Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[yokesman]

Besides a weld you might considr adding a doubler, extended out and butt welded in.

[mrbreeze]

has anyone mentioned what an awesome story this is?

thanks for sharing. I am enjoying it very much.

[CosmicWally]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

The next morning, we all saddled up bright and early to leave Chara. Actually it wasnt that bright. It was grey and raining, and it seemed like there was a day of rain riding in store. Since arriving in the Altai, we were never far from rain. Most days had given us some rain since way back then. Before then, we had almost always sunny days without rain. After the Altai we had mostly rain.

As we were about to go, I noticed a crack in the front subframe again. Each time it was re welded it seemed to get weaker and weaker. I yearned for the improved model Erik at Hot Rod had conjured up ... but there was no way to get it to Siberia. It only had two more weeks to survive ... I just had to get it fixed one last time and nurse the bike a bit to Magadan.

I looked at the guys all ready to go, and said "guys, go ahead without me. I will stay behind in Chara and try and get it welded up or I would put the bike on a train to Tynda." Tynda is a small city, where I definitely knew I could get it welded. It was alloy so I specifically needed an alloy welder.

To my surprise, Terry offered to stay back with me. Its never great to leave one person alone. I didnt challenge him.

We waved the Norwegian guys off, in the light rain, and watched them ride off towards the east.

As they departed, Terry looked at me and said ... to be honest mate I am feeling pretty exhausted.

I was glad he said that. Cause I was feeling exhausted too. We had been on the road a long time Terry and I. Many of the days were long days, and off road riding is always physical.

We crossed the road to the train station and found we had a day and a half to wait for a train with a baggage wagon, and it would take 18 hours to get to Tynda from Chara. We should arrive about the same time as the Norwegians.

We went to the towns railway depot and engineering workshops to see if anyone there was an alloy welder. We spoke to the cheif engineer, but he confirmed that there was nothing there.

All there was to do now was to wait for the train tomorrow night. So we stocked up on beer, as it continued to rain outside the hotel.

We chatted about motivation. We had both ridden this road before. Every inch was ground we had previously covered. In fact every inch of road I had ridden since the Altai were miles I had ridden before. Before the Altai it was largely new to me with just small bits i had done before. After the Altai it was all familiar ground for me. All thru Mongolia, and now all the way to Magadan would be familiar ground.

I realised I had already done what I set out to do. I wanted to map a dirt trail from Europe to the Pacific ... and I had done that ... the bits from here on were bits I had already ridden and already mapped / tracked out before. I had actually without realising it, already done what I set out to do.

I could have jumped on a train then and there to go back to Moscow (Spare parts dealer). But I felt an obligation to the 4 others. The three Norwegians had taken on these roads when they otherwise werent planning to, because I was going. Some time around Severobaikalsk, after we had had a few days on the road with the Norwegian guys ... Terry looked at me and said, "you know mate, there are alright... these Norwegian boys". He was right. We didnt know them before Irkutsk. I had exchanged emails / facebook messages with one of them about bike preparation and the BAM Road but that was all we knew. We were fortunate that our riding companions were good guys and we all got along well and helped each other when needed.

Terry had done this BAM Road, but hadn't done the Road of Bones. I felt I owed it to him, who has been the perfect riding partner, by my side for almost 3 months, to follow thru with the plan. A couple of days rest had always proved good medicine for Terry in the past and while he felt exhausted now, I was sure he would be raring to go once we unloaded in Tynda in 2.5 days time.

Walter, would you mind giving us a Google Map update so we can get a sense of where your location is...

[GSPD750]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

I realised I had already done what I set out to do. I wanted to map a dirt trail from Europe to the Pacific ... and I had done that ... the bits from here on were bits I had already ridden and already mapped / tracked out before. I had actually without realising it, already done what I set out to do.
.

Wow...just wow. Good job Walter.

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by CosmicWally

Walter, would you mind giving us a Google Map update so we can get a sense of where your location is...

Sure ...

[vintagespeed]

nice commentary Walter. good to know that even seemingly "super" humans such as yourself have doubts, get tired, even discouraged.

what makes one "super" is to fight through it and to continue on. good stuff.

[Salsa]

Aluminum framed bike users might consider taking a couple of Aluminum Stick welding rods with you. Just remember to tell the welder to practice if he does not do that regularly and use DC stick positive.

Be sure to pack it so that the flux coating does not get lost.

Don

[Colebatch]

Not really for non UK readers, and I dont want to start a whole bunch of responses or similar posts ... but a guy in the UK just had his RD04 Africa Twin stolen and would really appreciate a shout out to anyone in the North East of England anyone may know to keep eyes peeled.

http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/africa-...h-east-uk.html

[jeickerman]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Not really for non UK readers, and I dont want to start a who bunch of responses or similar posts ... but a guy in the UK just had his RD04 Africa Twin stolen and would really appreciate a shout out to anyone in the North East of England anyone may know to keep eyes peeled.

http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/africa-...h-east-uk.html

Walter,

You should contact your mafia friend in the Ukraine so he can keep an eye out for it...or he may be riding it next week.

I hope they they recover the bike and nail the perp to a signpost!

John

[davidbrundage]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Not really for non UK readers, and I dont want to start a whole bunch of responses or similar posts ... but a guy in the UK just had his RD04 Africa Twin stolen and would really appreciate a shout out to anyone in the North East of England anyone may know to keep eyes peeled.

http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/africa-...h-east-uk.html

the link seems to be broken. pretty sure it's this part: "africa-...h"

[Ze Red Baron]

here is the link to the stolen AT:

http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/africa-...h-east-uk.html

Good luck in getting it back.

and to the Prick who took it

[EtronX]

We got the news from Walter in the morning. He and Terry would not ride with us to Tynda. They were both knackered and Walters subframe had cracked again. They would wait a day and then put themselves and the bikes on a train. We would then all meet in Tynda in two days time. We bid goodbye and saddled up.

PS! Not the best quality on the pictures from this day. It was raining like crazy and almost all of the pictures are frames taken from the GoPro.

First we needed to get some gas. No gas in Novaya Chara so we headed over to Chara to refill. About 15 clicks north.




We got our gas and headed East. It was raining steadily. After about 150 k's we came to the Olongdo river. The bridge was U/S, as is normal on the BAM




This is actually a nice crossing. You have to enter the river and then follow it for a while before you can cross over to the other side. It is not technically difficult as long as you pick the right line We got the XC's over easily, but in places like this the weight of the 800GS is noticeable. Steve got stuck a bit in the middle, but with the help of some locals we got the show back on the road.




We pressed on, but just outside Hani my GPS started to get blurry. I stopped to check if the mount was loose. Then I noticed something on the subframe. "Fhat the Wuck" The thing had cracked again

In Zhigalovo I only had a minor crack in the subframe and the weld that was done there was just at the crack. I tried to get them to weld some more in order to strengthen it, but due to language problems that did not happen. Now I got to pay the price. Nothing more to do than use some TT straps and tie the thing up as good as I could.

We had only gotten a few kilometers after this when my engine started to misfire. It was raining heavily now and I was getting severely pissed The engine sounded like a two cylinder engine running on one cylinder. No power. I stopped the bike and checked. Nothing found. I put it to neutral and started it again. It did run fine, but as soon as I put it into first gear it stopped. It had to be the kill switch on the side stand that was causing this. It is a known problem on the XC.

I remembered from when I did the rebuild of the bikes in Holland Erik of HotRod Welding told me about this. He also said it is the brown and white cable you have to cut. I got my Leatherman out and found the cables. It was a bit narrow, but I managed to cut the brown and white. Then I tied them together. The bike started, but as soon as I took it out of neutral it stopped There was one more cable. I cut that one to and tied the whole bunch together. Now it started and it did run in all gears. Problem solved The only thing was that I had no protection if I tried to start the bike in gear or if the side stand came down while I drove. Well, you win some and you loose some. The main thing was that I could ride the bike again.

[boboneleg]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Not really for non UK readers, and I dont want to start a whole bunch of responses or similar posts ... but a guy in the UK just had his RD04 Africa Twin stolen and would really appreciate a shout out to anyone in the North East of England anyone may know to keep eyes peeled.

http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/africa-...h-east-uk.html

Blimey Walter,

top man for making a wider audience aware of Zenarchy's woes

[boboneleg]

Originally Posted by EtronX

It had to be the kill switch on the side stand that was causing this. It is a known problem on the XC.

I remembered from when I did the rebuild of the bikes in Holland Erik of HotRod Welding told me about this. He also said it is the brown and white cable you have to cut. I got my Leatherman out and found the cables. It was a bit narrow, but I managed to cut the brown and white. Then I tied them together. The bike started, but as soon as I took it out of neutral it stopped There was one more cable. I cut that one to and tied the whole bunch together. Now it started and it did run in all gears. Problem solved The only thing was that I had no protection if I tried to start the bike in gear or if the side stand came down while I drove. Well, you win some and you loose some. The main thing was that I could ride the bike again.

The first thing I remove when I get a new (to me) bike is to bypass the side-stand switch, they're a waste of time (IMO)

[Erik RS]

Sorry to interrupt. Have to look it up Geir, but I'm quite sure it's white and red. Brown is always earth with BMW and has actually no (not that I know off at least) function in this little loom

[edit]
Found the pic I was looking for



And his clutch switch brother:



I'm sorry, embarrassed and apologise that the mount gave you guys so much trouble . I underestimated the weight and leverage of the quite large KTM fairing. It's probably my racing background that sometimes makes me overdo it at weight saving. Walter took a proto of this setup to Morocco, fell heavily with it and eventually rode it as the maniac he actually is and it survived. Maybe we should commit to do proto testing a little nearer to home? See you in spring for the mounting of V2.0 mate.