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Schoe000


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There and Back (A vertically challenged tale).
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Hi All,

Thought I would share my summer trip.

On the 14th July 2012 I fly out to Almaty in Kazakhstan (close to the Chinese border) to collect my bike which has spent 5 weeks travelling there by container. Then I will ride the 6000+ miles home to the UK. Travelling along some of the silk routes and doing as much off road as it possible. I will travel through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Ukraine and the rest of Europe. The trip will take between 5 and 7 weeks. Once I leave you can follow my progress at http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=00iZyFZDCETZDozMb4G5N22RqAcD0eUxL

 
The bike preparation has started, The bike is a 2005 Drz400s minus 4 inches in height. Having spoken to Dave at Aventure Spec he recommends that I add no more that 40kg to the bike fully loaded, I am trying to keep it to 30kg, we will see!! Preparation includes new tyres, new heavy duty inner tubes with slime, brake pads front and rear, wider foot pegs, wiring for gps, heated grips and small wind shield, new chain, front and rear sprockets, general service, Scott touring chain oiler, home made pannier system (recycled school chairs), setting up suspension for extra weight (Kerry I will give you a ring :)) and a host of other smaller things.

Home made rack. Yep before someone comments there is a big slug problem where I am going.

IMAG0084 - Copy.jpg


First dry run loaded, suspension desperately needs sorting out!!!

IMAG0079 - Copy.jpg

 Forgot to say feel free to comment with advice or suggestions.

IMAG0080 - Copy.jpg



-- Edited by Schoe000 on Sunday 13th of May 2012 07:51:22 PM

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jt


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Excellent!

Good luck mate and will follow your adventure with interest...



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delvey91


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That will be some trip! Good luck Nick!

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Tigerman


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Good luck Nick, looking forward to following your trip!



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Brockstar71


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Sounds like a cracking trip mate, have a good one!!

Chris.

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Cubber


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Good luck.

You want to take Bob with you in case you get punctures. biggrin

Martyn



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Lost


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apart from sorting sus ? a crash ???? course in first aid is ave ?

idears 

ISOPON for metal /plastic repairs

sheep skin seat cover ?

hide some emergency funds on the bike ?

spare key?

fuses ?

levers/ zipties/ wheel bearings/ plastic tube you may need to scavenge for fuel ?

boots i noticed long way/down that obeone used army boots and gave up on his riding boots ? there not so comfortable to walk in?  and that will reduce luggage space extra shoes ?

a sink plug ? lol 



-- Edited by Lost on Monday 14th of May 2012 08:55:32 AM

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doug9270


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Good luck Nick, what tyres are you running. Dont forget health issues ie water quality in said countries is very poor puri tabs will help.

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L'orange


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Blimey mate, good luck.

 

Have you spoken to Sam?



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Simmo


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loo roll and condoms



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slider rider


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Wow Nick that will be some trip, don't forget to fill in a run reportbiggrin I wish you the best of luck and be safewinkbiggrinbiggrin



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Biff


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Good on you fella , bit jealous myself , maybe when kids have flown the nest, maybe.........

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brownie


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good luck m8!

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Have a great time nick smile

Keep the badger count low mate and the pasty count a little higher you never know when your next going to eat smile



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Phaedrus


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Come back well n poke Fraser in the eye...."doomed captain Manwairing, doomed we are"..... have fun.

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Schoe000


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Thanks for the words of encouragement J.

Doug I am going to use TCK-80 dual use tyres and have ordered the Puritabs.  

Kerry got most of it covered, I am going to use an Airhawk seat. In two weeks got to do 500+ miles in one day to deliver the bike to the carrier so I will let you know! The boots dont know yet, got a pair of para boots that come ¾ of the way up the shins. They are really comfortable and waterproof but not sure how much protection in a crash. I have also been wearing a pair of Tech 3s plenty of protection but no feel through the rear brake, not very good for walking in L



-- Edited by Schoe000 on Tuesday 15th of May 2012 02:08:36 PM

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jacks


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That sounds like it should be an excellent trip. From reading various long distance ride reports, what most of them conclude is that they took far too much stuff smile

Look forward to hearing your travellers tales when you return - good luck.



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The Muppet


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Nick have a great trip just keep smiling no matter what ..............Have fun and take care ......


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Scramble


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Wow Nick.... how exciting, cant wait to follow you...best of luck.

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Harty


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Schoe000 wrote:

Thanks for the words of encouragement J.

Doug I am going to use TCK-80 dual use tyres and have ordered the Puritabs.  

Kerry got most of it covered, I am going to use an Airhawk seat. In two weeks got to do 500+ miles in one day to deliver the bike to the carrier so I will let you know! The boots dont know yet, got a pair of para boots that come ¾ of the way up the shins. They are really comfortable and waterproof but not sure how much protection in a crash. I have also been wearing a pair of Tech 3s plenty of protection but no feel through the rear brake, not very good for walking in L



-- Edited by Schoe000 on Tuesday 15th of May 2012 02:08:36 PM

Hi Nick, personally I wouldn't go with TKC's after riding in the Balkans. Even some of the main roads wouldn't cope with TKC's! My rear MT21 was a fantastic tyre on the rear, for the road and off-road. I'd say that the tyre has worn only 20% after 1500 miles. Cheers Harty 



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Schoe000


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I had to deliver the bike to Holland at the weekend for shipping to Almaty. Slimmed the bike right down, close to half the weight of a few weeks ago and leaves spare room for water and food. 

 

IMAG0087 resized.jpg

 

 

Torquay to Arhnem, left about 9:30 Saturday morning (or 09:30 in DOug speek) the way I went was just over 550 miles and about 10 hours in the saddle. The Airhawk worked fine no real numb bum J.

 

 

The weather was superb and I would like to say the trip was uneventful! The bike ran fine 65 to 75mph all day no problems, but the bike developed an annoying buzz like there was a nut in the bash plate vibrating around, stopped a few times and could not work out the source so no doubt that will come back to bite me in the ass at some point.

 

I have put on a Clarkes 15ltr fuel tank to extend the range off the bike. I have had it on for about 3 months commuting and was getting about 130 to 150 range. There is no fuel gauge so the plan was to refuel every 100 miles. I was travelling along the motorway towards Ghent hit close to 100 miles, so time to find fuel when I see 35k (22 miles) to next services. Thought tight but ok, got another 3 miles onto reserve, time to get off the motorway, quickly.  Next exit several ks, starting to sweat! 6 miles later (what a crap reserve) I'm on the hard shoulder out of fuel. While I had taken into account the small fly screen and extra weight, I had been miles out on my calculations. Better to find out in Europe than Asia. Total mileage to dry tank was about 110-115.

 

Time to take stock: ring breakdown, likely to take hours. Flag down passing cars, bit risky. Leave bike and go hunting for fuel. Thats what I did. Climbed the embankment over a couple of fences and across a field about 20 minutes later was in a farm yard. With my best smile, 20 euro note and nonexistent French did a deal for 5lts fuel in an old oil container 20 minutes back over the fences down the embankment and I am off. 20 Euros was expensive but I was happy J. Kept the oil container and filled it for next time!

 

Wild camped the night in a field on route, arrived at Ads the next day ready for a day of crate building.

 

img20120527150027.jpg 

 

 

 img20120527114407krk.jpg

 

 

 

 

Flew home Amsterdam Exeter Sunday evening.

 

Things learnt: Dont rely on you sat nav! Have a back up. Re-distribute the weight on the bike to try to avoid tank slap, dont run out of fuel.



-- Edited by Schoe000 on Monday 28th of May 2012 10:37:14 AM



-- Edited by Schoe000 on Monday 28th of May 2012 10:39:07 AM

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RichT4


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Schoe000 wrote:
 

I have put on a Clarkes 15ltr fuel tank to extend the range off the bike. I have had it on for about 3 months commuting and was getting about 130 to 150 range. 

 

I was travelling along the motorway towards Ghent hit close to 100 miles, so time to find fuel when I see 35k (22 miles) to next services. Thought tight but ok, got another 3 miles onto reserve, time to get off the motorway, quickly.  Next exit several ks, starting to sweat! 6 miles later (what a crap reserve) I'm on the hard shoulder out of fuel.

So you completely ran out after 109 miles, and you'd used 15 litres of fuel?

If so there's something wrong with her, or maybe your travelling too fast.

Mine was giving me about 105 miles until reservce last week in Croatia - mixed terraine, full kit load, and that is from a standard 10 Litre tank, still 2 litres left in reserver.

I had one moment when I thought she must very close to running dry (after doing approx 15 miles of low speed reserve riding) only to find she only took 8.5 litres to fill again (I still had 1.5 litres in the tank even thensmile).

Maybe it's your gearing, or maybe your just travelling too fast. I'd read that the 'S' was more fuel effiecent than the 'E' as well.confuse



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RichT4


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A girl on our trip with a similar size fuel tank to yours (on another 'E') was getting approx 200 miles between fill ups also.
I think the key is keeping the cruising speed down when loaded up, the wind resistance saps the fuel.

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Schoe000


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RichT4 wrote:

A girl on our trip with a similar size fuel tank to yours (on another 'E') was getting approx 200 miles between fill ups also.
I think the key is keeping the cruising speed down when loaded up, the wind resistance saps the fuel.

Yep I got a bit carried away, bored with the motorway, so was going a bit quicker than i should. I was travelling at 75 to 85 for the hour before. I think that and the screen/weight did it.



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Schoe000


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Less than a week to go then off One of the routes I will be doing is the Pamir Highway or the m42. This is the main Highway through Tajikistan here is a picture

 
Transport-dush-khorogPamirHighway.jpg



Follow me at share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewsp...ozMb4G5N22RqAcD0eUxL

Pictures at schoe002.wordpress.com



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jacks


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Hey, good luck on your trip Nick, not long now and you'll be in the sunshine, think of us suffering at home in the never ending rain.

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rich xr


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Hay Nick, how's it going, are you posting a diary somewhere?


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Rich

He's heading towards the Caspian Sea.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=00iZyFZDCETZDozMb4G5N22RqAcD0eUxL

Nick hasn't updated his blog for a while. He has posted some info on the forum - http://devongtrf.activeboard.com/t50003519/schoe000/.

Cheers

Craig



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rich xr


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nice one, cheers.

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