Posted by EtronX

This is a short, but true story, about Erik and our newfound friend Alex. The story begins one beautiful morning outside a shop in Zhigalovo

Walter and Terry had just scooted off to put on some new tires on their bikes.




Erik and I was waiting outside for Alex, who shortly arrived.




Just as Alex arrived Erik realized he had to take a dump. Not in five minutes, but now A bit frantic in his eyes he tried to explain this to Alex with not much success He was getting quite desperate when finally Alex got it He jumped over a fence and indicated for Erik to follow him. Erik jumped over with the speed of a man in need. They went to the back of the building and there was an old outhouse with two doors. Erik jumped in through one and squatted down. It was pretty filthy, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Then he realized there was no paper. He called Alex who gave him some old newspaper that was lying on the floor.

Due to the fact that these were strange conditions to Erik shit, literarily, stopped up. Then Alex, now next door, called out for paper. Erik wobbled to the door, stretched out and gave some well used newspaper to Alex who thanked him and finished up. Then Erik wobbled back and concentrated on the job at hand. As he got more comfortable with the situation and the surroundings he relaxed a bit more and got back to business. Then the door opened and Alex was there starting a conversation with Erik So there was Erik, squatting down with his pants on his knees in an old dirty outhouse in Siberia trying to take a dump and Alex wanted to converse ten inches in front of him This was totally normal for him it seemed

I just love the Russian boondocks

[TRIPPEEE]

Looks like it was Walter's "night in the barrel"

[GRinCR]

More BAM!

[rpet]

Originally Posted by Dahveed

I don't know what's more bad ass, riding that bridge so fast or riding so many thousands of miles solo to do it. Congrats Sir!

I remember the first time I read Colebatch's old report of that bridge with Tony stopped mid-way over in the storm, etc. Seriously spine chilling, and the photo is still my desktop background 2+ years later.

What's next, someone wheelieing the thing and tossing a nac nac over that hump in the middle?

[VFR]

So, EtronX...if Walter was leading the way across that bridge, who took the picture???

Just Kidding..... This is a fantastic report. Carry On, Gents.

[25jack]

Can we please have an update on how the Sprockets are holding up? Do you only go with one rear? Is it a 47T or 48T?

How many fronts do you go thought on a trip like this? I like to carry 2 of each but if I can go with one rear.....much better.

[motoreiter]

EtronX, what can you tell me about that low fender? Where'd you get it? Was it just a straight bolt-on? How'd it hold up?

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by 25jack

Can we please have an update on how the Sprockets are holding up? Do you only go with one rear? Is it a 47T or 48T?

How many fronts do you go thought on a trip like this? I like to carry 2 of each but if I can go with one rear.....much better.

One Ironman rear sprocket is all thats needed for a year of expeditioning. No spares carried. 47T

I did carry a total of 3 spare front sprockets ... a14T, 2 x 15T ... at the start of the trip, plus the 16T I began with. Most of the time, I used the 2 15T front sprockets