Wellington: Int'l motorcycle travel BBQ. TSS Sat 31 March 07

[Bartman10]

Bartman10 and fraggle are heading off on an adventure ride across Russia. The trip will cover about 15,000 km's. :gob:

We’re leaving in late May riding from Vladivostok through Russia, possibly Mongolia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and finishing in Holland to visit my Grandmother inAmsterdam for a cup of tea.

We’re having a BBQ at TSS motorcycles this Saturday the 31st of March to talk to some of the Wellington crowd about our trip, and hopefully raise a few dollars from our sausages. We’ll be down there from about 9:30 am until closing.

Please come down to TSS at 421 Cuba St, Alicetown, Lower Hutt if you:

1. Are thinking about international motorcycle travel – we’ve been the researching for the trip for a few years and learned a lot about the paperwork required, logistical problems, gaining sponsorship and budgeting. Our research doesn’t only apply to Russia, but also to central Asia, Europe, Australia and America.

2. Want to buy a sausage or steak sandwich to help out.

3. Just find out more, have a chat and look at a bloody big map of the biggest country in the world.

More details are available from our website. www.russiantraverse.co.nz (http://www.russiantraverse.co.nz)

Which brings me to another point; we’re still working on the website, so if you want to make any suggestions we’ll try to incorporate them.

Please continue to purchase products and services from our sponsors and suppliers. They provide great quality gear at competitive prices. What's more they're true enthusiasts who really know their products.

Our supporters include:

SportsPro (http://www.sportspro.co.nz) and Factory 909 (http://www.factory909.com)

Extreme Gear (http://www.extremegear.co.nz) and Camelbak (http://www.camelbak.com)

Ullrich Aluminium (http://www.ullrich.co.nz)

Eurobike: Stylmartin (http://www.stylmartin.com), Motoline, Spidi (http://www.spidi.com), Champion (http://www.championsparkplugs.com/), Scottoiler (http://www.scottoiler.com) and Givi (http://www.givi.it)

Darbi accessories (http://www.darbi.co.nz):
Continental tyres (http://www.conti-online.com/)

Coleman camping (http://www.coleman.com)

Ampro (http://www.ampro.co.nz): MSR (http://www.msrcorp.com/), Gerber (http://www.gerbergear.com), Ben's Mosquito Repellent and SealLine (http://www.seallinegear.com/)

Outsider Mountain Sports (http://www.oms.co.nz): Ortlieb (http://www.ortlieb.de)

Bivouac Outdoor (http://www.bivoac.co.nz): Macpac, Icebreaker, Outdoor Research (http://www.orgear.com)

TSS motorcycles (http://www.tssmotorcycles.co.nz)

Motomart
(http://www.motomart.co.nz)

Thanks for your support. :first:

Any other suggestions are gratefully received. Please PM.

Mark and Jane
Grand Russian Traverse 2007.

[merv]

Good luck on your trip. I'll see if I have time to drop in on Saturday.

[Trudes]

Wow, how cool you guys!! Will try very hard to pop down to TSS on Saturday. Have an awesome fun and safe trip, and very much looking forward to the trip reports!:rockon:

[Masterchop]

Mate,I am very jealous,it will be a fantastic trip.

Good luck with it.

[skelstar]

Good stuff bro! ...def make it along for a yak...

[Zukin]

Hey there

It is so close now:yes:
I would love to come down to the BBQ. but I cant.
I hope to say farewell before you go though.

Cheers and all the very best
Scott & Carissa

[Bartman10]

Thanks for your message Scott.

We'll be in Hawke's Bay before we leave. We'll probably have a BBQ out at Te Awanga and catch up with some of the HB crowd. I'll let you know the details.

Mark.


Hey there

It is so close now:yes:
I would love to come down to the BBQ. but I cant.
I hope to say farewell before you go though.

Cheers and all the very best
Scott & Carissa

[Macktheknife]

What a cool thing to do, well done guys and I hope your trip goes brilliantly. Sadly I won't be able to join you for a snag and a chat but wish you all the best anyway. Good website too guys.

[Bartman10]

Thanks Mack. Website took ages becasue we knew nothing about making websites when we started.

I'm sure the trip will work out fine. When we started this project about 5 years ago we didn't know much about international motorcycle travel. We've learned a lot, but will probably still freak out when we're finally on the road.

Just noticed this is my 500th post too! :rockon:



What a cool thing to do, well done guys and I hope your trip goes brilliantly. Sadly I won't be able to join you for a snag and a chat but wish you all the best anyway. Good website too guys.

[The Big J]

Hey guys

Congratulations on making the jump - how`s your russian?

I`ll put a link on our website www.locokiwi.com - when I get around to it!

Had a strange day travelling today (am in Honduras). Have been on hiatus with a friend for a week, so back on the bike with a fresh oil change and all and get a flat tire thankfully in a city as I`m not with my riding partner who has the tire irons!

And then I miss the turn off to the village I`m going to and all of a sudden I`m at a dinky border town before Nicaragua. A bit of an anticlimax with nothing to do but hey, better than another day`s work!. And the hotel room with telly cost $18US, I found a single bed with nothing for $4, doesn`t even have a light in the bathroom.

You may get some good reading from a book by Ben Kozel Five Months in a Leaky Boat who rowed down the Yenisey to it`s delta in the Arctic Circle. From that experience it sounds like your livers will be taking a pounding from Russian hospitality.

I hope you`ve tuned into Horizons Unlimited, just amazingly helpful website.

stay safe and travel well, I`ll keep reading!

[Bartman10]

Hey guys

Congratulations on making the jump - how`s your russian?

I`ll put a link on our website www.locokiwi.com - when I get around to it!

Had a strange day travelling today (am in Honduras). Have been on hiatus with a friend for a week, so back on the bike with a fresh oil change and all and get a flat tire thankfully in a city as I`m not with my riding partner who has the tire irons!

And then I miss the turn off to the village I`m going to and all of a sudden I`m at a dinky border town before Nicaragua. A bit of an anticlimax with nothing to do but hey, better than another day`s work!. And the hotel room with telly cost $18US, I found a single bed with nothing for $4, doesn`t even have a light in the bathroom.

You may get some good reading from a book by Ben Kozel Five Months in a Leaky Boat who rowed down the Yenisey to it`s delta in the Arctic Circle. From that experience it sounds like your livers will be taking a pounding from Russian hospitality.

I hope you`ve tuned into Horizons Unlimited, just amazingly helpful website.

stay safe and travel well, I`ll keep reading!

Thanks for the tips. Been on HU for a couple of years now... It's a great website...

Great to hear things are going well for you in Honduras. If this Russian trip goes well South America might be our next destination...

I'll add your website to our links page when I get some time. The whole website is undergoing some revision now. Hopefully it will be sorted in the next week or so.

We've heard great things about Russian hospitality... We're standing by for a liver pounding....

Thanks, and stay safe in South America...

Our Russian is going OK, but we've still got a lot to learn. I'm sure three months over there will help!

Mark.

[ajturbo]

you heard that i wasn't going to be here then !!!
have fun!!!

[Bartman10]

Thanks to Wellington Photographic Supplies, who came on board yesterday too with a nice new camera at a very sweet price.

We'll see y'all tomorrow then. We'll be down at TSS from about 9.30 am and fire up the sausage sizzle just after that.

Cheers.

[skelstar]

Mark, I think I'll bring the GPS unit down to your BBQ for you to look at. Hope you have a good day tomorrow.

[Ms Piggy]

I won't be able to make it but I'll track you from your website.

Sounds like a blast! Woo hoo!!

[merv]

OK me and Mrs merv made it to the BBQ and had time to have a talk with our enthusiastic travellers as well as drop into the TSS shop and have a chat there too. Pickle and Mrs Pickle were at the BBQ when we came out of the shop otherwise didn't spot any other KBers though I do hope a few of you got down there in support.

Safe travels Mark and Jane.

[Skunk]

We showed up just before the Hitchers. Still feeling crook so didn't eat too many sauages.
That map has a lot of km's of travel on it. You guys are having an Adventure for sure!

[ceebie13]

I showed up at about 2pm...big mistake. Doh! Not a sausage to be seen.

I'm sorry, but I fail to understand why bike shops here in NZ close at 2pm on a Saturday! I mean, how bloody daft is that? Saturday - the one day in the week when a lot of us can get out on our machines and go somewhere for a gawp and a gossip and generally hang out...and who knows, possibly even buy something!

We possibly need to catch up a bit here I reckon. Bike shops in the UK and Europe are meeting places...places where you can try gear, make new friends, get a coffee, soft drink, bag of crisps...whatever? A sort of bike shop cafe if you like.

And don't give me all that bull about small population = less demand. I'm sure sales would rocket with a little more imagination.

Anyway...good luck on your trip. Sounds awesome!

[skelstar]

I'm sorry, but I fail to understand why bike shops here in NZ close at 2pm on a Saturday! I mean, how bloody daft is that?
What time do you wake up?!?!

[ceebie13]

What time do you wake up?!?!

Hmm... let's see now. Normally, on a weekday at about 6.30am when the alarm goes off. Failing that, at the weekend...maybe, say, 8am (ish). Sometimes I wake a little earlier...it's almost as if my body clock is programmed to wake me just before the alarm. On other occasions, I have been known to oversleep, but that's very rare indeed. I was playing a gig on Friday night, for example, and I was soooo bloody tired, that when I finally got to bed at 2am, my head just hit the pillow and I crashed out, and didn't wake until 9am. But normally, as I say its about 6.30 in the morning. Of course with daylight saving kicking in, the early morning sunlight flooding our bedroom can wake me prematurely. So that makes it about 6am. It really depends on a lot of factors which can (also) affect my sleeping pattern. For example... food or drink intake the night before, or maybe even stress. But I'm quite a relaxed person so it's rarely to do with stress. Maybe room temperature influences it aswell. Generally though I sleep soundly and wake up at pretty much the same time most days. :done:

[dasser]

Wow, what an adventure ride this will be. Fantastic to see the ride all layed out at the BBQ. I can see the planning you guys have put into this.
Best of luck to you and Fraggle. :scooter:

The Dilbert zone is not going to be the same. :yes:

[Bartman10]

Wow, what an adventure ride this will be. Fantastic to see the ride all layed out at the BBQ. I can see the planning you guys have put into this.
Best of luck to you and Fraggle. :scooter:

The Dilbert zone is not going to be the same. :yes:

Thanks heaps for your donations dasser and merv. Much appreciated!

About 8-10 KB'ers turned up for a look...

I sold most of the bangers to the TSS staff though. Lucky they're such eager sausage munchers, otherwise I would have been stuck eating sausages for the next 6 weeks.

Big thanks to Stew, Richard, Fergus, Pip and the rest of the TSS guys.

We'll keep you posted...

Mark and Jane.

[quallman1234]

Thanks heaps for your donations dasser and merv. Much appreciated!

About 8-10 KB'ers turned up for a look...

I sold most of the bangers to the TSS staff though. Lucky they're such eager sausage munchers, otherwise I would have been stuck eating sausages for the next 6 weeks.

Big thanks to Stew, Richard, Fergus, Pip and the rest of the TSS guys.

We'll keep you posted...

Mark and Jane.
Hey good luck with the trip, I got Mr Jenkins (Steve) Too join KB for you :).

[Zukin]

Hey there

Any dates for a Hawkes Bay BBQ (or similar) yet?

Cheers Scott

[Bartman10]

Hey there

Any dates for a Hawkes Bay BBQ (or similar) yet?

Cheers Scott

How does Saturday May 12 sound?

Cheers.

Mark

[Zukin]

How does Saturday May 12 sound?

Cheers.

Mark

Sounds great!!!:yes:

Are you riding up to visit the family?
If you are maybe we could have a ride with the other KB'ers and then a bbq or something?

Cheers Scott

[Bartman10]

Yea, my sisters b'day on the 13th so be up for that weekend.

BBQ at Te Awanga, on the 12th of May...details to follow...