Charity Rally to Mongolia for touring/off road newbies!

[Maruchino]

Well the topic sounds somewhere between a joke and a nightmare, but that’s what we’re planning to do – however as we have very little bike knowledge in general it seems like we have a lot to learn in a short space of time. The rally kicks off in July so plenty of time to make preparations if we start now, which is fortunate.

My reason for posting here is that we have no idea where to start with bike selection. There may be either 2 or 3 of us going and the combined biking experience between all 3 would be less than 5 years I believe!


A couple did the journey this year on Yamaha Divy 600’s but it didn’t look particularly pleasant in the off road sections and we would really like to enjoy those bits rather than loathe them.

That said.. I hear there are these ‘adventure’ type bikes which look expensive and are well out of our league – even the older ones seem pricey as they are sought after Dakar-esque examples of the late 80’s / 90’s.

I then thought, well go for a dual-sports / motocross bike that can take both on and off road tyres easily. How feasible is this? I.e. is it possible to swap tyres on the same spoked rims fairly easily between road and knobbly’s?
Also is a motorcross bike likely to have a tiny fuel tank? If so are aftermarket larger tanks available cheaply for the more popular models? A search of ebay and such would seem not..


Seeing as though we are on a budget and the roads vary from this;
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/54/M1_motorway_%28England%29.jpg/800px-M1_motorway_%28England%29.jpg

to this;
https://www.shining-wit.net/rick/buggy/overview/dirtroads.jpg

With that in mind, what bike would you pick for as cheap as possible (the bike is to be donated upon arrival, so it must be functioning and not a complete rotter). My friend is a competent mechanic and we have space to work on the bikes, so projects aren’t a problem at the right price.


Also does anyone know of any forums specific to this kind of trip by bike?

I’m posting this thread on several forums that I’m a member of, so apologies if you see this posted elsewhere, but as you can probably tell we are well out of our depth and need all the help we can get!

Many thanks in advance for any useful advice

[G]

The advrider forum is probably your best bet, with HUBB being worth a a look too.

Changing tyres is no problem, but do consider if it's worth the weight penalty carrying them.
You may be interested in the report I've just started writing in this section - though it'll be a while before we get to the interesting stuff.
The tyres on this bike are a dirt biased road tyre, while the tyres on the back are a road biased dirt tyre:
https://gees.zenfolio.com/img/v6/p656012829-5.jpg
The knobblier tyres will handle sitting at 80 and don't wear at too silly rates, but make a lot of noise and aren't ideal generally. Off road they're as good as you'd want for 'dual sport' really.
The tyres on the bike there handle everything off-road but mud and gravel pretty well when run at low pressures. On road, they're also as good as you'd need for 'dual sport' .

As for the bike, I met a couple of people out there with Cagiva Elefants. These can be got pretty cheaply and for the time had decent suspension, etc. Weight comes in similar to a 990 adventure and the like, with power being as much as you'd need really.
For the off-road bias, I'd prefer something lighter (my bike above starts off at over 50kg lighter than the 990/elefant etc.)
However, a Husky TE610 or XR650 are the only two not really new bikes to consider, and both are still going to be a bit expensive.
A DR600 or KLR600 are both worth considering (they got a lot more weight in 650cc versions of both). In the past I've owned two DR600s, both of which cost me £500. They are reasonably light, will top out at about 90mph and the engine has an 'easy' nature in the mud, not needing to be worked much.

In the end, as you say, it can be done on a Divy, so it's more a case of balancing the comfort in the on road bits with the fun in the off-road.

As for your first steps, I'd suggest you want to get out and playing in the mud as quickly as possible.
Ideally, try and enter a few Hare and Hounds events at some point. This will give you a chance to really push your self, which should give you more confidence when you're going slower.

A lot of off-road riding requires confidence - with it you're smoother and safer, without it you're less smooth, less safe, plunging you down a nasty spiral.

Oh and finally, you do NOT want a motocross bike. These are designed to be used for one motocross race at a time. For pro racing, they may well be rebuilt at the end of a race, for amauteur racing, serviced at the end of a race weekend.
Avoid enduro bikes, but some bikes with 'enduro' in the name (such as my KTM690enduro above) are actually more trail bikes.

[Ste]

Offroad sections? You make your own route, if you're not on an offroader then it'd be a good idea to make a route that doesn't involve challenging offroad sections.

Idea of the Mongol Rally is to use cheap cars/bikes to make the journey challenging. You're meant to use a 125 (take a pillion and you're allowed 250cc) to be within the rules and the spirit of the event. Adventure bikes, motocross bikes or enduro bikes would all make the rally very easy which isn't the idea.

[G]

Are you sure it's the same one? There's loads of them these days.
Personally, I'm a bit cynical about the 'charity' aspects of some of them and various other points, but then I am about a lot of charity things.

[kingsknight]

https://mongolrally.theadventurists.com/index.php?page=thevehicles

[G]

[Maruchino]

Thanks for the heads up G, that's a lot of useful info there.

Thanks for the other comments people, keep em coming.

The particular rally we are interested in is; https://mongolia.charityrallies.org which does not have a restriction on engine size.

Also just to clarify on the 'avoid the off road bits', When entering mongolia you can't really avoid off road sections I've heard - and just because we aren't off-roaders now doesn't mean we won't come back pro's (or feeling bruised and sore! )

[Faldo]

If it were me I'd be looking for either a DR350/DRZ400. Top speed is 95mph (really pushing on a DRZ400 downhill , not comfortable at that speed for prolonged periods), but easily sustainable 75/80mph on motorways and competent off road. Loads of aftermarket spares available including oversize tanks. They are light and very simple mechanically. The 350 was used in Mondo Enduro to do a 'proper' RTW trip.

Good luck with it and keep us updated .
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Current: ZZR1400
Previous: ZXR 400 L9, ZX-7R P5, ZZR 400, ZX-7R P6, Bandit 600, GSXR 750 Slingshot, DRZ400, DR650, ZX10R C1H, ZXR 750 L1, ZXR 750 L3, '99 ZX7R P4, KTM 300 EXC, ZX-9R E1, TDM850

[yen_powell]

https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/
Try this website, just the site you are looking for I reckon.
____________________
Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[Moo.]

https://www.mongolbikers.com/

Heres one for you

Some guys that did it on 125's and their report
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A2 Passed 18/6/10

[Itchy]

[Itchy]