Hi everyone,

I`m looking to buy a bike sometime within the next month or so. I`m currently in Peru but from what I`ve read, I`ve been put off buying something here as it seems unlikely that I`d be able to get a reasonable price for it before I head home from Buenos Aires (I`m not sure how easy it will be to cross borders,too).

So, the plan is to fly to either Bs As or Santiago quite soon and buy something there. I have one hour of motorbiking experience so don`t want to buy anything too powerful just yet, hence the 250cc. I`m not planning a huge trans-America trip either, would be happy to just get confident on the bike and ride through bits of Chile, Argentina and Bolvia. I`m also on a fairly tight budget (I don`t want to spend more than 1500$US).

Here in Peru, things like Honda XL200`s seem pretty popular, does anyone know if it`s the same in Arg and Chile? And what i might pay for a second hand one still in good shape?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
Cheers,
Matt

P.S. Before anyone points out the other post about a bike being sold which exactly matches my specification, I think I`m right in saying that the ad was posted in 2003.