Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[Gravel Seeker]

Originally Posted by stemic01

Hi guys.
Here is a beta version from the BAM road. It is just a bunch of videoclips thrown together and is not very well edited at this point. Since theis is just a pre-release and not a final version I have chosen to password protect it. So consider this as a special beta version for you Advrider inmates. A better version with tighter editing will be available at some point later.
Photographers: This is a collection of videos filmed by the whole crew so thanks to Geir, Erik, Walter and Terry for your contribution.

Check it out here and use the password "rtw2012"
http://vimeo.com/59360179

- Steve. That was the last bridge !
- Was it ?! Ooh yeah, I'm fucking sick of these bridges !

[BK.RD.RNR]

Originally Posted by joatmoa

The problem with the 2008 KTM FI pump was that KTM sent the spec sheet for the pump to China and had them built there. Unfortunately the builders 'cheapened' the design. This caused major problems on the 2008/9 models when bits broke off inside the pump. It wouldn't make any difference what fuel or what additive you put into your bike at the time. If you had a Chinese pump, it was going to fail.

I have an 08 690 Enduro. While my bike did suffer from some of the common growing pains, my fuel pump never failed, or faltered up to ~30k miles on the original, when the engine went on me. From reading the old 690 megathread on ADV, it seemed that most people who had problems with the fuel pump, had run their bikes out of fuel. Not that that should matter, but it did seem pretty consistent from my observations.

[mbravo]

Originally Posted by stemic01

Hi guys.
Here is a beta version from the BAM road. It is just a bunch of videoclips thrown together and is not very well edited at this point. Since theis is just a pre-release and not a final version I have chosen to password protect it. So consider this as a special beta version for you Advrider inmates. A better version with tighter editing will be available at some point later.
Photographers: This is a collection of videos filmed by the whole crew so thanks to Geir, Erik, Walter and Terry for your contribution.

Check it out here and use the password "rtw2012"
http://vimeo.com/59360179

I've put an annotation on the Russian song in the comments on Vimeo :-)

Awesome footage, guys!

I really need to get off my lazy ass and do the RR on the last summer trip to Rybachy peninsula - nowhere as epic as yours, but still :-)

Eagerly awaiting further installments of this saga! ;-)

[25jack]

Walter you mentioned a 4.0 to 5.5 N/mm spring rate. How did that work out for you? Would you have preferred something different?

[rryd]

Originally Posted by stemic01

Hi guys.
Here is a beta version from the BAM road. It is just a bunch of videoclips thrown together and is not very well edited at this point.

Wow, nice too see this video again.
Just have to say: You guys are crazy ;-)

But I'll guess we all are a little crazy, I just love this RR.
I will to Russia


Sent from my Galaxy S3 using tapatalk 2

[hunter151]

Originally Posted by stemic01

Hi guys.
Here is a beta version from the BAM road. It is just a bunch of videoclips thrown together and is not very well edited at this point. Since theis is just a pre-release and not a final version I have chosen to password protect it. So consider this as a special beta version for you Advrider inmates. A better version with tighter editing will be available at some point later.
Photographers: This is a collection of videos filmed by the whole crew so thanks to Geir, Erik, Walter and Terry for your contribution.

Check it out here and use the password "rtw2012"
http://vimeo.com/59360179

Excellent video!

As stated above, the song is a good rendition of the following song (АлисА - "Театр Теней"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqdZBTYOIuc

[mbravo]

I wasn't sure it was exactly the Theatre of Shadows in the video, but if it is, fans of The Cure should be able to recognise the Kyoto Song ;)

[FechFech]

Originally Posted by joatmoa

Now to a leading question...
Does anyone know if there's a viable track up the Eastern side of Lake Baikal to the BAM road?

I guess this depends on your definition of "viable" ;-) There are quite a few videos on Youtube showing 4x4 vehicles on a trail on the east side of lake Baikal (the "110"). For example, this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg7KMdM8e6s

See for yourself if you think this is viable...

Cheers,

FechFech

[Seth S]

Originally Posted by FechFech

I guess this depends on your definition of "viable" ;-) There are quite a few videos on Youtube showing 4x4 vehicles on a trail on the east side of lake Baikal (the "110"). For example, this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg7KMdM8e6s

See for yourself if you think this is viable...

Cheers,

FechFech

Looks a bit like Vermont

[Canuman]

Originally Posted by Seth S

Looks a bit like Vermont

More like northern New Hampshire. Not enough Subarus to be VT.

[Seth S]

Originally Posted by Canuman

More like northern New Hampshire. Not enough Subarus to be VT.

Used to be Saabs...now Subarus

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by joatmoa

Now to a leading question...
Does anyone know if there's a viable track up the Eastern side of Lake Baikal to the BAM road? I'm heading around the World in May and would like to take the Vitim Bridge in but didn't want to track back to Irkutsk, from Mongolia, unless strictly necessary.

Yes ... go back a couple of pages where we talk about the 110 road. The route on the east side of Baikal is OK with about 100 tough kilometres ... including a crossing of the Barguzin River, that depends totally on water levels on the day you arrive. There is more info a few pages back. The road goes between Ust Barguzin on the eastern shore of Baikal and Novy Uoyan on the BAM. The 110 track is mapped on OSM

[Colebatch]

A few hours before boarding the train at Novaya Chara, we went for a walk around the town. When we came back to the hotel, we saw a couple of local guys hanging around the bikes, drunk. Then they began kicking Terry's bike.

I ran over to the bikes and the local hooligans and asked what the fu@k was going on? And one of the guys pulled a pistol from his pocket. Whether it was real or fake I will never know but the next half hour was one of diplomatically talking to these local thugs and explaining why they cant ride or have our bikes.

In almost 20 years of travelling in Russia, this was my first encounter with hostile locals.



Even though we had 3-4 huors to wait for our train, Terry and I decided its best to pack up our stuff and get the bikes over to the train station, and wait for the train there, rather than in our hotel. Before the local guys come back.

We eventually convinced the rail guys to lock the bikes up in the luggage shed. The bikes were now out to sight and out of mind, and Terry and I could relax and wait for the nightly train.

Like most Russian platforms, Novaya Chara is low - just a few inches above the track. We would need to lift the bikes (with luggage) over a metre to get them into the baggage wagon of the train. The train came, on time, and with the help of the baggage wagon staff, we did manage to get the bikes in. Then boarded the train, where we had cabin that slept 4 all to ourselves.

The next day at 4pm we reached Tynda. We had texted the Norwegians and they met us down at the station to help us drop the bikes down onto the low platforms there, and followed them back to Max's workshop. By the time we got back there, Geir and Erik had their front subframes welded up and were int he process of reattaching them. I began stripping mine down to be welded up, but the welder went home at 5pm, so it would need to be a job for tomorrow.

So we locked the bike up in Max's shed and he drove up to our hotel in downtown Tynda, where the five of us went out for an evening meal.

[RoninMoto]

Wow. Drunk dudes with guns. not so fun.

Is the train ride needed between Novaya Chara and Tynda or were you just making up time?

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by RoninMoto

Wow. Drunk dudes with guns. not so fun.

Is the train ride needed between Novaya Chara and Tynda or were you just making up time?

Not needed - go back a few pages for rationale