motorbiking thru Chile & Argentina
 

I am interested in motorbiking thru Chile & Argentina. I want to do some trekking as well. What brands of bikes will I find used for sale? CC's? Street\dirt? How much should I expect to spend? I am hoping to keep it under $1000 USD. Is insurance required (no debating pro/no ins., please) Licence? Crossing from argentina & back is easy? Gas prices? Maintenance? How about camping? Road quality? Crossing into Peru?

Any advice appreciated.

Hey,
well, when we rode through Agrentina and Chile we actually did not see many big bikes. We saw mainly 125ccm from the police. But it is certainly posible to buy bigger ones. We even saw a new Africa Twin in Vaplparaiso. However, they might be a little bit more exensive.
Usually you will find them only in bigger cities.
Road conditions in Chile and normally Argentina are quite good and it just depends on the time of the year if all the passes are open. We did the following passes: Santiago-Mendoza on top gravel, but there is a tunnel completely paved, Paso San Francisco (take gas for 500km with you, since no gas station there), some gravel, Paso del agua negra sometimes gravel road, Paso Sico (also Gravel road). Then into Bolivia, which I do not recommend when you are not equipt with a good bike. The connetion between Chile and Peru is made of good roads (border after Arica) as well as the main roads in Peru. When visiting Cusco, take road from Arequipa to Juliaca and then to cusco. All in very good condition, quite new.

We were asked in Aregtnina for a insurance but we just showed them a invalid paper in english from our insurance in Europe. Since they could not read it, they let us go.

In case of more questions, let me know.
Burnout1

looking for some info too :-)
see http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000653.html
if you have same / different / more info
cheers

Well,
in case you aslo want to do some trekking I can recommend you to visit Arequipa. From there you will have the opportunity to climb to the 6075m high Volcano Chachani. We did it and it was worth the 65Dollars for transport, guide and equipment we had to pay for.
Also in Bolivia this is possible. I recommend also the Springs of Puritama near San Pedro de Atacama. You will find them easily when heading in direction of the geysiers. Geysiers are also recommendable. But I heard, that the Geysiers "Sol de manana" in Bolivia (not that far away shall even be nicer!

You could also visit Colca canyon from Arequipa (Peru). Which you acctually can do by bike and trek then from one of the little villages trough that canyon.

Camping is usually no problem (mainly in Argetina and Chli no problem at all). But if your are camping does not matter which region, stay apart from any village and stay in the nature, so that none can see you, when passing. Thats what we did and therefor never had problems.
In Bolivia and Peru we usually used the very cheap hostals or alochamientos, where we also could park our bikes.

All the best
Burnout1

Any plans on where you want to travel to resp. where you intend enter South America?

In Santiago de Chile I could give you the address of a guy servicing BMW bikes. He might be able to help you finding a bike. What you need in Chile is to get a "tax number" before registering a vehicle. Should be no probs.

Chile & Argentina are easy to travel. Little crime, fairly good roads, great landscape esp. along the Andes east & west. Also lots of possibilities for hiking and mountaineering. Absolutely stunning are hikes in the NPs Torres del Paine (Chile), Los Glaciares (Arg) and Mt. Fitzroy (Arg). The Carretera Austral in the southern parts of Chile is enjoyment pure. We camped mostly in the bush with a small fire, a huge steak and a tetrapak wine for each ;-)

The north turns more and more arid as you approach the Atacama desert. The passes across the Andes go over 4.000m. Also fantastic landscapes.

Hans

In India, you can easily get an Enfield 500 or 350cc off a tourist for $400 - 800 usd. You do not get any hassle from authorities about registration of ins. They are cheap to fix and run. You can usually unload them quite quickly at the end of your trip. It's also eay to meet folks to ride with. Any hopes of finding a similar situation in chile?