Uralistan, Travel by Ural sidecar through Europe and Central Asia

45,000km, 18 months of adventure, 3 wheels and two adventurers - meet Uralistan! Who's behind this evocative name? Marion and Jérémy, a couple from Nantes riding a Ural sidecar, whom the Ixtem Moto team is proud to support in their adventures.

Currently in Mongolia, they tell us about their journey and answer our questions. Why ride a Ural sidecar? How not to get in over your head as a couple for 18 months? Their worst problems and best anecdotes? There's a lot to tell!

----> You can follow their adventures on their blog uralistan .fr, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube channel.

Hi Marion and Jérémy. In April 2022, you set off on an 18-month road-trip to Central Asia. Can you describe your itinerary, its key moments and the purpose of this journey?

Broadly speaking, it's a France-France loop of around 45,000 kilometers, with Mongolia as the country to start the U-turn. After covering northernItaly and Slovenia, we decided to spice things up a bit. How did we do this? By exploring Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, partly via the Trans Euro Trail.

We then crossed Turkey along the Black Sea, discovered Georgia andArmenia, then looped back through Turkey to Cappadocia before returning to Gourie in Georgia for a 4-month winter break with an adoptive family. In April 2023 (i.e. after a year's travel), we hit the road again. Russia, Kazakhstan and here we are today in Mongolia!

We've been planning this trip since 2018. Despite covid and several geopolitical conflicts, our dream is finally coming true! What's next on the program? Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and a loop on the Pamir route in Tajikistan. Estimated return to France in December 2023.

You've opted for a 2011 Ural Ranger sidecar. Can you tell us about it? What are its strengths and weaknesses for such an adventure? And how did you prepare it?

"But you're nuts to set off in a Ural. It always breaks down. We've heard it dozens of times! And yet, our choice was based on logical reasoning. We needed a bike with a large carrying capacity, capable of off-roading, still produced and easy to repair. The Ural met all these criteria. Gobi is a 2011 Ranger with carburetors, and apart from Ducati ignition, there are no electronics on this bike. Gone are the inertial units, ABS, traction control, etc... At the same time, with 42 horsepower and 360 kg unladen weight, it's hard to slip...

Its qualities? Generous ground clearance, a clutchable second drive wheel, legendary repairability and a certain robustness. It has to be said, though, that off-roading, loaded like a mule, takes its toll (630kg at last weighing). But it's still a hardy machine. In case of weakness, a shot of MIG and off you go again. Its faults? The quality of the steels used. This is particularly true of the clutch, whose discs only last 30,000km, or the gearbox primary, which has to be changed after 50,000 km... It also has a tendency to rust...

What about preparation? Shock Factory suspensions, upgraded exhaust system, heated grips, hand guards, oil temperature sensor, LED front bar and homemade storage compartments everywhere. The inside of the basket, too, has been fitted out with a pocket and nets.

Would you have envisaged this road-trip on anything other than a bike?

We never envisaged this adventure as anything other than a motorcycle. In fact, as Marion doesn't ride, the sidecar came quite naturally to us. Why not a car? Because we're masochists! No, on a more serious note, travelling by bike is a great way to meet new people, and we love being in direct contact with the environment. What's more, the Ural has incredible goodwill! It'll turn a Bulgarian around in less than two seconds :) Most of our travels take us to countries of the former USSR, where this machine really comes into its own. We've lost count of the number of times we've been visited by excited and enthusiastic people. That's right! It was their grandfather's vehicle, a neighbor's, the letter carrier's - in short, their childhood. So we're always welcomed with open arms (even at border crossings and military checkpoints).

By the way, what is your relationship with motorcycles?

For us, travelling by motorcycle is also the best way to explore remote areas. It's still a light vehicle that can get out of any situation. Imagine the face of a farmer in Northern Macedonia when he sees two Frenchmen in a Soviet sidecar in the middle of nowhere :) Laugh-out-loud funny. And what follows is a wonderful moment of sharing, when he shows us around his organic vegetable garden and invites us to eat... In our opinion, riding a motorcycle allows you to feel, see and hear better what's going on around you (the good and the bad). Something we don't find on 4 wheels, where we feel like we're inside a bubble.

What biker gear do you have for this long-haul trip?

You've spoiled us for choice, Michel! We're pretty much in sync in terms of equipment. With our Scorpion ADX-1 modular helmet on our heads, our field of vision is just brilliant. Life-changing!

Our Bering Darko 4-season jackets are super versatile. You can tackle any weather with them. What amazes us? After 2 years of almost daily use, they're in near-perfect condition. Only one zipper shows a weakness. A straw! Our shins are protected by Darko pants, again from Bering. Their strengths? Robust, versatile, waterproof. Its minor drawback? Poor ventilation, making them unpleasant to wear above 25°C when stationary.

Our winter gloves are Bering Tusk. We put them through their paces in winter, and they're a blast! For summer, we've opted for Five (find the name of the glove) and Furygan. What about shoes? Jérémy needed a sturdy, compact and waterproof model. Icon's Tomahawk model ticks all the boxes. A very pleasant surprise!

And what kind of luggage do you have?

As far as luggage is concerned, we have SW-Motech to thank for supporting our adventures. We have two Drybag 600s for our clothes, a Legend pannier for our provisions and a Trax ADX Top-case in which we store our quick-access items (liners, gloves, bottle-opener, etc.). We've attached a small 2-liter jerry can to serve as a 2nd reserve.

On a more down-to-earth note, how did you organize your work? Do you necessarily have to leave everything behind to go on an adventure?

You don't necessarily have to leave everything behind. We know a lot of adventurers who take a few months' vacation, or even a sabbatical year, and then go back to work after their adventure. Well, in our case, it's a bit different. Let's just say we're on the move. We don't do well with stagnation. So, in 2016, we took the step of leaving everything behind when we expatriated to Laos. When we returned in 2020, we were supposed to set off on an adventure, but instead we were confined. While waiting for the borders to open, we spent 5 months in France writing a book of motorcycle rides: Weekends à moto, 50 itinéraires insolites en France, published by Larousse. Sales of the book will enable us to finance this trip (a little).

What type of roads do you take? Are you more into asphalt or dirt roads?

We have just as much fun on the smaller asphalt roads as on the dirt tracks. In fact, we like to go where few people go. Far be it from us to be pioneers or discoverers of the unknown, but we love going to remote places and meeting genuine people. And it has to be said that getting off the tarmac is conducive to these kinds of surprises. And while riding on the open road is an option in some countries, it's an obligation in others. Mongolia comes to mind, where asphalt seems to be a rare commodity.

The Ural goes everywhere. Sand, mud, snow, nothing stands in its way. Except ?? Except our nemesis: corrugated iron! Those damned wrinkled tracks that wreck your suspensions, unscrew your nuts and pack your vertebrae.

Tent, youth hostel or hotel, what type of accommodation do you prefer?

We're very partial to bivouacs. It's economical and we love camping in the heart of the countryside. We pitch our tents as often as possible. What about hygiene? When the smell becomes too much to bear, we have the luxury of washing up in a hotel or hostel. This usually happens once or twice a week. In fact, we think a bear turned away from our camp in Georgia because of our intense scent :)

We also try to take advantage of the different types of accommodation available in each country. These include yurts in Mongolia, piknik alanı in Turkey, and homestays in Georgia. Our most unusual habitat? An old 9000-liter wine cask. Yes, we spent 4 months living in a barrel in Komli near Ozurgeti, in the home of a Georgian family.

A couple traveling in a Ural sidecar is bound to arouse curiosity. Can you tell us about your most memorable moments or encounters with your vehicle?

At Ural, we have what we call the UDF, or Ural Delay Factor. Indeed, there's hardly a day that goes by without a meeting (usually several), a photo or simply big smiles at the sight of a sidecar.

The most Ural-friendly country? Kazakhstan. It's just incredible. They're crazy about this bike. At every gas stop, curious people come up to us, full of kindness. We were even offered chocolates, motorcycle gloves and Kazakh goodies! In Petropavl, in the north of the country, we were able to visit the Ural factory and give our steed a new lease of life. Sergei, the sales manager himself, picked us up at the hotel. Can you believe it? He accompanied and helped us for 4 days.

A long adventure is full of pitfalls. Can you share with us your worst mechanical problems?

Nothing serious so far. Knock on wood! Of course, we've had plenty of little glitches, but nothing that's kept us from moving forward. Anout-of-order ignition sensor in Bulgaria, a dead starter in Armenia, a temperamental anti-parasite in Russia, a fire in Kazakhstan, you name it. The most memorable? In Georgia, the carburetors didn't digest the tainted petrol, which led to an anthology tow by a Lada in Ushguli, the highest village in the Caucasus. The most stressful? In Montenegro, a sneaky stone cracked our left rocker cover. We were really scared! Because the big crash was followed by a thick cloud of sprayed oil. At first, we thought it was an engine failure... We had to cover 5km of runway, then 20km of asphalt before finding a "motor master" who knew how to weld aluminum.

26,000km covered in 1 year, that's an average of 70km/day. Are you a slow traveler? What's a typical day like for you?

There isn't really a typical day. The only constant? We're not early risers. Then, as we bivouac a lot, our rhythm is set to that of the sun. We don't pitch our tents in the middle of the afternoon, but rather 1 or 2 hours before sunset. Our days therefore depend quite a bit on the season.

Day by day, nothing is fixed. At the time of writing, we're spending the day in our tent on the banks of a Mongolian river. The weather being rainy, we'd rather hang out in the dry than drive. Mongolian shepherds come up to us to cut a rug and show us their goats... We also enjoy the sumptuous surroundings... As Jean-Louis, another globe-trotting uraliste, puts it, we're motorcycle travelers, not motorcycle travelers.

Our 4-month wintering period greatly reduces our daily average. Depending on where we are and what we want to do, we can spend anywhere from 0 to 9 hours on the road. Very rarely do we cover more than 300km a day. The average is around 150km. Our cruising speed? 70km/h. It's the ideal pace for enjoying the scenery and optimizing fuel consumption.

Is traveling as a couple over such a long period a source of tension? How do you manage it?

We don't talk to each other. That's the ultimate solution! On a more serious note, our expatriation in 2016, with all that it entailed, was a much more "challenging" experience. Leaving everything behind to start afresh in Laos? Let's just say it was a bonding experience. And now we know how each other's moods work. Marion sulks when she sleeps badly. Jérémy is grumpy when he's hungry. As long as we're eating and snoozing well, we're usually fine.

What are your most memorable anecdotes?

Want to follow Marion and Jérémy's adventures? You'll find them on their website, instagram, facebook and youtube. And don't forget that you can still buy their book of motorcycle itineraries in France (in bookshops or online). Do you like these passionate stories? We've got plenty for you to discover here!