I'm posting this review of Around The Block Moto Adventures (ATBMA) as I have not had the greatest experience with this company or Toby Shannon. There are only one or two other neutral/negative reviews out there, but i don't think they are fair or lay out the facts clearly enough. Also, I know some people have had positive experiences with this business. From what I've read Toby seems capable of organising and leading tours (possibly to the detriment of the sales/buyback side of his business). But my experience buying a motorbike Toby has "prepared" has not been wholly positive.

Toby makes many claims on the website about prepping the bikes for your South American adventure and improving the quality control on the cheap Chinese bikes. In my experience his quality control seems to be lacking. These are the problems i found with the bike:

• Loc-tite not on any fasteners at all (except 2 headlight mount bolts, which were different on left and right sides, i suspect because one vibrated out and a previous owner replaced it and added loc tite)
  
  *Some fasteners missing from day one
  
  *Engine oil over filled. Sump plug and all filters missing washers and felt too firmly torqued.
  
  *Low quality fasteners (ATBMA claims to replace any low quality fasteners)
  
  *Stripped thread on crash bar mount
  
  *USB charger not wired properly - bad connection means i have to push down on the wires to maintain a circuit. Additionally the part is very cheap and low quality. There were also two fuses of different power ratings in series, and both buried under 3 layers of electrical tape.
  
  *Gear lever advertised on website not fitted
  
  *Hopefully all the other maintenance that i can't easily check has been done, but my confidence has been shaken by the above

Toby says he has spoken to his mechanics and this shouldn't happen again.

Additionally i don't believe his communication is up to scratch (both via email, and the information on the web page).

I requested some custom pannier frames. Toby asked for dimensions of my bags, and I replied with the max XYZ dimensions. He replied shortly after saying “[I'll] mock up some possibilities and take some photos and you can decide on the angle, etc”. I emailed a couple of weeks later asking for an update and he replied with some photos of the welded frames and a bill. From the photos it was immediately clear the frames were too big, and that proved to be the case 2 months later when Amy had bruises covering her calves from where they were hitting her. We had to pay Toby for the clearly problematic frames and then hire someone else to chop then up and reweld them with more sensible dimensions.

The other area which was lacking was Toby's suggestions that the bike would be ready to cross borders, without any mention of the realities of the situation. It's actually technically illegal to cross borders as a foreigner on a Peruvian bike without a carta poder. Admittedly it seems to be, for the most part possible, but was not a smooth experience for me, which Toby did nothing to assist with (any help at all figuring out how to leave with a carta poder would have been tremendously valuable). He has said he has come (/is coming?) to an arrangement with customs to make this process smoother.

On the same note, when buying a “made-new” bike there is no mention that any fines or customs problems which the bike has accrued from previous owners will stay with the bike. No amount of changing oil or greasing bearings will solve this. My experience involved having to mess around with the customs for 4 days (ie 4 days mostly spent in a customs office). Toby did help put me in contact with the previous owner, which did allow me to provide the customs agent with some necessary information.

Admittedly, regarding borders/customs, i probably should have been more aware of these risks. However I think Toby should make the risks more clear to prospective customers.

Other things:

• He says he sends you the ownership documents, but instead told me where to go to pay for them and get them printed, which entailed navigating the Peruvian "DMV"
  
  *The tyres were low quality and the front was fitted backwards “for rainy season”. I feel like an idiot for not questioning him on this at the time as it is a ludicrous suggestion. If you fit it the correct way round you get more grip when braking and it doesn't wear out as quickly or with a worrying wear pattern. Toby's argument is it reduces the chance of the front wheel washing out in cornering, but personally (even if this were true) I'd rather go a bit slower round corners and have more braking power when i really need it.
  
  *He will try to sell you a coach ticket from Lima and charge you a 50% fee for the privilege. This felt cheeky considering i had just sent 1000s of dollars. (I recommend using the "redbus" website and getting the most expensive ticket for 33% less than Toby's offer).

Toby has at least responded to my emails, but only offered excuses in return, not even so much as an apology, or, in the case of the mechanical problems, any admission that his business may have made any mistakes.

Finally, I know of one other person who's had a similar experience, both regarding mechanical competence and border problems. I can post some of the details if people would like them, but they said they didn't really want to get involved with this review.

Admittedly i don't only have complaints, so for balance i will include a few positives:

• The bike was pretty much ready when i arrived in Huanuco, only the USB charger i had requested was not fitted but they did that the next day (albeit poorly)
  
  *The Peruvian "DMV" offices aren't the easiest places to navigate, but with ATBMA it all went pretty smoothly
  
  *The buy back thing is useful. The other guy (who i mentioned had problems with his bike) has taken it back to Toby and as far as i know he will be getting the full amount back. Additionally, the “selling” process is again very simple. Because Toby's selling bikes so far above market rate, if you do buy a bike off him the only way to recover a good proportion of your initial outlay is to sell it back to him*. For this reason, and the added simplicity, I intend to sell my bike back to Toby, so hopefully his business doesn't suffer too much from this review. (As an aside, I do wonder if the buy back agreement does something to reduce the neutral/negative reviews that get posted on the net about his business).
  
  *The custom racks were well made, even if they were too big. I had the crash bars modified as i didn't fit, and that was done very well and in reasonable time.
  
  *Toby gives you a “welcome” talk. It felt a little rushed but there were a few useful tidbits i learned from him.

To reiterate. I know a lot of people have had good experiences with Toby, so he must be doing something right some of the time. With me though, things have gone wrong and Toby hasn't impressed me with his response.


To summarise the above: If you are buying a bike off ATBMA for the purchase/buy back scheme i think it does make sense. If you are primarily using them for their quality control or mechanical "expertise" I'd strongly recommend considering all of your options.

Tags for SEO:
Around the block Moto Adventures, ATBMA, purchase and buy back, Toby Shannon, aroundtheblockmotoadventures.com, charapashanperu


*In b4 toby says he facilitates resale and doesn't actually buy the bikes back. Whenever i have mentioned "buyback" (quoting from the website) he always mentions this. Toby, I know what the deal is, I'm just using your own lingo.