Day 9 - Novosibirsk - Barnaul
24744 - 25008 264 km
This short driving day stated early. I woke up at 6 AM for the sound of an alarm clock. I have to admit it was the first time I woke up to that sound during this trip. I had planned to get going as early as possible but I changed my plans as soon as I looked out of the window. It was way too dark to hit the road. So I took my time in packing my gear. I read the news of Kouvolan Sanomat and started a bit after seven. I somewhat managed to get out of the city before the morning rush. Of course there was quite a lot of traffic but I got out of the city pretty easily.
After exiting the city the morning showed it's beauty. South of Novosibirsk I started to head towards Altai mountains which are told to be the most beautiful place in whole Russia. So far the scenery has been mostly unspectacular. Some mountainous parts I saw before Yekaterinburg but in that rain I wasn't very interested in the scenery. I just wanted to get going.
Compared to the swamp and fields and forest with no shape this is much better. Here you can also see the amount of traffic there was almost all the way from Novosibirsk to Barnaul. I think in Barnaul there's a rush hour all the time.
The purpose of my short driving wasn't mainly enjoying the scenery. I had to get Annie to a service. I was a bit worried about the oil consumption even though yesterday's hard driving didn't burn any oil. In Horizon Unlimited Bulletin Board (a community of Around the World travelers) people say that Viktor is the man to meet in Barnaul. Finding the correct building wasn't hard but finding Viktor's garage wasn't that simple. Apparently I wasn't the first one searching for it as the other garage owners pointed me the way to Motohaus22. When I got there I noticed the place wouldn't open until 12. Luckily it was already 11:30. And in no time Viktor arrived. Of course he didn't speak much English but with a Google Translator I managed to tell him what was needed.
He started to rip the bike apart. Meantime a lady of the actual Motohaus22 arrived. Appeared that it was a whole different company next door with a good selection of Motul products and spare parts for common motorcycles. The lady sold me two bottles of fork oil, enough motor oil plus a spare litre, fork seals, oil filter and a bottle of chain oil for about 4000RUB. Meanwhile Viktor continued the work with Annie.
I have no idea when the forks oils have been changed. But now it's done for the rest of this trip.
At this point I got little worried. Viktor had to remove the carburetors in order to reach the valves of the front cylinder. He also had to take away the cooler and it's fan.
At one point there almost was a problem but... There is problem in Russia. One support ring of the front fork was torn and of course there was not a spare. Viktor made a new one out of a bigger one by hand! "In Siberia, no supermarket, no problem".
Checking valves of Africa Twin is a huge job. Half of bike must be torn apart. But now they are adjusted.
It took nearly 5 hours to make everything. Oil change, fork oils and seals, check the valves and carburetors. During that 5 hours the weather had changed dramatically from the morning's brisk to a heat of Asian afternoon. With all my gear on I sweated my way to a hotel. Or should I say apart hotel called Fedorov. Of course the cleaning lady (only one working at that time) didn't speak any English but from the bar we found a bartender who explained me everything. I got the bike inside the garage until Sunday and found a shop nearby. After a long day without eating anything I was starving.
Now it's time to do some laundry and plan for tomorrow. I will have a day off. Not from writing this blog but from riding. There's no point of going near the border before Sunday as the customs open on Monday at 9. My friend Heinrich (with whom I share a container in Vladivostok) suggested that I should camp about 100 km prior to border in the beautiful Altai region. Lets see what I shall do.
I have to admire the MacGyver attitude the Russians have. Andrei made new tools when needed, Viktor made the support ring. But this is the best I've seen so far. When normal pins aren't strong enough you have to make stronger ones to support them.
This short driving day stated early. I woke up at 6 AM for the sound of an alarm clock. I have to admit it was the first time I woke up to that sound during this trip. I had planned to get going as early as possible but I changed my plans as soon as I looked out of the window. It was way too dark to hit the road. So I took my time in packing my gear. I read the news of Kouvolan Sanomat and started a bit after seven. I somewhat managed to get out of the city before the morning rush. Of course there was quite a lot of traffic but I got out of the city pretty easily.
After exiting the city the morning showed it's beauty. South of Novosibirsk I started to head towards Altai mountains which are told to be the most beautiful place in whole Russia. So far the scenery has been mostly unspectacular. Some mountainous parts I saw before Yekaterinburg but in that rain I wasn't very interested in the scenery. I just wanted to get going.
Compared to the swamp and fields and forest with no shape this is much better. Here you can also see the amount of traffic there was almost all the way from Novosibirsk to Barnaul. I think in Barnaul there's a rush hour all the time.
The purpose of my short driving wasn't mainly enjoying the scenery. I had to get Annie to a service. I was a bit worried about the oil consumption even though yesterday's hard driving didn't burn any oil. In Horizon Unlimited Bulletin Board (a community of Around the World travelers) people say that Viktor is the man to meet in Barnaul. Finding the correct building wasn't hard but finding Viktor's garage wasn't that simple. Apparently I wasn't the first one searching for it as the other garage owners pointed me the way to Motohaus22. When I got there I noticed the place wouldn't open until 12. Luckily it was already 11:30. And in no time Viktor arrived. Of course he didn't speak much English but with a Google Translator I managed to tell him what was needed.
I have no idea when the forks oils have been changed. But now it's done for the rest of this trip.
At this point I got little worried. Viktor had to remove the carburetors in order to reach the valves of the front cylinder. He also had to take away the cooler and it's fan.
At one point there almost was a problem but... There is problem in Russia. One support ring of the front fork was torn and of course there was not a spare. Viktor made a new one out of a bigger one by hand! "In Siberia, no supermarket, no problem".
Checking valves of Africa Twin is a huge job. Half of bike must be torn apart. But now they are adjusted.
It took nearly 5 hours to make everything. Oil change, fork oils and seals, check the valves and carburetors. During that 5 hours the weather had changed dramatically from the morning's brisk to a heat of Asian afternoon. With all my gear on I sweated my way to a hotel. Or should I say apart hotel called Fedorov. Of course the cleaning lady (only one working at that time) didn't speak any English but from the bar we found a bartender who explained me everything. I got the bike inside the garage until Sunday and found a shop nearby. After a long day without eating anything I was starving.
Now it's time to do some laundry and plan for tomorrow. I will have a day off. Not from writing this blog but from riding. There's no point of going near the border before Sunday as the customs open on Monday at 9. My friend Heinrich (with whom I share a container in Vladivostok) suggested that I should camp about 100 km prior to border in the beautiful Altai region. Lets see what I shall do.
I have to admire the MacGyver attitude the Russians have. Andrei made new tools when needed, Viktor made the support ring. But this is the best I've seen so far. When normal pins aren't strong enough you have to make stronger ones to support them.
Kommentit
Lähetä kommentti