Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

In

Well my Husaberg wasnt back from South America when I left on this trip. I would need time to prep it (a lot of time) and I didnt know then if it would be up to this kind of trip.

The BMW was ready, and its a tried and tested machine for this kind of trip. Its economical, reliable, stable, comfortable and has done the job for me countless times in the past.

Yes me also looking forward to this ride report, been very impressed with walter's previous thread's on here and i'm sure this one will make me feel the same.

WOW it is great to have again a WC report from those far away places, can´t wait to see the pics and videos,,,,,,WOW!!!

A few other riding buddies showed interest, and one of them, Rod, whom I will introduce later, suggested the idea of bringing an American riding buddy of his along - Rick. Rick was a veteran of the TAT and Continental Divide Trails and so before long Rick was applying for visas, prepping his bike and having it shipped over to England for the start of the ride.

There would be three of us attempting to ride the whole trail ... Myself, Terry and Rick. Others would join us later for stages of the trip, but three of us planned to ride it from start to finish:



Rick was on a DR650, which had had the stock suspension looked over, and a steering damper. For luggage, he had a lot ... Dirt bags at the sides, a Giant Loop tank bag, some additions front tank bags and a large bag on the back. It looked a little top heavy to me, but we'll see how it goes.

Six pages after only the introduction. This is going to be a great winter entertainment.

Thanks, Walter.

I see Terry's bike is using Mitas E09 tires.

How did they worked? Mileage compared to yours?

I use the Mitas myself and they do the job, but I'm not sure those would be the ones I'd choose for a muddy trip like this could be expected to be.

YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeHawwwwwwwwwwwwww

Yes Terry used the E09 Dakars - with the yellow stripe. They seemed to have incredible mileage. There was not too much mud, so I think he made a very good choice.

I was using Michelin Deserts and designed the route around the mileage I get from those. I had scheduled tyre changes at the start of the off-road at the Poland - Ukraine border, then another at Astana in Kazakhstan and a final one in Irkutsk in Siberia. Each of the three tyre legs was approx 6000 km. I think Terry could have done with one less tyre change, using two sets for 9000 km each ... thats how durable they were.

He got a little less grip than me on the Deserts, but not enough less to make a noteable difference in the speeds we were riding. For the little money they cost, they are an impressive tyre for this kind of work.

There was one other guy who planned to ride with us from the start, all the way, a good friend of mine who goes by the nick "ClearandLock". Sadly, ClearandLock had to pull out as he needed to go into training all summer long for the 2013 Dakar.

But he had his bike all prepared - here next to mine:



And been on a shakedown ride to Morocco at the beginning of the year in preparation:





Now his beautifully prepped X-Challenge layed idle all summer, while his Dakar bike, a 450 RR, got all the riding.

Clayton Mate, I hope you dont bomb out early in the Dakar, cause you sure sacrificed a fantastic ride for it. Bon Chance !

I hope so!

With winter coming, less riding, more desiring.

Hi Vanda, yes the e09,s are a great tyre, i would use them again, although they are not the best in mud .

There was probably only one day they really bombed out and with my low front fender, caused a very "eventful"
days riding.:eek1

I've been considering a low fender for improved cooling as I ride Nevada, Cali, Arizona most of the warm/hot months.

How do you rate it?

Would you do it again?

Thanks

I have switched to a low fender a couple of years and 60,000 adv km ago ... and wouldnt go back. I am fully converted to low fenders. I have specifically used a very good adventure bike low fender, the KTM 990 unit, which has loads of clearance both above the tyre and more importantly, to the side of the tyre. The main drawback to this fender is you need 190mm (KTM / Husaberg) spacing between the forks to fit it properly, and it should be longer at the back.

Terry used the stock X-Country fender and raised it a bit to fit his larger 21 inch wheel, but the problem is still that the fender is too narrow, so jammed up at the side in the one session of super sticky clay we encountered on the ride. Nothing a few minutes with a stick or tyre lever couldnt fix tho.

My advice is choose a fender to fit the forks, then add some spacers to give it a little more vertical clearance. KTM tends to space their forks 190mm apart. The Japanese often use 200 mm, and BMW typically uses 210mm. In the pictures of ClearandLock's bike higher up this page, he has 200mm fork spacing but still fitted the KTM 990 low fender successfully.

Subscribed!

Can see my employer paying me for lots of reading instead of working over the next few weeks

Another Colebatch gem, sure to not disappoint! 5 stars from the start!

Great information...Thanks for being so willing to share!

I've read all your RR and really do appreciate the artistry of your writing and how you've re-engineered the Xch.