pricey shipping to peru
 

just a little experience here in peru on having parts shipped in from the u.s. my wife´s rear shock went out and we had to have a new one shipped in from the states.

the shock was just over 800 bones.

dhl shipping 240

import taxes 266

dhl price for filling out custom forms, another 100 bucks. it cost over 600 just to get the shock here.

i'd tried the warranty claim, even found on the customs website where goods coming in for 'adventure travel' are exempt. their answer was that's only for goods you carry across. flown in...to bad.

hindsight...i'd have done without or modified something local. that or flown home for xmas and brought it back with me. i'm telling myself that by sharing my stupidity so some other gringo won't make the mistakes i've made will some how bring me good karma.

which bike?
 

On which bike was your wife?

Sorry you had to pay through the nose!

The "My rear shock broke" story seems to pop up with frightening regularity in these boards. Good warning for anyone planning a trip to get ready for it!

I definitely intend to replace my rear shock before flying to South America.

mi esposa´s
 

my wifes 02f650gs.....for some reason, her bike is taking a beating and mine 01 dakar has had little problems.

we replaced it with a wilburs....looks great and the smile is back on my woman's face...

thanks!
 

Another F650GS with the rear shock breaking then! As I feared! It seems to be a big weakness there!
I will be on a 04 F650GS and my husband on a Dakar, like you guys, starting from Santiago, early May. I was thinking that changing the rear shock in both bikes would be too expensive but really if anything, it could save us cash and a lot of hassle!
Good luck for the rest of your trip!

And the usual tricks dont work either
 

I had parts sent from UK to Peru via DHL.

No charges from DHL for the paperwork but still screwed me.

The parts were shipped with a 'proper invoice' for the parts with a, ahem, adjusted price but that didnt help, they looked up the prices using the part numbers to figure out the tax.