hello
after my "missed" world tour :-), i m back in paris, should be working soon and plan to go to patagonia for a month in january/february.
it d be too costly to ship my new bike (r80g/s), i smashed my old one (r100gs during my "missed" world tour).

i m flying somewhere in south america from paris.

where should i land ?

where could i rent a bike (cheap prices and good choice) ?

which bike do you recommend there : light one (like dr350, xr400) or even lighter (250) or something more heavy (like bmw gs) ?
what are the rental prices there ?

which visas should i make in advance ?

in a month time, can i drive to patagonia then andes mountains ?

cheers
g day
http://vincent.danna.free.fr/

where should i land ?

Wherever you can get a bike.

You have a bit of a problem. If you want to go between countries it is very unlikely that any company will rent you a machine.

There is a place in Bs As Argentina that I came across hiring Transalps for 70USD a day. A bit much eh? I doubt if they would let you out of the country though (and this is necessary if you want to go to the southern tip). You could have a lovely time just touring Argentina however.

which bike do you recommend there?

Depends where you go. The southern countries have fast roads and long distances in the plains. The Andes are slower going. Bolivia is much slower. No right answer I am afraid. Up to you.

To be blunt, your problem is finding anything at all.

In a month time, can i drive to patagonia then andes mountains ?

Yes, no problem. It'll be lovely.

A suggestion: there is a KLR250 for sale in Bs As in January owned by an English couple. It has done a few miles (a good number of them with me) so you might be able to get a reasonable price.
A few pics here(it is the green one Rachel is on): http://www.b13media.com/lois/journal_20030830.html
http://www.b13media.com/lois/journal_20030811.html

and more recently...
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tst...062.php#001062

I doubt whether they are going to bother shipping it home. Maybe you could make them an offer? (I have no interest in this deal btw) It is all set up for travel. I can't say what state it is in though. Worth a thought. see http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000512.html

We are in Nantes. Not far.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/kennedy/

Simon

thanx a lot for the info
i got in touch with them
but i have no job yet, so i ll have to wait to take those holidays
cheers
happy trails

i can finally go end of 2005 :-)
same same ... : look for bike to rent/buy.

For so short time and money also, I m not flying with my bike.

Therefore, what would be the "best" bike to choose to ride overthere ? I was thinking about getting a local bike, like a 125 cc coursier/messenger bike for example (easy to fix anywhere, I won t have much time to wait for spare parts !), maybe something like Honda xr250, Suzuki dr350, bigger (?).

What s the most popular bike overthere at which price (for a "ok" second hand) ?

Shall I rent or buy (and then sell before I leave or just leave it there for other people after me) ? budget reasons and also paperwork reasons (see under)

If I rent or buy (will I have enough time to register it properly with my name on it ? I don t think so!), would it be a problem to cross the borders ?

cheers

i just received this info :

" in Chile everything is very fast with the papers, only that you have to know is that if you want sell the motorcycle in Argentina, this point is verbiden there, they can't buy used motorcycles. I don't know in other countries, but in Chile, Argentina and Perù, they have computers in the borders, and if you go to these countries with a motorcycles and then you want go to your country without the motorcycle you may be can have a big problem by customs. Is better that you ask before everything in the consulat of each country."

anyone could confirm ? if i can cross borders without problems / being illegal etc ... selling the bike is an other thing.

any other ideas welcome, cheers