Troubles come in Threes - Bike troubles from Kyzylorda to Zhezqazghan

It was supposed to be a long and boring journey from Kyzylorda to Zhezqazghan. A long boring road through the Betpak-Dala desert which was roughly 440km without anything in between. 

For once I had to siphon off petrol into a bottle for extra capacity. I could probably do the distance running the fuel to its fumes, but it was always good to be extra careful now that I am traveling solo again. For info the bike had a 15 liter tank capacity and that would give me roughly 400km.

I siphon off 1.5 liter of fuel into a water bottle and top up the fire kit fuel bottle 0.5 liter full. That morning I refueled again at Kyzylorda making sure the tank was really-really overflowing full and then set off to run the distance crossing the vast Betpak-Dala desert.

Siphoning Petrol for the Long Journey Crossing Betpak-Dala Desert

Betpak - Dala Desert 

The initial journey was bad roads and looking just on my left was a good-finished tarmac road not yet open. After nearly 20km of bad road getting on my nerve especially when there was a perfect asphalt running parallel, I decided to go off-road to find a path onto the tarmac. 

These construction workers really blocked up all the path to the unopened road but that was for cars and lorry. Nothing a small bike squeezing though can’t handle I thought.

Trying to go through the blockade, it was soft powdery sand. So soft that my bike sink in and got stuck. I had to dig out the powder and find some good sand for traction then fully open throttle on first gear to get out of the hurdle and then I was finally on good tarmac so it was worth it I thought.

Got Stuck Trying to jump the Soft Powder Barricade

Finally Good Tarmac 

Fixed Puncture using Screw Type Sealing Kit

I noticed then that I had a flat rear tire. The rear tire was ok before trying to jump the barricade to get onto the tarmac so somehow inside the soft sand I got a punctured tire. 

It was my first time throughout the journey and also a first time having to use the tire puncture repair kit that I carried around. I had the screw on type repair kit which was not common and I did not know if it would work. Luckily it worked like a charm and within minutes I was back on the road.

All the effort to hop onto the unopened road allowed me to travel a good 5km before it was the end of the road. I had to backtrack and it was back onto the shitty construction grade road. Soon the construction road ended after 20km and they allowed us onto the new finished tarmac road so all was good. 200Km of good roads and open field desert with nothing in between.

First 200km of Good Roads along the Betpak-Dala Desert

No shade no rest-stop so I had to push on until I saw something like a trucker stop which turned out to be actually the road construction workers rest stop. 

I got some drinking water from them and after a small talk revealed that further ahead the good asphalt road would disappear only to be replaced by rubbish off-road of a total 200km all the way to Zhezqazghan.

The roads were horrible. Worse than the Pamir Highway in fact and while not totally un-rideable, it was still a slow process costing precious time. I ended up having to ride at night to get to Zhezqazghan. 

At sunset I contemplated just camping in the desert but with all the water I had been drinking along the way, I had insufficient water to camp out for the night.

200km of Bumpy Roads along the Betpak-Dala Desert

Ride through the night but a little break for sunset

Push on riding in the dark night slowly and somewhere 100km before Zhezqazghan when I stopped for a water break, I noticed that there was petrol leaking. I had a leak somewhere from the petrol tank with 100km to go and fuel gauge already blinking while 50km ago I had just poured in 1.5 liters of spare fuel.

Fortunately, I managed to reach Zhezqazghan by 10pm then scrambled to find a hotel and then it was food and sleep. The next morning, I finally had time to really check the petrol leakage situation. With the tank nearly empty, it was still leaking petrol, so it was time to do some MacGyver stint to fix it.

The First Indication of Fuel Leakage at Betpak-Dala Desert

I walked around Zhezqazghan to buy some supplies getting advice from messages on Instagram and what-app from friends. A bar of soap, a pack of chewing gum, two-part quick setting epoxy glue, sandpaper and epoxy putty. The last one was pure luck that I found the auto shop selling epoxy putty and decided to just buy it.

Back at the hotel and I knew it was going to be a two-night stay for the whole day would be spent just striping and trying to work out a solution to fix the leak. Stripping all baggage and then the seat, the source of the leak was obvious with a hairline crack seeping fumes of petrol slowly.

Quick DIY shopping for Patching the Petrol Leak

Stripped The Bike, Found the Leak and Sealed with a Bar of Soap

Double Down with Quick Setting Glue 

I sanded off the paint to get a better look and then it was time to see if the trick taught by Mechanic Moh back in 2018 in Langkawi would work. Rub in a bar of soap where the leak was and almost instantly the leaking fuel stopped. 

It was like magic and I rubbed in more soap before fully cleaning up the excess. No more leak. I then proceeded to apply the two-part super glue to further make a seal for the hairline crack and then finally applied epoxy putty to hopefully hold everything together

Repack the bike and took it out for refuel and as I headed back to the hotel after lunch, I noticed it was leaking again. I removed everything and re-do the patch but this time without the epoxy putty. The amount of two-part super glue was applied more generously, and I left it there for the next day.

Moving on from Zhezqazghan

Checking out the next day I thought of going to Zhoshi Khan Mausoleum which was 50km away but 20km in while at the traffic light, I noticed a little petrol leak. Double back to the hotel but along the way I picked up a variety of epoxy glue. Stripped the bike again and the leak was subtle but going through a crack from the two-part super glue.

My theory is that while I could seal the leak with soap and glue, the vibration and bad road when riding the bike cause the temporary glue seal to crack and the hairline crack that the soap is applied is compress and stretch making the petrol able to leak through slowly again.

This time round I was no longer using normal super glue nor was I going to use epoxy putty. I was straight up going for metal epoxy which was two parts with resin and hardener. While all the other glue only cost me 1000 tenge this little epoxy liquid was going to cost me 5000 tenge. 

Redo the seal and now letting it cure hoping that tomorrow this patch would last me 20000km all the way back to Malaysia.

Traveled on: Aug 2024