The transport verses buy decision has many dimensions. I want to ride my bike, the one that fits me and that I have set up just so. Touring seat, tall after market wind screen, risers on handle bar, GPS installed, crash bars, bash plate, panniers, hand protectors...all the crap that is just right for this Goldie Locks. I take my time setting up the bike and we get along great. I know what to expect, no surprises or time getting the hang of new equipment. I dread shopping for big ticket items. Buying a motorcycle in a foreign country, with language issues, dealing with paperwork processing...not for me. Hats off to those do it successfully. Buying a foreign plated bike could be the trick, but it all depends on the timing of finding a seller when you are in the market. PS: would you sell the bike at the end of your trip? A friend of mine did it, but he was in no hurry and planned to ship his bike home when he got a good offer.
There are two shipping methods: air and sea. Before closing the book on shipping your bike, contact a shipping agent and get a quote. It might be more affordable than you expect.
Here are pictures of my route planning. Points of interest based on places I had read about on ride reports, then I connected dots as a rough plan. Having a rough plan let me calculate distances and approximate the number of travel days. I thought the trip would take 4 months before working out the route in some detail. Afterward it was obvious the trip would take more like 6 months, then I added a Caribbean leg for good measure and a side trip to Florida on the home stretch...9 months in total.
 ...and this is the actual route (yellow lines indicate boat or airplane.) I decided to skip the Amazon as the wet season was already started and at the time I didn't have the level of off road experience I felt I should have.
9 months traveling and I still missed big sections of the Amazon and central Argentina. Time flies when you are having fun. Now I have to go back.
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Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.
Blogs: Peter's Ride
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