The (provisional) goal is to get to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia or maybe a bit further, like Magadan or Vladivostok. The time limit is 6 months as Mike is married and will need to get back at some point! If I was doing it on my own, I would keep going for as long as I could.
We really want to keep off the beaten path when in Europe; probably taking on the eastern routes of the TET and visiting stuff that interests us rather than what the tour guide tells you. Once we're out of western Europe, we want to head over to Ukraine and then south through Romania and Bulgaria, through Turkey and Iran to get to the Stans and Mongolia. The return leg will be mainly through Russia and, hopefully, up through Scandinavia before getting the ferry back to Harwich.
Yes, we want small and light bikes but we also want to take hard luggage: that's just our preference. This could rule out some of the bikes that are based on trail bikes like the CRF as the stress on the sub-frame may be too much. I know that 190 kg sounds heavy but I currently ride a Triumph Tiger 800 XCx and Mike rides a Versys 1000, so anything under 200 kg is light for us!
Cost is also a big issue for me: I want to stay under £5,000... otherwise we'd both be getting a KTM 790 Adventure R!
Height is a big issue for Mike: even though we are similar height, his legs are shorter and he struggles to reach the ground on bikes that I can flat-foot. I would also rather be flat-footing it when we're in sand or on a knackered old road.
We have a website/blog kind of thing going on over here: http://www.trailsoftheunexpected.co.uk/ if anyone wants to follow along.
