Buying a bike and everything that goes with it_help wanted
 

hey there,

maybe you can help me out here...

here a short explaination of the situation..
My girlfriend and I are planning to travel in the Americas. I have some experience driving and and international permit (just finished a trip from thailand to belgium on a ttr250), she doesnt has a licence...

We wanna buy 2 small secondhand motorcross/enduro bikes (400's) somwhere in the americas, for keeping the costs low..we are on a very small budget...

Questions:
1. wich is the easiest and cheapest country to do this?

I heard its better in north america (Los Angeles and San Diego) and that you need to make up an temporarly adress, insurance can be hard for motorcrossbikes...
Is it really to difficult in South America?

2.If we have once a registered bike (from us or can or...), can we go everywhere we want in the Americas? and sell it later for example in the south? or do we have to drive it back?

3.I heard my girlfriend can also go for her motorcycle licence in the US. anybody experience with that?

If you have any other ideas let me know.
It all seems quiet difficult to me. just want to find the cheapest thing to do. maybe its in the end better that we ship here from belgium, because we dont need any carnet at all...

any advice more then welcome...

greetz and see you on the road
Jeanne&Niels

A bike on US plates will enable you to go everywhere in S America. You will have to get it back to the states if you want to sell it though (there is a small chance of selling elsewhere to another traveller, but only a small one).

Don't worry about insurance - you buy that on the border as you enter each country.

Simon

I can recommend a bike for you: the Honda Falcon. 400cc, cute as a button, light, sexy (as you can tell, I'm not very technical. They come in good colours too.)

Have a look:
http://www.motorbikes.be/en/Honda/2005/NX4%20Falcon/

They're built in Brazil, and are reasonably common there... no problem with servicing & parts... and there are Honda garages in pretty much every country, I'd have thought?

I bought and sold my Falcon in Brazil. It certainly helps if you have some of the language, but I found a bikedealer with some English, and most of the sale is handled by a 'despachante' anyway (for Brazilians as well as foreigners.) A little slight of hand with residency and I had all the papers needed to buy, take the bike out of the country and back again, and to sell.

This was in 2001.. let me know if there are any other questions you have.

--Mike

hey mike,
thanks a lot for the reply. The bike looks quiet okay but i cant read in spanish..have some questions for you:
How many miles did you drove on the bike? wich problems did you encounter. Is it good offroad?
and also important: what did you pay for it?
Is this the only good bike available there?
greetz
Niels

Hey, found the brazilian Honda site. found the NX4 falcon also. Yep, still 4600 euros for it. unfortunally thats to much money for me..do you think its easy to buy a secondhandbike there?
greetz
niels

Niels

RTeally sorry - missed yr questions here. Am I too late to reply? I'll watch this yr thread like a hawk from now on!

My bike was secondhand - a year old, serviced by a Honda dealer and sweet as a bird. Plenty of dealers across the country, too, so sales and servicing shouldn't be a problem. In fact, the only problem I had was the Patagonian winds...

--Mike