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madjbs · 26-02-2012, 08:34 PM

Last October I went on a fantastic weeks bike tour around the Oman. People may not think of the Oman as a biking destination but I can tell you that it was absolutely fantastic. There are hundreds of miles of great riding roads both on and off road. Mountain passes, dried out river beds called "wadis" and everything in between. Another pleasant surprise (unlike Dubai) was that the locals are by far the most friendly bunch of people I have ever met. Virtually every single car that you passed would honk and wave at you, if you were stopped at the side of the road people would always stop and ask about your trip and if you needed help with anything. A complete contrast to the UAE!

We started out in Dubai and made our way to the Oman border at Kalba which is a 200km ride mainly on multi lane highways, although there is one great mountain pass just before the border checkpoint.

Bikes at the border

We carried on another 60km to the beach town of Sohar where we planned to stay the night at the only beach hotel in town. Unfortunately there was some kind of conference on and the hotel was full. Plan B, we decided to push on along the next days route and camp somewhere up in the mountains. We rode off up into the mountains to find that the previous week there had been a ton of rain storms and when it rains there the roads turn to rivers! There was river debris ALL over the road for maybe 75km. Eventually we got up out of the valley and found somewhere to camp on the mountain top.

Washed out roads

Up into the mountains and camping

On day two the plan was to ride to the top of the middle east's tallest mountain "Jebal Shams", which is around 3000m high. This means the temperature can reach 0c in the winter and around 20c in summer, which is a huge difference compared to the 40c heat down on the plains. There is a resort on a plateau about 500m below the peak where you can rent a room for the night. The route there involved around 80km of wadis and mountain passes, however when we got to the start of the off road we discovered that the storms had made it impassable.

On the way to the wadi

Start of the wadi

Which soon became impassable (note overturned bus from the floods)

We had to back track and take another route which still involved about 40km of gravel tracks but wouldnt nearly be as much fun. Unfortunately the V-Strom decided it would break down in the middle of the off road section. The battery had gone dead....Bump starting a 1000cc V-twin on gravel in 40c sun is no easy task, let me tell you.....We had to abandon the plan to ride to the top of the mountain for that day and instead retreat to the nearest town 60km away

Broken down, Jebal Shams in the background

Hotel room for 2nd night, about 3000THB

On day three the V-Strom seemed to have repaired itself, so it was back to plan A with the ride up Jebal Shams. Along the way we took a few off road route options although it is actually paved till about 5km before the resort where we would stay the night.

Another mountain opposite Jebal Shams with a 2000m rock face, the face has been climbed in 8 hours by western climbing teams

ancient bee hive tombs on the hill top on the route up to Jebal Shams

off road side route

The road up Jebal Shams itself was fantastic with great scenery and dozens of great switchbacks, i was having so much fun I forget to take any photos! At the end of the paved section we stopped and checked out the views.

Overlooking the Jebal Shams plateau

Another 5-10km further on and we had made it to or destination for the 3rd night. Jebal Shams Resort.

Nice rooms with sunset mountain views

fantastic local food at the resort, perfect after a days riding (no alcohol at this resort)

goats hungry

About 500m over from the resort you can walk to the edge of the Middle East's Grand Canyon or "Wadi Ghul". Its an amazing 2000m almost shear drop to the bottom. The road actually traverses along its edge at a couple of points.

Day 4 would be a long easy 400+km road ride to Ibra on the edge of the Wahiba Sands, which is a large area of desert sand dunes stretching hundreds of KMs over into the empty quarter of Saudi Arabia. Along the way we stopped off and had a quick look at the Nizwa fort, which is a popular tourist destination in the Oman. Nizwa looked like a nice place to stay, much nicer than Ibra where we were heading to.

After the stop at the fort we carried on to Ibra where we stayed at the only hotel. There are desert camps where you can stay in traditional arabic tents but we didn't fancy taking the bikes through the sand. The hotel itself was very strange, it was built around a central coutyard with pool and was very 70s in style and feel. The staff told us they had a bar, which we were very pleased about! The bar was the weirdest bar I have ever been in.

Everything furry red velvet, neon lights and packed full of hammered Arabs in their dish dashes from about 10pm onwards. Whoever said Muslims didn't drink!

Day 5 we were going to drive up to the capital of the Oman, Muscat. The original plan had been to go over a 80km mountain pass to the coast and up the coast road. However, once we got to the start of the mountain pass we decided that the storm the previous night may have made it impassable. Instead I thought we could link up with a nearby road which looked fantastic for riding on the map. The road linking us to that road appeared on my map but not on the GPS, we thought we would give it a try anyhow. It turned out that the map was wrong, the road had been planned but not yet built, so we ended up driving around 80km off road through a fantastic wadi and about 10 different river crossings. This unplanned section of off road turned out to be the best section on the entire trip! We eventually linked up with the road and had another 100km of fantastic road riding to Muscat where we checked into a properly decent hotel with a proper bar (also full of Arabs drinking!).

My bike goes down for the second time in the trip (first time was in impassible wadi)

Fantastic river crossings and scenery

Day 6 we drove all the way back to Dubai from Muscat via Kalba again. Nothing to report there, just a long 450km road ride.

Hope you enjoyed the report!

Chairman Mao · 26-02-2012, 08:41 PM

Well if it ain't Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman.

Great stuff mate, cheers.

Brings back lots of memories of the region from 10 years ago.

madjbs · 26-02-2012, 08:44 PM

If only we had the support crew!

The Oman is really a fantastic place to visit. Highly recommended!

Another nice point for people living here is that Thais don't need a visa to visit, so it's easy to take girlfriends/family there.

Marmite the Dog · 26-02-2012, 09:50 PM

Excellent stuff.

you forgot rule #1. Never ride a Suzuki...

madjbs · 26-02-2012, 10:08 PM

That's why I was on a BMW!

Jokes aside, the V-Strom is a fantastic bike. The break down was due to a faulty regulator/rectifier, which had actually been recalled, although we hadn't seen.

DJ Pat · 27-02-2012, 08:19 AM

Looks like a lot of fun

bsnub · 27-02-2012, 08:41 AM

Wow! Great pics!

Koojo · 27-02-2012, 09:30 AM

Awesome, thanks for sharing, looks great.
Isn't it hot in the leathers though?

Khun Custard · 27-02-2012, 09:37 AM

Top thread madjbs - enjoyed it
A shaft drive is the only way in all the dust and rubble!
Any issues of personal safety or security on the journey - well, apart from the red bar??

bushwacker · 27-02-2012, 10:08 AM

Enjoyed looking at your pics. Looks like you had a great trip.

Rigger · 27-02-2012, 11:25 AM

Great pictures and thread.
Oman is a good place to ride once your out from muscat have toured oman on Harlys and sports bikes.
Friends where tring to set up a motorcycle tour here in Oman but there is some kind of insurance problem that is stopping them.
I think it was unable to insure a bike for a person on a tourist visa or something like that.

madjbs · 27-02-2012, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khun Custard

Any issues of personal safety or security on the journey - well, apart from the red bar??

Nope, not at all. The Oman is very safe and the people are very friendly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rigger

I think it was unable to insure a bike for a person on a tourist visa or something like that.

There are a few bike tours already I think. There are some weird rules about insurance but our Dubai bikes were covered for the Oman already. I am not sure if I was technically allowed to ride it or not as I don't have a residents visa etc.. They don't care at the border anyhow.

madjbs · 27-02-2012, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koojo

Isn't it hot in the leathers though?

My gear is half leather half mesh. Still very hot when you are going walking speed but once you get a bit of airflow it's ok. A vital piece of equipment was the "camelback" full of cold water so you can keep hydrated as you ride.

natalie8 · 27-02-2012, 05:02 PM

I absolutely love Oman! I was last there in November with a friend. Some day I'll start a thread on it. I don't have time to go through your thread now, but I will later on.

Friends of mine in Dubai are doing a Harley tour of Oman in a couple of weeks adn I'm so jealous.

kiwinev · 27-02-2012, 09:27 PM

Great pics, really good to look thru them. Looks like you had a great time.
I first went to Oman in 1980 and the roads were not that good back then.

Happy Dave · 27-02-2012, 10:42 PM

Interesting pics, but not my idea of a beautiful country, and was that goat the local "girlie bar"

Bangyai · 27-02-2012, 10:42 PM

Thanks for taking the time to post. Very interesting thread and great pictures. Learnt more about Oman than I ever knew before , which was very little.

Carrabow · 27-02-2012, 10:55 PM

Green delivered.

I will put this down on my wish list of things to do!

daveboy · 27-02-2012, 11:42 PM

Great pics love to do some thing like that one day.

natalie8 · 28-02-2012, 02:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madjbs

Another pleasant surprise (unlike Dubai) was that the locals are by far the most friendly bunch of people I have ever met. Virtually every single car that you passed would honk and wave at you, if you were stopped at the side of the road people would always stop and ask about your trip and if you needed help with anything. A complete contrast to the UAE!

Yes, it is a nice contrast to the UAE. The people in Oman are amazing!

dcpublius · 28-02-2012, 03:49 AM

So you rented in Dubai? How much do they charge? Do they have cheaper bikes available for rent?

Is it possible - and prudent - to ride down to Yemen and then back to Dubai?

kingwilly · 28-02-2012, 04:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Dave

Interesting pics, but not my idea of a beautiful country,

are you joking ? Those pictures are absolutely sensational!

Great thread !

madjbs · 28-02-2012, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcpublius

So you rented in Dubai? How much do they charge? Do they have cheaper bikes available for rent?

Is it possible - and prudent - to ride down to Yemen and then back to Dubai?

No they are our own bikes. You can ride into Yemen and it is meant to be fantastic, but it is a little bit dangerous at the moment.

sabot · 28-02-2012, 08:33 AM

I saw this over at ADV this morning and thought how excellent the riding looked. Good report. The V-strom has the same plant as the SV 1000 right? Does it also share the same "Green connector problem"? I know you said it was a bad R/R already but if it has the green connector problem as well your bud could be in for more problems down the road. An easy fix. Again, nice photos/report.

madjbs · 28-02-2012, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabot

Does it also share the same "Green connector problem"?

No, not that I know of. The R/R is a common fault though on the DL 1000. It was recalled but the dealer in Dubai hadn't informed us.

26-02-2012, 08:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
madjbs Thailand Expat Last Online: 21-04-2013 05:59 PM Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bangkok Posts: 1,544	A Week in The Oman on Motorcycles Last October I went on a fantastic weeks bike tour around the Oman. People may not think of the Oman as a biking destination but I can tell you that it was absolutely fantastic. There are hundreds of miles of great riding roads both on and off road. Mountain passes, dried out river beds called "wadis" and everything in between. Another pleasant surprise (unlike Dubai) was that the locals are by far the most friendly bunch of people I have ever met. Virtually every single car that you passed would honk and wave at you, if you were stopped at the side of the road people would always stop and ask about your trip and if you needed help with anything. A complete contrast to the UAE! We started out in Dubai and made our way to the Oman border at Kalba which is a 200km ride mainly on multi lane highways, although there is one great mountain pass just before the border checkpoint. Bikes at the border We carried on another 60km to the beach town of Sohar where we planned to stay the night at the only beach hotel in town. Unfortunately there was some kind of conference on and the hotel was full. Plan B, we decided to push on along the next days route and camp somewhere up in the mountains. We rode off up into the mountains to find that the previous week there had been a ton of rain storms and when it rains there the roads turn to rivers! There was river debris ALL over the road for maybe 75km. Eventually we got up out of the valley and found somewhere to camp on the mountain top. Washed out roads Up into the mountains and camping On day two the plan was to ride to the top of the middle east's tallest mountain "Jebal Shams", which is around 3000m high. This means the temperature can reach 0c in the winter and around 20c in summer, which is a huge difference compared to the 40c heat down on the plains. There is a resort on a plateau about 500m below the peak where you can rent a room for the night. The route there involved around 80km of wadis and mountain passes, however when we got to the start of the off road we discovered that the storms had made it impassable. On the way to the wadi Start of the wadi Which soon became impassable (note overturned bus from the floods) We had to back track and take another route which still involved about 40km of gravel tracks but wouldnt nearly be as much fun. Unfortunately the V-Strom decided it would break down in the middle of the off road section. The battery had gone dead....Bump starting a 1000cc V-twin on gravel in 40c sun is no easy task, let me tell you.....We had to abandon the plan to ride to the top of the mountain for that day and instead retreat to the nearest town 60km away Broken down, Jebal Shams in the background Hotel room for 2nd night, about 3000THB On day three the V-Strom seemed to have repaired itself, so it was back to plan A with the ride up Jebal Shams. Along the way we took a few off road route options although it is actually paved till about 5km before the resort where we would stay the night. Another mountain opposite Jebal Shams with a 2000m rock face, the face has been climbed in 8 hours by western climbing teams ancient bee hive tombs on the hill top on the route up to Jebal Shams off road side route The road up Jebal Shams itself was fantastic with great scenery and dozens of great switchbacks, i was having so much fun I forget to take any photos! At the end of the paved section we stopped and checked out the views. Overlooking the Jebal Shams plateau Another 5-10km further on and we had made it to or destination for the 3rd night. Jebal Shams Resort. Nice rooms with sunset mountain views fantastic local food at the resort, perfect after a days riding (no alcohol at this resort) goats hungry About 500m over from the resort you can walk to the edge of the Middle East's Grand Canyon or "Wadi Ghul". Its an amazing 2000m almost shear drop to the bottom. The road actually traverses along its edge at a couple of points. Day 4 would be a long easy 400+km road ride to Ibra on the edge of the Wahiba Sands, which is a large area of desert sand dunes stretching hundreds of KMs over into the empty quarter of Saudi Arabia. Along the way we stopped off and had a quick look at the Nizwa fort, which is a popular tourist destination in the Oman. Nizwa looked like a nice place to stay, much nicer than Ibra where we were heading to. After the stop at the fort we carried on to Ibra where we stayed at the only hotel. There are desert camps where you can stay in traditional arabic tents but we didn't fancy taking the bikes through the sand. The hotel itself was very strange, it was built around a central coutyard with pool and was very 70s in style and feel. The staff told us they had a bar, which we were very pleased about! The bar was the weirdest bar I have ever been in. Everything furry red velvet, neon lights and packed full of hammered Arabs in their dish dashes from about 10pm onwards. Whoever said Muslims didn't drink! Day 5 we were going to drive up to the capital of the Oman, Muscat. The original plan had been to go over a 80km mountain pass to the coast and up the coast road. However, once we got to the start of the mountain pass we decided that the storm the previous night may have made it impassable. Instead I thought we could link up with a nearby road which looked fantastic for riding on the map. The road linking us to that road appeared on my map but not on the GPS, we thought we would give it a try anyhow. It turned out that the map was wrong, the road had been planned but not yet built, so we ended up driving around 80km off road through a fantastic wadi and about 10 different river crossings. This unplanned section of off road turned out to be the best section on the entire trip! We eventually linked up with the road and had another 100km of fantastic road riding to Muscat where we checked into a properly decent hotel with a proper bar (also full of Arabs drinking!). My bike goes down for the second time in the trip (first time was in impassible wadi) Fantastic river crossings and scenery Day 6 we drove all the way back to Dubai from Muscat via Kalba again. Nothing to report there, just a long 450km road ride. Hope you enjoyed the report!

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26-02-2012, 08:41 PM	#2 (permalink)
Chairman Mao Banned Last Online: 30-01-2013 08:22 AM Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 10,956	Well if it ain't Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman. Great stuff mate, cheers. Brings back lots of memories of the region from 10 years ago.

26-02-2012, 08:44 PM	#3 (permalink)
madjbs Thailand Expat Last Online: 21-04-2013 05:59 PM Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bangkok Posts: 1,544	If only we had the support crew! The Oman is really a fantastic place to visit. Highly recommended! Another nice point for people living here is that Thais don't need a visa to visit, so it's easy to take girlfriends/family there.

26-02-2012, 09:50 PM	#4 (permalink)
Marmite the Dog ผู้เชี่ยวชาญเปล่า Last Online: Yesterday 01:49 PM Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Simian Islands Posts: 42,206	Excellent stuff. you forgot rule #1. Never ride a Suzuki...

26-02-2012, 10:08 PM	#5 (permalink)
madjbs Thailand Expat Last Online: 21-04-2013 05:59 PM Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bangkok Posts: 1,544	That's why I was on a BMW! Jokes aside, the V-Strom is a fantastic bike. The break down was due to a faulty regulator/rectifier, which had actually been recalled, although we hadn't seen.

27-02-2012, 08:19 AM	#6 (permalink)
DJ Pat aka Pattaya Royale on SZS Last Online: Yesterday 11:32 PM Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 7,863	Looks like a lot of fun

27-02-2012, 08:41 AM	#7 (permalink)
bsnub Thailand Expat Last Online: Yesterday 05:45 PM Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Seattle Posts: 3,457	Wow! Great pics!

27-02-2012, 09:30 AM	#8 (permalink)
Koojo I am in Jail Last Online: Yesterday 03:30 PM Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 9,459	Awesome, thanks for sharing, looks great. Isn't it hot in the leathers though?

27-02-2012, 09:37 AM	#9 (permalink)
Khun Custard Member Last Online: 01-05-2013 08:11 PM Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Not where I want to be Posts: 699	Top thread madjbs - enjoyed it A shaft drive is the only way in all the dust and rubble! Any issues of personal safety or security on the journey - well, apart from the red bar??

27-02-2012, 10:08 AM	#10 (permalink)
bushwacker Member Last Online: Yesterday 12:20 PM Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Nakhon Sawan Posts: 219	Enjoyed looking at your pics. Looks like you had a great trip.

27-02-2012, 11:25 AM	#11 (permalink)
Rigger better looking than Ned Last Online: Yesterday 09:21 PM Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 7,342	Great pictures and thread. Oman is a good place to ride once your out from muscat have toured oman on Harlys and sports bikes. Friends where tring to set up a motorcycle tour here in Oman but there is some kind of insurance problem that is stopping them. I think it was unable to insure a bike for a person on a tourist visa or something like that.

27-02-2012, 05:02 PM	#14 (permalink)
natalie8 Thailand Expat Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Dubai Posts: 4,893	I absolutely love Oman! I was last there in November with a friend. Some day I'll start a thread on it. I don't have time to go through your thread now, but I will later on. Friends of mine in Dubai are doing a Harley tour of Oman in a couple of weeks adn I'm so jealous.

27-02-2012, 09:27 PM	#15 (permalink)
kiwinev Member Last Online: Yesterday 11:58 PM Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Khobar, Saudi Arabia Posts: 106	Great pics, really good to look thru them. Looks like you had a great time. I first went to Oman in 1980 and the roads were not that good back then.

27-02-2012, 10:42 PM	#16 (permalink)
Happy Dave Member Last Online: 14-05-2013 03:31 PM Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Koh Samui Posts: 269	Interesting pics, but not my idea of a beautiful country, and was that goat the local "girlie bar"

27-02-2012, 10:42 PM	#17 (permalink)
Bangyai jungle bunny tester Last Online: Yesterday 10:23 PM Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Shit Creek, Turdsville. Posts: 5,204	Thanks for taking the time to post. Very interesting thread and great pictures. Learnt more about Oman than I ever knew before , which was very little.

27-02-2012, 10:55 PM	#18 (permalink)
Carrabow M.A.D Last Online: 18-05-2013 06:00 PM Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: in B.F.E Isaan Posts: 3,848	Green delivered. I will put this down on my wish list of things to do!

27-02-2012, 11:42 PM	#19 (permalink)
daveboy Knows fok all Join Date: May 2006 Location: SE London Posts: 4,807	Great pics love to do some thing like that one day.

28-02-2012, 03:49 AM	#21 (permalink)
dcpublius Newbie Last Online: 30-10-2012 02:39 AM Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 3	So you rented in Dubai? How much do they charge? Do they have cheaper bikes available for rent? Is it possible - and prudent - to ride down to Yemen and then back to Dubai?

28-02-2012, 08:33 AM	#24 (permalink)
sabot Newbie Last Online: 23-04-2013 09:45 AM Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Northwest Arkansas Posts: 3	I saw this over at ADV this morning and thought how excellent the riding looked. Good report. The V-strom has the same plant as the SV 1000 right? Does it also share the same "Green connector problem"? I know you said it was a bad R/R already but if it has the green connector problem as well your bud could be in for more problems down the road. An easy fix. Again, nice photos/report.

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