Epilogue: Our motorcycleless motorcycle trip of South America

First off, even though we didn’t have our motorcycles, yes, we’d do this trip again just with our day-packs. Sans the motorcycle helmets and some gear. Kathleen and I discovered how vary little we actually needed for 9-weeks in SoAm. If we weren’t carrying our helmets, bike-to-bike communications system, GPS systems, and a 4-pound folder full of motorcycle ownership paperwork, we would have been traveling way light.

We each only had a couple shirts, undergarments, and pants. We also had sandals and shoes with socks. Kathleen had some thermals and a light jacket. I had my rain parka. That was all. A few books, a small laptop, and some toiletries rounded out our load. We’ll travel with the same cargo in future trips to South America.

Regarding our bikes. Kawasaki KLR650’s. Well, they are still in the cargo boxes made to haul them to Bogota, Colombia. We recently moved out of Southern California and just kept the machines in the crates for safer shipping.

What would we do differently? We would ship the bikes out of the U.S. by boat rather than by air. If, . . .if we were to ship by air, we’d go into Canada or Mexico and ship from and back into either of those countries.

Since being back in the U.S., people have asked Kathleen and I why we didn’t buy or rent motorcycles in South America to complete our motorcycle trip. You can go to any motorcycle adventure touring web/blog site to read the running debates on renting or buying motorcycles in SoAm. We questioned people in both Colombia and Ecuador about renting or buying motorcycles. Finding places to rent motorbikes is not easy because not too many of those establishments exist, . . . yet.

Buying motorcycles in South America would be feasible. China is hitting the SoAm market with ‘throw-a-way’ motorcycles which look nice, however, South Americans are finding they get about 5,000 miles out of them before things go catastrophically wrong, requiring nearly the cost of a new bike to fix. SoAm bikes cost roughly $3,000 or less, but, the biggest you’ll find will have a 250cc engine. Furthermore, riding the bike across borders would be an added challenge. Both Colombians and Ecuadorans lamented neither country likes having the others’ purchases passing through. This can provide added hassles at borders along the way. Finally, once the trip is over, what to do with the bike? This was a biggy. In the case of Kathleen and I – bikes. Below are some considerations. All take some time – and remember: Kathleen and I only had 9-weeks.

The first, and simplest, is just walk away from the bikes. Chalk them up to the cost of the trip. Ride them to the airport and leave the keys in the ignition. Both Kathleen and I had a huge problem with this idea for a multitude of reasons.

The second, is sell the bikes when we’re through. People told us we’d be better off selling the bikes by returning the vehicles to the country where they were purchased.
In many SoAm countries, you cannot sell a vehicle purchased from another Latin American country. Legally, you can only sell the motorbike in the country of purchase.

Okay, third. Take the bikes home with us. Again, time would be a problem with exiting a SoAm country with such a purchase, as we don’t know what kind of tariffs and subsequent hassles would be laying in wait for us in the U.S.

All these options can be explored more in-depth, however, the simple matter is, the trip would be so much better on our very own motorcycles that we’ve been riding in the States for assorted adventures. We had been toiling away for hours preparing the machines for the trip; which was all part of the adventure! Furthermore, any motorbike purchased in a foreign country would have to be modified to haul all your stuff. Not a problem if you’ve only got day-packs. A problem if you’ve brought a bunch of camping gear. Remember too, that 250cc engine. So, we’ll be doin’ the BYOM (Bring Your Own Motorcycle) the next time we ride South America.

Final note about South America.

Go! You don’t need to sign-up for a tour. Get on-line, buy an airfare, take a taxi, ride a bus, and end up in some little town where you’ll sit on the plaza watching the going’s on wondering why the hell ya haven’t done this sooner.

Barrowing a phrase for a tourism poster in Colombia. “The only risk is not wanting to leave.”

Go!

Giddy up

Kathleen and Don