The Iron Angels are a bike club in Vladivostok. Seoul Joe told us to look them up, so we did. We met up with Ilya II, who took us across the city to their clubhouse. It was a fairly stressful trip as we were following a car through gridlocked streets. On a bike it’s really hard not to filter through traffic!

We had the engines off and paddled the bikes for half a kilometre, moving over for an ambulance to come through at walking pace. Vladivostok isn’t a good place to have a heart attack! We finally made it to the club house, after making sure Adbang got on the main M60.

Quite an impressive pad, we met the chairman, German and a couple of other members. I had a quick blast on their drum kit before Ilya II and I rode off to the local bike shop on my bike. I wanted to do an oil change but hadn’t got any oil. At the shop I managed to get some new rear brake pads as well as oil. My bike was appreciated by the mechanics, as was the trip! I got the 15℅ club discount, every little helps.

Back at the clubhouse, Chip and Ken were chilling and shooting the breeze with German. I did an oil change but kept the pads, as there’s a few kms left in the old ones and it’s a 5 minute job to change them. (I love the new Kawasaki brake calliper design BTW). With the chain adjusted I’m good to go, for the next few thousand at least.

We were given stickers before we left, which now adorn the side panels – and contact numbers for the various chapters across Russia, who we’ll no doubt be looking up. It was great to meet like minded individuals with a passion for bikes. Thank you Iron Angels!