Buying motorcycles for Patagonia
 

We are planning a motorcycle trip through Patagonia throughout November and need some help/advice around procuring bikes.

Originally, we contemplated shipping our bikes down there, but for the two and a half weeks that we would be there it seemed prohibitively expensive. So we looked into one-way rentals. After adding up the fees for insurance and the massively exorbitant 'drop-off fee' ($990 USD per bike), we are considering buying bikes (and trying to sell them at the end).


Could anyone point us in the right direction or toward a reputable dealership that may have some used inventory? There are 3 of us going and our Spanish is poor at best.

Better yet, if anyone is selling an adventure bike between Santiago and Orsono, we would be very interested!


Thanks in advance!

Maybe you've already ridden a lot of places in the northern half of South America, so you want something new, but during our trip from Canada to Patagonia , Patagonia was easily the least interesting place to ride, IMHO. For that kind of time frame there are a number of places that you can rent bikes in Peru, Columbia of Ecuador.

Interesting. I haven't asked too many people who have done it before, we just thought Patagonia looked amazing. What made it so boring? Or rather, what was better about the northern half of South America?

Depends on the kind of riding and the kind of roads you like, of course. Chile from Orsono south on the Caratera Austral was really interesting but once we crossed the border into Argentina, it's pretty much nothing but flat windy plains for thousands of kilometres.

I have to full concur with the above comments. I was down south in 2001/2 and it was fun. Because it was all ripio and undeveloped.

Now (I was in Sth Am from Oct 15 to July 16) just days leading into weeks of riding in a straight line in a howling gale. Every hamlet a tourist trap or a pointless excuse for a place for people to live.

And very expensive, in comparison to Bol, Ecu, Peru, Col. I regret wasting so much time and money down there.

As people say, it all depends on what you want to see and do. After riding North to South, but bypassing the CA in 2010/11, we went back and hired two bikes in 2015.

We spent a month riding from Santiago (why pay drop off fees ???), you can zig zag on and off the R5 through the lake district. The CA all the way to Bernard O'Higgins was as much fun as I imagined it would be.

Yes, crossing into Argentina was a bit of a shock (roads, wind and lack of money), but there are still plenty of places to see. We opted to drop back into Chile and do the CA north (we could get money there).

HU Traveller Two Pegs to Patagonia's Ride Tale

There is off course the Torres Del Paine, but we had been there before.

If you go, rent. (Ride Chile are ok), you will waste far too much time buying/selling.

Hell, it is only money ! :-)

I am in Chaiten Patagonia right now, boring?????? That's an interesting opinion

I'll let you know when I get a little further Sth but it's all good so far. It depends what you are looking for. I just love the frontier feeling

I have a US plated Tiger 800XC ABS for sale in the forum, available Mid Dec in Santiago

Glen

advice and info
 

The Chilean side of Patagonia (Chile ruta-7) is absolutely more interesting and beautiful than the Argentine side. Its likely one of the most beautiful places to travel in South America.
Chile Ruta-7 or the Carretera Austral is mile after mile of amazing sights and off bike activities. It is truly special.
Southern Chile boast a long list of amazing things. Islands, lakes, Volcanos Rivers... If you take your time and do it right you will never have a boring day.
Raft the Futalefu river.
Take a glacier hike, there are several along the Carretera Austral.
Eat at all the small family owned restaurants. Chilean food is actually really good. Read up on the famous dishes and try them all.

While Argentina has a lot to offer it is now in really hard times. 10 years of what amounted to bad economic policy has put Argentina in a weird place. Gas is not always a guarantee, the ATMs limit withdraws, food is not always the best and not everything is available. Its just kinda a mess right now and the southern part will be worse than any of the major cities in the north.

Ruta 40 (Argentina's southern road) is flat and windy, but if that was a shock to anyone who went, then they did not read up and do the research. Its not exactly a secret the Argentine side of Patagonia is a windy alto plano.

However if you do not want to ride Ruta 40 you can take a ferry around the Southern Ice field south of O-Higgins down to Puerto Natales. If you want to make it to Tierra del Fuego or Torres del Piane that is. Which I would recommend 100%. Both Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine park are amazing places. Another world even. I have traveled here and I cannot say enough about southern Chile and Patagonia.

If you wanted to ride all of the Carretera Austral and then take the ferry down to Puerto Natales it can be done with a little back tracking, but that is not a bad thing because it all so amazing to ride.

If you want to earn you Ruta 40 sticker than have at it. I will say this. I left Bariloche Argentina once in the afternoon driving my Toyota Land Cruiser to cross back into Chile and it damn near blew us off the road several times. So on a bike almost all riding MUST be done early in the morning cause the winds pick up in the afternoon making it almost impossible to ride a moto.


Some advice would be not to rush southern Chile. Make a good plan for your route and have fun!!

Well I rode Paso Roballos yesterday from near Cochrane Chile to Ruta 40 Argentina, good dirt road and fantastic scenery. It must be some of the best I have seen this year. The Chile Border staff even gave us coffee and freshly baked bread, just great people

Money was hard to access on the Argentinian side but we got around it, just

Rode in to El Calafate this afternoon, let the journey continue ........

Nice!!! Yeah Paso Roballos is amazing and Parque Patagonia is beautiful with lots of active wildlife. The Chilean Carabineros are super nice at that pass we had a great experience on both the Chilean and Argentine border stops there.
Congrats and be safe!!

ameen did you already planned your trip to chile argentinia and Patagonia?? I am planning a trip, it must be amazing!! it's a bit last minute to plan everything :-) but it must be an amazing region. I will also take a tent along. How are your preparations going? kind regards, Anita

"While Argentina has a lot to offer it is now in really hard times. 10 years of what amounted to bad economic policy has put Argentina in a weird place. Gas is not always a guarantee, the ATMs limit withdraws, food is not always the best and not everything is available. Its just kinda a mess right now and the southern part will be worse than any of the major cities in the north."

Absolute tosh...it isn't California....but the above comments are a wild exageration

My experience is the opposite, Chile has been gutted by a colapse in copper prices and you can see that their road infrastructure is a mess. They build so slowly that the roads are falling apart faster than they can be replaced.
Road: Arica to Bolivia, carretera austral; where not paved is hit and miss, further the road builders have no consideration for fellow citizens and don't post warnings of road works so getting stuck for 3 hours while they are dynamiting the road ahead is not unusual..

Comparing Chilean food with Argentine food is just stupid, unless you are addicted to salmon.
Notes from diary whilst in Chile...
Dinner pizza and wine, food now even more stupidly expensive unless you eat at a stand in the plaza. Restaurants (in Chile) are idiotically expensive and have a snobbish attitude so I can only suppose the the locals seldom go out which may be the case as they do dress up.

ATM's in argentina are limited to U$S 200 per transaction, how many transactions and total amount per day is up to your bank.

Gas stations ARE far apart, always fill up....Argentine patagonia is larger than the whole of Chile, and it is empty, keep that in mind as you scoot past any gas station

in other words, there is not anyone selling an adventure bike between Santiago and Orsono.:(doh
anyway, enjoy your trip. "Don't worry. Beeee happy!"bier
and ...

"suerte!"

Wild exaggeration?? Those were 100% my actual experiences in Argentina. Without a doubt they are going though really hard times, and it can be felt.

I am not sure when you passed through Chile or Argentina but I was traveling on both sides just this year, in February. So my info is pretty current. YPF absolutely was having a hard time keeping gas in the stations as we went to several which were out of gas completely or had just been refilled and had a long line.

The ATM limited withdraws, it happened. They also would only accept VISA. nothing else, whichj if you do not have a VISA CC makes life hard. Especially when they limit cash withdraws. Not sure why you are getting up in arms. If you are Argentine, which I doubt with your use of the word "tosh", you would agree that Argentina is having troubles.

As far as your negative comments about Chile. you pointed out two areas of Chile that are known for having dirt roads and that is part of the reason many folks want to ride here, The Carretera Austral is an amazing part of the world and makes for great riding. I am sorry you got stopped near Cerro Castillo for the road work. But that section of Chile Ruta 7 was the only road construction I passed through the whole time I traveled there. Its a real easy fix, ride that section early or late. Rio Tranquilo will be there no matter the time.

As far as food goes, if you know what to order in Chile the food is great. It sounds to me like you wanted or expected something different.

Sucks for you.