what are the roads like pan america
 

Guys,
I am planning a trip from alaska to punto arenas in chile. It is some time away yet though. What are the roads like down there? will i have to go on a big enduro type machine or will a road bike get me through?

Thanks guys

Long Way

You can get by just fine on a road bike. There's paved road pretty much all the way, with just the occasional short section of dirt, gravel, construction, etc.

The road conditions vary anywhere from pretty good to atrocious, the latter especially during rainy seasons.

In My experience,
For South America if you want to sight see etc. you would better equipped with a duel sport. Lots of the roads to the good sights are unpaved. Theres nothing worse than being unable to visit a site because you are under equipped.
Having said this if its your plan to just get there a road bike will suffice for S.A. I cannot speak to Central America yet

great news
 

Thanks guys. Whilst I am "up for it" i didn't fancy mundo enduro siberia crossing! We are taking 3 machines. I think we should all take the same so that we can carry less spares? what do you think guys?

I also am thinking something about 650 cc. I have to ship it and it needs to be quite good on fuel, we will be riding solo.

what do you experienced guys think?

Long Way

I purchased a KLR 650 and hope to do Chicago to Tierra Del Fuega in December. Have been to There (in a car) and was surprised to see alot of Ktm Bmw Klr s from north

Hi
 

I guess you won't do this, but you can get down to Nicaragua on a sports bike, the roads are pretty good all over and I drive semi-sporty cars down here without any problems. You might hit a bumpo or two, but as long as you hold sort-of legal speeds they won't be big enough to really bother you, as long as you stay on the main highway...
As soon as you get off it, you can get all the potholes you want.
I don't know how they do it, but some gravel roads are terrible even for a 4-wheel drive.

Rain is a killer since it fills up potholes so you don't see them. 6 years ago I rented a car and almost destroyed it in rain. Pothole of about 2 meters in length with 30-35 cms depth was not appreciated by this car in 90 km/h.
Airbags stings!

If you stick to major roads then go a gsx-r style bike. Would be fun to see someone not going on a 650 or BMW as almost everyone I see uses that.
I did meet one guy on the costa rican border who was riding a 150cc or something, he was cool!

Almost all paved in some fashion
 

Left Ushuaia Dec 26th and am presently just outside Mexico City. Ignoring roads under construction or repair, and ignoring about 10 million potholes, there is only 114 Kilometers of gravel/dirt road that can not be avoided. (Cerro Sombrero Chile to San Sebastion Argentina). Éverything else is paved in some fashion. And that includes visiting La Paz Bolvia and Cusco Peru. Granted, we limited ourselves to the main highways and we travelled in the dry season, but we had no difficulty traveling 2 up on a Harley. If you wanted to travel the secondary roads, or off road, you would need a bike designed for that.

South America is great. The people we met were fantastic.

Lend - 2 up on a Harley.