Mongol Rally

[Herbalrick]

Hey, I've wanted to do something like this for a while and I'm thinking about putting a team together for next years rally.

https://mongolrally.theadventurists.com/

You can either take a under 1.0L car or a 125 motorbike. Of course I'd go for the bike option! You have 4 weeks to make it from England to Mongolia through any route you choose for a huge party at the end.

I was thinking we could get a of 4 riders going. You are required to leave the vehicle in mongolia once/if you get there so I'd be looking for a cheap reliable hack - old CG with knobblies or if you really want to punish yourself an old C90 something like this - https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Honda-C90-moped-Custom-bike-motorcross-pitbike-offroad-/170485297096?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Motorcycles&hash=item27b1b72fc8#ht_1747wt_1165

Who's up for it?
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Current Bike: 98 XJ600S Diversion
Previous Rides: Piaggio Zip 50cc - Various 125cc Honda Wave/Innova things in Thailand - Yamaha YBR 125

[G]

I had my eye on that c90, but he wouldn't sell it to me off-ebay and I needed it before the auction ends .
Despite his claims, I'd be worried about the 'performance' work done, however a c90 with a bit better suspension is definitely worth considering.
Not being great with 'slow', however, I'd probably be considering a 125. Heck, NSRs tend to be pretty reliable over that sort of distance if treated sympathetically, yet will still hit 90 easily enough on the Autobahn .

I wouldn't worry massively about decent knobblies, but would go for rim locks and get a small electric pump, so I could let tyres down a bit for muddy situations.

[Herbalrick]

Yeah, I wasn't planning on going for that one. Just thought the general idea of sticking better suspension would help a lot. I was thinking of the C90 simply because parts are available in even the smallest of towns and villages and if it gets too bad they are small enough to throw in the back of a van pretty easily. Hell I reckon on really bad ground two people could carry the thing a couple of miles
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Current Bike: 98 XJ600S Diversion
Previous Rides: Piaggio Zip 50cc - Various 125cc Honda Wave/Innova things in Thailand - Yamaha YBR 125

[ms51ves3]

[G]

TDR250 surely?

I'm in the process of sticking a CCM front end on a C90 - but that's perhaps a bit too far - and really needs a back end to match, as it's now got about 8" more travel at the front compared to the back!

[2E]

why must you leave your bike in mongolia.. i don't get it.
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Bringing Classic Bikes Back Into Fashion
Rides: 1980 Honda CX500

[ms51ves3]

[2E]

Right, looked into this a bit more.. first up you need to register and raised £1000 for charity, per team.

A team consists of one car/emergency vehicle or two mopeds/motorbikes. If you are coming as a group of vehicles you will need to buy more than one place on the Mongol Rally.

All members of the team have to be over 18 years of age at the point of signing the Team Entry Agreement - so AT SIGN UP - to take part in the rally.

Also if taking a car, it has to be under 10 years..

And you CAN take your vehicle home, but it must leave mongolia after the rally..


Sounds incredibly fun, but very expensive.
____________________
Bringing Classic Bikes Back Into Fashion
Rides: 1980 Honda CX500

[Tome]

I found out about this quite recently too, looks epic!
Would be great fun to do it but can't commit at the moment

A bike would be brilliant fun (Honda XR125?) but the best car would have to be an old 4x4 Fiat Panda
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Kawasaki ER-5 - Honda Hornet 600 S
"A foetal shape is the body's default performance setting - think jockey, downhill skier... Tron."

[c-m]

Ridiculous you can't compare a 1l with a 125 motorcycle.

Why must the car be less than 10 years old? That only further serves to give it an advantage over the bike.

[Tome]

From looking at the site it's more of a rally to achieve getting there, not winning
The 10 year old car rule (bar emergency vehicles) is described on the site too but basically the Mongolian government don't want ancient cars being dumped there so the organisers have managed to come to an agreement on 10 years old.
____________________
Kawasaki ER-5 - Honda Hornet 600 S
"A foetal shape is the body's default performance setting - think jockey, downhill skier... Tron."

[charityrallie...]

Hey Guys,

Dave here from Charity Rallies. Hopefully you won't take this post as spam, I just came across this thread and wanted to drop you my thoughts. We run the Mongolia Charity Rally, the 100% charity alternative to the Mongol Rally (mongolia.charityrallies.org), through Go Help, a UK registered charity.

First off...motorbikes are an incredibly useful donation to Mongolia - they are particularly useful for herding families (some nomadic, others not), and given the effects of the recent Dzud (extremely harsh winter), these herders need all the help they can get. having lost 2 million livestock over the winter.

The downside to banger rallies like the MR is that they generate a very negative image in the destination country when a lot of scrap cars get brought in and dumped in a country. The Mongolian government is getting stricter on vehicle import, and has imposed rules that prevent cars being brought in and then left wherever they break down. This has impacted us as well - we require our teams to take ambulances, 4x4s, vans and motorbike, all vehicles which are useful as donations to the people of Mongolia and which also attract tax exemptions, and don't allow bangers in because, well, they're rubbish donations. That being said, to my knowledge there are no tax or VAT duties on motorbike imports, and there are also no age restrictions. I can double check this if people need me to, but I'm pretty confident that is the position.

Dulguun, who works for us in Mongolia and handles donating all the cash our teams raise, is really keen for us to promote teams taking bikes for that reason. The entry fee for the MCR is much lower than the Mongol Rally (at about half the cost) and we charge even less for bikes because they are such a valuable donation (not to mention the fact that you will have an awsome ride to, and across, Mongolia on them).

If any of you have any questions on this, feel free to drop us a line at info@gohelp.org.uk. I don't want to detract from the Mongol Rally or anyone who wants to take part in it - either way you will have an amazing experience, but I wanted to highlight that you have options, and that we would give you every bit of support you need to make the trip a success. I'll follow the thread in case anyone has questions on this, and we also hold a monthly conference call for all of our teams that you are welcome to dial-in to if you have questions. We also run the Roof of the World rally to Tajikistan and have had teams of bikers drive to Tajikistan so we have good resources in case you want to get advice from guys who have done it.

Best regards,

Dave.

[2E]

Didn't realise there were 2 charities competing for the same thing...

Are you restricted to a certain cc of bike on this rally..

How many people on your rally make a 'team?' I would personally class 4 bikes as a team as thats about the same amount the vehicles can carry.

Also must you save advertising space on your vehicle for sponsors as you do in the Mongul rally? Plus what are the filming rights?

Sounds interesting although i would say sponsorship deals would need to be arranged to even make this possible for a vast majority.. i see nobody else seems crazy enough to do the rally on a bike...

Leave it to BCF to arrange a team of bikes going
____________________
Bringing Classic Bikes Back Into Fashion
Rides: 1980 Honda CX500

[charityrallie...]

LOL - Adventurists/Mongol Rally aren't a charity! They're a profit making business, but teams support charities as part of their drive to Mongolia, which is great.

Go Help is a UK registered charity, we set it up as we think that charity rallies should be, well, for charity. The Mongolia Charity Rally and Roof of the World Rally are 100% charitable.

Anyway...no restrictions on the cc of bike. We allow you to take what you want.

1 team = 2 bikes. Most teams on the Mongolia Charity Rally are two people in a car. The entry fee is pretty modest at £390, so that's £170 entry fee per bike. We aim to cover our costs running the event, not to make a profit, and we need to make sure we have enough cash to cover having Dulguun in Mongolia finding suitable homes for the vehicles and making sure the funds raised are properly spent. We have to do this to comply with our legal obligations as a UK registered charity, and we are happy to do so.

In terms of ad space - we don't really worry about it. We give you stickers if you want to put them on, and it helps the charity if you do as we get our name in your pictures, but if you don't want to, you don't have to, we're pretty easy going.

In terms of filming rights, your film obviously belongs to you. The only place we would draw the line is where, for instance, you wanted to take part in the event to produce a piece for TV on it that you made a boatload of cash on, but the charity gets nothing - we would discuss this with you and come to a fair agreement. You have a stack of volunteers at Go Help running the event for charity, and teams are doing this for charity, so it would ruin it for everyone if one team tries to clean up at everyone else's expense.

Guys have driven to Tajikistan on the Roof of the World Rally on bikes and we've had bikes in the past to Mongolia. It is an awesome ride and well worth doing. Places like Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan (well, all the 'stans really) are awesome riding.

Drop me a line if you have any questions. In terms of raising money for the trip - most teams have a paypal account to raise the £1,000 fundraising (that's 20 people giving you £50...not too bad), and paypal accounts where friends and family donate (e.g. buy a "virtual petrol can" or something) which covers costs.

Happy to answer any other questions if you have them.

Peace out.

Dave @ Go Help / Charity Rallies
mongolia.charityrallies.org

[G]

It might be worth mentioning the 'two for one' on bikes on your site - I read your first post but couldn't find details of this.

Your system certainly seems more 'honourable' than some others out there - there's too many scammy charity style things around generally for my liking - too much money being made from good will.

Would certainly consider it if I had the time.

[charityrallie...]

Thanks! Will do. I think that is a good idea. We weren't focused on bikes previously but having determined what a great donation they are given their versatility, we will do just that.

Go Help and Charity Rallies was set up to help develop and support 100% charitable events, to avoid, as you say, trading on charity goodwill for profit. We're looking to bring other events in and we have an interesting bike event in the works, so we'll be back with updates when we have more. Thanks for the feedback.

Best regards,

Dave.

[charityrallie...]

Hadn't realised that one of our teams, Matt Splat, is a regular contributor to the boards...check it out here:

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=135556&highlight=mongolia+charity+rally

We've updated our sign-up page so that bikes are specifically catered for. We've settled at a sign-up fee of £150 per bike. We're a UK registered charity and make no profit, and just aim to cover costs and have enough to invest in the event to help it grow. Teams are usually two people, so a car team starts at £300, so two bikes in a team would be the same. This is the fairest sign-up policy we could come up with. Let me know what you think.

I've also checked and there are no vehicle rules for Motorbikes entering Mongolia - you take what you like, and the only caveat is to think about who you are donating the bike to - i.e. the Mongolian people/herders, etc. in terms fo choosing your bike.

Sign-up will open in July 2010 - mongolia.charityrallies.org

Peace out.

Dave.

[G]

Erm, he posted 7 posts approximately 2 1/2 years ago.
I hope your reaserch is better for the rest of your organisation .

to updating details for bikes, however. Could still be tempted some day, but not for a few years as it is, lottery win notwithstanding .

[charityrallie...]

LOl ;p OK just checked that and you're right. He was a cool team. I think he proposed to his wife by text message from Mongolia over our team tracking system if I remember correctly...

Anyway yes...cash is King. But actually, most teams get most of their costs covered by sponsors. We've had some teams get donations of up to £25,000 to pay for ambulances. It would be really cool to have teams try to source some of the second hand motorbike ambulances for Mongolia, those would be awesome. So the key is really having the time to do it. I don't have the time to do the trips anymore so just organise the event as a volunteer for fun.

Cheers,

Dave.

[G]

I’m sure I could come up with the cash on it’s own – but wouldn’t have the time while holding down a 9-5 job which I need to get the cash to do fun things like this .

Personally I don't really like asking other people to pay for me to have fun in such situation where I can't offer a decent return to them (for instance happier if it's corporate sponsorship and I make it clear that the money is going to MY trip in exchange for publicity for them, as opposed to blagging "it's for charity innit" as so many do.)

[charityrallie...]

Agree - the "fundraise and forget" model that has been spawned as a result of Justgiving is not something I am overly keen on, though the net result is an increase of cash to charity. The model of just asking your friends to sponsor, who will give cash not really caring what the cause is, isn't the best. That being said, you have a lot of viable alternatives - if you plan to do the trip at least a year in advance, you have time to fundraise - we have teams who have held black-tie balls, bar tending nights, car boot sales etc. all of which can sort it out - so it's just being creative. Granted though - you need the time. That is the hardest part! Dave.

[gmanxiii]

I'm really interested to do this but will probably be looking to enter for 2012 so i can save some money up to cover most costs myself. I agree with G that i don't really agree with other people paying for my fun. I'm hoping to blag some paid time off from my work in return for getting their name on the vehicle maybe instead but don't really expect anyone to chip in for petrol money etc. Is the no restrictions on motorcycles also mean no restrictions on year? as I have a team member who is looking to use a bike he's just bought for it but its nearly 20years old. I was hoping to enter a team of 3 riders so with the entry fee now, will that allow for us to pay 450 and enter in 3 bikes?
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I kills hondas

VFR400NC30 > ZZR600 > CBR600FX > CBR1000rr

[DC.]

[psychofox]

Herbalrick, if you enter a team, definitely count me in. I've been trying to do this rally with a car for the last 3 years but friends keep letting me down. Doing it on a bike would be about a million times more fun!

Entries open on Sept 1st at 2pm and will probably sell out quickly though.

[G]

been made redundant and will be seeing if I can get some contracting work, which would hopefully give me more options for 'fun' .