Hi there,
I'm planning to travel around South America starting around this Sep giving myself up to a year to do it but in that time I wouldnt mind going north through the pan american...

Anyhow, I'm considering either shipping my australian bike over or purchasing one over there...can anyone provide advise as to an easier option? Ive heard lots of people buy over there and sell on return of their adventures, while I'm not sure if I'd end up in SA...might be central or even US...hence not sure what is a cheaper option

Thanks in advance for any pointers

Hi Tomdan

I can not give you the cheapest option, but what I can give you is the quote I got to ship my bike to Valparaiso in Oktober. I have decided to take my own bike, because I think it would be a big task to find the bike you want. I have bought a bike in the USA that worked well, but they speak english there.

So, I ship my bike with Dean Freight International LTD. You have them in Aus as well. It gets shipped from Auckland to Valparaiso. I get a original box from a BMW dealer and bring it to Auckland to a warehouse. That saves about $ 1000.

Here I list the costs as of my quote:

Customs Fees $ 125.000
OTHC (dont know what that is) $ 66.00
Insurance $ 626.00
Courier Fee $ 70.00
Shipping Line Doc Fee $ 50.00
Port Security $ 15.00

Ocean Freight $ 710.00

Total $ 1662.00

Thats all in $NZ

You can save some on the insurance bud they don't recommend it.

In Valparaiso I had very hight port costs quoted, bud I have now a quote from Martina from

villa kunterbunt valparaiso chile

It is 180.00 Euros. I don't know if that covers everything. They import a lot of bikes and 4x4 from Germany. And I heard only good things from them.

Now you still have to decide which way to go. I hope this helps you a bit.

I will be there after Christmas and going south, so I will see you on the road somewhere.

__________________
To go where this man has not gone before!

If you want to have the option as going far as the USA I would probably ship your current bike out. It is tricky to legally sell a bike you bought in Chile elsewhere in S.America. Of course, it can be done!

As for buying in South America, Chile, Peru and Colombia are probably the best bets. It depends where you want to start I suppose. Chile is harder these days but still possible. See the sticky thread by Lachy on how to buy a motorcycle in Chile.

Consider that bikes bigger than 250cc tend to be very expensive in Latin America.

You can have a lot of fun on a 250 cc bike in South America. For every time that I struggled to pick up my 800 cc bike or turned back from sandy track, I wished I had a lighter bike.

Yes, on the long boring highways along coast Peru or northeast Brazil, I was glad to have a big bike. The same big bike wasn't an advantage in many places. And the large frame only encouraged me to take too much stuff. Much more than I REALLY needed.

Getting the plain and simple "local bike" is the same bike that every corner mechanic can fix and part are both cheap and easier to find.

You can buy a Chinese knock off bike for the price of shipping your bike one way. It is not clear to me that Chile is the easiest place to buy a motorcycle and ride it out of the country...

__________________
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

Hi tomdan,
I'm heading back to the US to collect my bike and take it to (probably) Chile and then head south to TDF and back the east coast for three months.

I'll hopefully meet up with other travellers for parts of the trip - maybe even you!

Matt