Riding to Thailand from the UK ?

[blackb15]

I had a bit of bad luck last night I was doing my voluntary blood bike duties when I deliver blood and urgently needed medical supplies by motorbike To local hospitals . I was walking into a hospital picking up blood when I tripped over a damaged pavement.
So I'm lying in hospital bed waiting for a operation that may be a hip Replacement as the broken bone is my femur on the neck of the socket .It won't heal in time as I needed to leave the 3 rd August obviously very unhappy as had paid a lot of money to do it
Safe riding
Paul

 

[neilferris]

Hi Paul,

I have a friend who is doing that trip, he is currently resident in Thailand but is moving back to the UK in June 2015. If you would like his email for a chat, send me a personal message and I will let you have it. I believe he is fairly well into the planning by now.
A rough outline is as follows:

01/08/2015 - Depart UK.
01/09/2015 - China.
Early Oct. 2015 - Thailand.

Route : Europe,Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Laos and into Thailand.

Regards.....Neil.

 

[blackb15]

Fdale
The easiest way of the moment looks through Russia then possibly going to Korea and getting a ferry but I'm not really sure to be honest that's what I'm trying to get the best advice ,China on my own looks very difficult as crossing accross Burma does.
Neil
Thanks very much for the reply I'll try and send you a personal message now with my email as any information would be great much appreciated
Safe riding
Paul

 

[blackb15]

Neil
Sent my e mail
Thank again
Paul

 

[neilferris]

Paul,
Sent personal message with name and email...

Drop him a line...he's a good guy....as I mentioned before he's almost complete by now with the planning .. etc..etc...been doing it for the past 12 months or thereabouts....

All the best... Neil.....

 

[blackb15]

Neil
thanks very much for that I have e mailed him .I enquired about the price to air ship the bike to Thailand and return and that was over £4000 so that's not a goer really .I look forward to hearing from him .
thanks again for your help
Paul

 

[Dodraugen]

I did it earlier this year. Started from Oslo Norway 20. July and entered Thailand at Nong Khai 16. October. Had many detours and did around 25 k km. 17 countries, route Norway - Finland - Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania - Poland - Tsjeck - Slovakia - Hungary - Romania - Ukraine - Russia - Kasakhstan - Kyrgizstan - China - Laos - Thailand.

From Romania to Laos I participated in a organised group through a english company. At least the China bit is hard to organise alone and expensive as well. I think the english company will organise the same tour next year and you can join in where you want and just pay for the part you participate in. For example if you only want to do the China stage with the company and group.

Another option is to join a group via HUBB (Horizons unlimited) to cross certain stages and countries. There seem to be many persons organising joined groups for crossings over difficult states and stretches.

Its perfectly possible to travel to Turkey and then through Iran, Pakistan, India, Myanmar. But bevare some of these countries are Carnet countries that requires you to have a Carnet which can be quite expensive I belive.

If you want I can send you email adress to the english company that I joined for my trip. Just pm me if you want that.

 

[blackb15]

Thanks for reply I have contacted one ENGLISH company re the China bit but will send you my e mail .I have joined the HUBB group ,your trip sounds good what bike did you use and much off road involved ?
I meet up with Neil's friend and that was extremely useful he's got it sorted but the China bit is expensive.I have found a cheaper company to ship my bike to Thailand so that might still be a option.
Cheers and safe riding.
Paul

 

[Dodraugen]

Hi again

I used a Yamaha XT660Z Tenere with some modifications. Suspension, seat, windscreen, engine upgrades etc. A good bike for this kind of trip but if I was to do it again I would search for a lighter bike. Weight is quite important and the lighter the better. Especially if youre thinking about going some off road sections. A good range is also important. In Kazakhstan there were stretches up to 300 km between gas stations. And it wasnt always they had gas! And some gas stations had only 80 octane gas or if you had luck 90 octane. My milage dropped from around 25 km a litre on normal 95 octane to some 15-17 km pr litre on the poorest Kazakhstan gas.

I/we didnt do a lot of off roading. I will guess we did 90-95 % on paved roads. Small parts of off road in Romania - just for fun. In Kazakhstan there are still much gravel roads but they are upgrading very much of their roads to nice paved roads and the roads will be nicer year by year. But there were stretches up to 100 km with construction work on the road and one were forced to drive on bad gravel track build paralell to the road they were upgrading. We entered Kaz from Russian Saratov to Uralsk in Kaz. Then followed the M32 most of the time through Kaz.

In China the problem is that motorbikes arent allowed to ride on the highways/expressways. In western China such as the Xinjang province they werent all that picky about that and sent us through the toll gates. But more central in China they became more and more strict about not letting us in on the highways/expressways. We had one whole day we had to ride on quite poor, muddy, rutty, rocky back roads and a few other days some sections as well. But all in all we didnt do much off roading.

And belive me sir - unless youre a real hardcore man you dont want to ride most of such a ride on a 1200 cc beast loaded up with extra stuff and panniers, luggage, camping gear etc - off road. Bike, extra equipment, luggage ~ amost 300 kg offroad? Nope! A relatively good gravel road and curvy back roads where the surface may a little on the faded side is really fine of course. But through mud, river crossings, single lane jungle tracks long etc stretches - forget it unless youre a bear.

Ok - good luck with your trip planning! I will send you the details of the company I used and joined on pm.

 

[blackb15]

Thanks very much for that I have replied to your PM message. I agree about the heavy bike I have a 1190 KTM adventurer I don't plan to take camping equipment but it would still be quite heavy.I am trying to explore the options at the momen.t I can ship my bike there and back for around £2200 I think. I could also buy and sell back in Thailand ,or hire for the 4 months that I intend spending based in Thailand but exploring the surroding countries.
I am busy researching insurance in Thailand and also registering the a bike I buy to re sell, or a hire bike .I am using this site a lot which is very useful.
Yout trip sounded really good I'm just deciding which way I'm going to do this,my main objective is to spend some time in Thailand and the surrounding countries ,i've done a fair few thousand kilometres around Thailand and other countries nearby. I think my bike would be okay for that as long as I choose my roads carefully and the time of year.
Thanks again
Safe riding
Paul

 

[niquedouille]

Hi Paul.
I've done it from France this year, and here are the way I know :

turkey-iran-stans-kirhizstan-china-laos-thailand (i did that)
turkey-georgia-russia-kazakhstan-kirghizstan-china-laos-thailand
russia-mongolia-china-laos-thailand
mongolia-thailand(air freight (i did that))
iran-pakistan-myanmar-thailand
iran-dubai-oman-india-pakistan-myanmar-thailand
iran-thailand(air freight)

You could also consider flying here, buy a bike, and ride home (my bike is for sale, but I don't want to push you !).
2200 pounds for the shipping there and back is quite cheap ! Not sure it's worth it, though.

for crossing China, there have been major changes in august this year, and you can go on your own, without guide (in most parts).
i know you can read a map and figure out by yourself, but the routes i gave you has just been done recently, so you know it's doable. Some are easier than others, obviously, but all very interresting (i wouldn't cross russia all the way, though..)

cheers

 

[Joelthailand]

A friend just drove his Africa Twin 19,000kms over 23 countries to get to Phuket from Cheshire UK!!! PS. He could have done less countries & less kilometers but he wanted to do the scenic route.

No Charley Boorman or 3 truck support crew to keep him sane or alive.....Henrik rode alone!!!

He claims it was a very enjoyable experience & with only a handful of punctures, two CDi units, one starter solenoid failure & lots of help from really friendly locals in every country visited. Duck tape & extra extra fuel cans are really useful.

Good quality gasoline was by far the biggest headache in more than a few countries! :shock:

 

[blackb15]

Thanks very much for the information I continue to research it I'm still looking at different optionsto find the best that fits for me. I have a question the insurance for UK bike while in Thailand and I'll post that separately.
Safe riding
Paul

 

[blackb15]

Thanks for all the advice and help as above and particularly for neil putting me in touch with Jeremy I have gone with Moto exporers leaving England on the 2 August arriving Thailand about 5th October.
I think I will go via the old eastern block then Turkey to China.Then base myself in ChaingMai for a few months and then ship the bike back.I am going to take the Ktm trying to decide if I need spare tyres .All advice appreciated
Thanks again
Safe riding
Paul

 

[chopperfreak]

I am looking at doing a trip to Thailand next year by bike. As I will be back living in Thailand then, one of my thoughts was to ship my Thai registered bike to UK and ride it home, but I would have to Q plate it in UK due to the Thai characters on the plate (I assume I would have similar issues in other countries also). My other option is to buy a bike in UK, register it at my sister's address in Edinburgh, then ride it to Thailand. Then I would be stuck with only a temporary import visa for it, plus there may be issues with applying for my China visas I believe.

Has anyone here found a solution for this?

 

[Carol-Jadzia]

I have been looking at getting my bike from England to Thailand for a while. Equally had a hard time finding carriers.
Many shipping companies will cheaply shift the weight but seem to have issues with the fact it's a motorcycle.
It would be nice to ride to Thailand. but as a female with a female partner. There are a few countries in our way which would have an issue with us.

One guy has done it on a C90. Well worth checking out.
http://www.c90adventures.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/C90-Adventures/279000328897692

 

[blackb15]

The horizon unlimited The HUBB travel site has a load of information about shipping your bike and riding to Asia shipping the bike isn't cheap I hope that helps.
Safe riding
Paul

 

[Carol-Jadzia]

Yes it does, Thank you.