Hi Luke,

My advice is to cut your losses, get rid of the bike as quickly as possible and move on. Forget about parting it out. Forget about shipping it back to Bolivia. Just sell it as is where is and put it behind you. You've been in Mendoza long enough. Patagonia is calling.

I have seen people stuck for weeks trying to salvage a dead horse. Dumping money and time, waiting for parts, throwing good money into a questionable bike, waiting for parts to clear customs, paying extortionist 100 per cent customs duty, shipping fees, additional parts and mechanics time etc. etc.

Shoot it, put it out of it's misery and move on. Any mechanic who says the bottom end is fine with top end damage that severe is telling you what you want to hear. I am here to tell you the harsh truth. That motor is toast. And buying a used motor that would fit a nearly 20 year old thrashed Bolivian DR and shipping it to Mendoza would be expensive and time consuming. (Although it would appeal to the masochists among us.)

If I was in a similar situation with two months left on a killer vacation in South America, I would try to sell the dead DR for a few hundred bucks cash in Mendoza, take a bus to Santiago Chile where it's easy for a foreigner to buy a bike, get a cheap, disposable Honda CG125 or Suzuki GN125 for a few hundred bucks, ride down the Careterra Austral for a couple weeks until the final paperwork is done, cruise back up to the Registro Civil in Coihaique or Puerto Montt to pick up the final paper work and head over to Patagonia for a few weeks. Sell the bike cheap after cruising around for a few weeks and fly home.

I would do the bus tour backpacker routine only as an option of last resort. That's just me though.

If it's any consolation, it is not the first time someone has failed to check the dipstick and starved the top end. Thankfully, it's not a new expensive bike.

Kindest regards,
John Downs

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South America and back on a 250 Super Sherpa Minimalist Adventure http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=831076