Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[Jacl-Kampuchea]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Unfortunately we were lazy and connected the bikes up incorrectly.

With the bike and myself back on our feet, and the bike still not wanting to start, We decided to tow it properly. Footpeg to footpeg.

Yup, I became a convert of the peg to peg method of towing after my (loaned out) DR made a deep crossing and my KTM ( which I was on) did not.

Brutal shit to even push a bike through. When the fellow towing me hit a graded dirt road he whipped up to an indicated 70mph before the strap slipped from my footpeg, so I snicked her to third, dumped the clutch and the bike awoke.

Nice RR so far, waiting on the real gnarly bits here

[mrbreeze]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Terry towed me one final time a few hundred yards down the road to the village store:

Well, at least you qualify for the HOV lane.

[hardroadking]

In the foot peg to footpeg towing do you create a loop at each end of the rope that you can kick off the peg or is the rope knotted around each foot peg?

[hardwaregrrl]

Originally Posted by hardroadking

In the foot peg to footpeg towing do you create a loop at each end of the rope that you can kick off the peg or is the rope knotted around each foot peg?

I bet'cha they just stand on the rope. Then you can bail whenever.....at least that's the way I was taught.

Can't wait for more!!!!!

[Yellow Pig]

One reverse wrap and foot pressure so if there are any issues you just lift your foot and release the line. One not of caution, do not use a dynamic line. You want something static that will not stretch.

Last time I did this I only had a cheap Moose tow strap (very stretchy) towed the guy that ran out of gas behind me for 20 miles without issues, then pulling into the gas station he let go and the stretched out strap snapped back and got stuck in my chain sprocket. took me a good 15 minutes to get it all out.

I typically use 1/2 or 3/4 in climbing webbing, which does not stretch.

[ecarnell]

Originally Posted by hardwaregrrl

i bet'cha they just stand on the rope. Then you can bail whenever.....at least that's the way i was taught.

Can't wait for more!!!!!

x2!

[NitroRoo]

whew - there went several evening's worth of reading. All caught up now (I guess that means I get to start the daily checking for updates with the rest of these goons)

Awesome stuff. Thanks so much for taking the time to process all these pics and writeup a report, better than any book

PS. I love the GoPro vidcaps - gives a great sense of the changes in scenery that I know you just can't feasibly get with a still camera (can't stop every 10 mins for pics). The regular still pics are, as usual, very well done also. Really loving the report.

Now... MOAR!!

[pprO.R.A.]

Sibersky Team !!!!!

[xlthumper]

if i don't have atleast one water crossing during an excursion, i am a really unsatisfied camper, thank gosh for ditches on the way home from work every night great RR this is the only one i have waited each night for updates.
thank you

[BordenBmw]

Originally Posted by pprO.R.A.

Sibersky Team !!!!!

+1

[Colebatch]

After a nice refreshing drink at the general store, I suggested to the group that Terry and I stay behind to sort out my bike, while the other guys ride on ahead ... They needed to catch up with ride fitness and get used to the navigation system. Terry and I were already ride fit and slick with the navigation so would catch them up later in the day. My battery needed some intimate time with a 220 V socket.

Rod, Beamster and Prutser headed off into the Kazakh steppe.

Here they are on a section of wet slippery clay.



While the flatness of the land was very familiar to Dutchies Prutser and Beamster, the endless free space was very different to what they were used to in Holland ... so they took loads of pics of the bikes on the steppe:



And a few pics of Kazakh villages

[Colebatch]

Meanwhile back a the ranch ... Terry and I waited for another 75 minutes while the battery continued to charge up in the power socket at the general store. We decided that was enough of a lead for the other guys, and we should put the bikes back together and catch up with them.

Only there was still not enough power in the battery to turn the engine over. [I have since found out by experience that a flat LiFePO4 battery like a shorai needs all night on the special charger to recover] I was hoping to crank the engine over enough times to finish squirting the water through the engine. But no. I had to think of something else. Then we hit on an idea I wish I had 2 hours earlier, when the bike was freshly emerged from the water and my battery was still ok. I disconnected the high pressure fuel line and turned the ignition on. The fuel pump whirred and an a fuel water mixture squirted all over Terry's crotch. It was a eureka moment. You dont need to pump the fuel / water mix through the engine, till the water is out ... that requires a load of battery power to overcome the engines compression. And slow progress via the fuel injector. By pumping fuel straight out of the tank it required almost no power, and came out fast!.

I could even do it with my very weak battery.

We looked around and found a discarded clear plastic drink bottle to squirt the mix into ... Terry held it over the plastic outlet spout on the top of the fuel tank and turned the ignition on and off until we had about 250 ml (about a cup) of stuff in the bottle. Holding it up and letting it settle it became obvious that we had 80% water and 20% fuel from that batch.

We threw it out and went again ... a new 250 ml of liquid was pumped out. This time it was 50:50 water / fuel.

We went a few more times until we could discern no water in the stuff coming out of the fuel pump. Then we leaned the bike over to the other side and pumped a bit more. Still no water. It seemed good to go.

Terry's battery came out and was held next to mine in the jump starting procedure described a few pages back, and the bike started up and idled. We were good to go.!

We put the bikes back together, and headed off to find our team mates.

A couple of hours later we caught up with them. Rod was trying to see how close he could get to puncturing his tyres without actually doing so:

.



Prutser, who had been riding as the tail gunner, was showing the dusty downside of being the sweeper.



PS ... there was still a little water in my fuel tank somewhere ... on hard acceleration, water would get drawn into the pump and the bike would sputter a little for a second or two before recovering. This would continue until I got around to properly draining the tank much later in the trip.

[Mtrain]

Hey Beam(st)er, can you give us a rundown on your bike. My wife (Miss jane on here) has an xcountry and we have debated putting a 21 on the front for the deeper sand. Do you have the stock forks? and how did the 21 inch conversion affect the handling on the road?
Thanks
Looks like a fun trip.

[Thomas B.]

Hi Beemster,

do you know what the seat hight of you bike is with the 21/18" wheels? Do you still have the original suspension travel or did you change that?
I'm asking because the KTM my wife is riding at the moment is getting old and I'm thinking about a replacment.
Since she is not very tall ( the KTM was made lower) the BMW might be an option.

thanks and cheers
Thomas

[Colebatch]

Now riding together as a group of five, we continued for several hours across the wide Kazakh Steppe. It was good riding conditions now and it gave the new guys a chance to get used to the speed Terry and I liked to ride at. For a first day off road, it was a good one for the group as it introduced the new guys straight away to the water, to the speed and to the navigation. All essential parts of the coming weeks fun and games.

We were heading for a town on a highway, where we could find food, fuel and accommodation - and arrived late in the afternoon off a dirt track. A quick chat with the local cops (who pulled us over) told us the food and accommodation was at a truck stop kinda place a few hundred yards down the asphalt highway, just past the fuel station.

Terry surveys the scene:



We found out the hotel was closed or full or something ... but the restaurant was doing a good business and they would let us camp out the back. We went out the back and set the tents up, before returning for dinner:





Over dinner, we were told that we were welcome to use the shower facilities in the hotel ... which was a nice way to finish dinner.

After darkness came, the mosquitoes came out, and this was more important conditioning that the new guys would have to get used to.