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Advice required: Trip through the Americas with a 200cc Advice required: Trip through the Americas with a 200cc
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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 28 Mar 2010
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200cc Yumbo
Hey I bought a 200cc Yumbo in Guatemala and did a small tour of central america in 2008/9. It was a dual purpose type bike and was really good on the smaller dirt and gravel roads / hills. on the highways ion the flat it was really underpowered. On hills was great, high altitude in Guate bike had less power but still could overtake everything on the hills, even german cars!! The only problem I had in 5000k was the chain came off because it got too loose. I put it back on and kept the chain tight after that! Mechanics told me that the chinese bikes had very good engines but that usually the frames broke. Check the weld quality on the frames, get something which looks welded nicely. I sprayed all my weld joints with WD40 all the time, esp. in the rain to stop rust getting into the cracks. All in all was very happy. Am going to buy a 400cc Xingyue here in Chile now, only 2900USD new. Second hand and Jap is more than double, new Jap bikes more than triple!!
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  #2  
Old 28 May 2010
El Aleman - Jens's Avatar
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Honda CGL 125 - good everyday bike!
Hi,

I am very often in Peru, the best cheap bike you can get is the Honda CGL 125, about 1300.- US $ new!!!

It is the farm version of the CG 125, check it out:

[url=http://www.honda.com.pe]Honda del Per
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  #3  
Old 27 Aug 2009
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Hope this may help
I agree with the other guys on the site and it is about the trip;
Just dont end up like this :confused1: .....
However that doesn’t mean that you should not be prepared physically and mentally for the trip. If I may I would suggest that no matter what motor bike you ride know it thoroughly before your trip know how to change a wheel repair a tire some fundamentals like knowing if you have a worn bearing in your wheels or the chain and sprockets are badly worn and how to change them.
This is what I suggest if you are not mechanically minded, purchase a repair manual and read it from cover to cover, stand at the bike, learn the names of all the parts and the book will explain how they all fit together.
Simplify the whole thing, basically a motor bike is a push bike with a motor and no pedals, it has a few trinkets such a clutch and gearbox and some electrics, learn about them, attend a small engine class or read a book it will explain how a small engine works and you will get a basic idea of the components and how thand why the operate.
Become friendly with a motorbike mechanic perhaps trade some sweeping of floors or parts washing for being in the environment and learning about your bike, knowledge, it is very valuable.
Another valuable thing you might do is obtain a small, single cylinder engine and pull it apart laying out the parts, examine them when you take a part off and lay it out so that you can reassemble the engine and make it run again, learn about three thing Compression, Timing and Ignition, these are the three main requirements that make an engine run.
Depending if the bike is fuel injected or has a carburetor water in the fuel can cause a lot of problems and usually in the middle of the infamous place called "No Where" learn how to drain and remove water from your fuel system: at altitude a carburetor can cause your engine to perform poorly and depending on its design it may be able to be adjusted know how to pull it apart and reassemble it todrain water or dirt . There may be jets that can be changed to make the bike perform better at altitude. I say...know about it and carry the necessary parts with you and keep any that are interchanged as you will have to change them back again when you descend the mountains. If I can help with suggestions and some mechanical preparation then I’ll be watching the posts.
Good Luck on your ride
Champ From Brisbane Australia
If anyone is down this way and has some travel tails then give me a call all there is always some sort of meal and a friendly face chat and a yarn

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  #4  
Old 27 Aug 2009
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What Champ said +1

Its a very good idea to spend a saturday afternoon (preferably before you go to the pub so you can have a good laugh with your mates...) taking apart the clutch lever and cable, brakes, tyres, lights and put them back together. Also consider the route; tarmac, dirt and stone are the main three road compostitons to be found so check to see if the tyres on this chinese bike are up to the cut.

As everone else has stated; the bike will get you round the world, but you have to command it.

best of luck.
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  #5  
Old 28 May 2010
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Hello
My girlfriend and I just did 30000k in SA on Jap 250s. They were fantastic. We met a couple english blokes that bought 2 Chinese 150s in Bolivia for 900 US. They had traveled 15000km with no major engine problems. The small parts on the bikes really failed.

Ie. Spokes, Lights, Blinkers, Battery, Suspension, Instuments ect.

Lots of things to deal with. That being said they were having a great time and they had never rode motorcycles befor this trip. I think they were pretty lucky for not having internal engine problems but any bike can run into trouble.

Cheers Dano
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  #6  
Old 29 May 2010
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hi
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hecate View Post
Hi,
I need some advice on a trip I would like to do from the extreme south of America to Canada with a motorcycle. The trip would start from Patagonia, Argentina and end in Quebec, Canada.

First of all I'm a novice in motorcycle. I don't know anything about mechanic too.

I would like to buy a new bike (http://www.usmotos.com/usm%20eng/cruiser200.html) which is a chinese USM cruiser model. The motor is only 200cc. The main reason I'm buying that model is because it's cheap.

The closest similar example I've seen is the guy on this website who did the the US from west to east with a 50cc scooter. He did fine actually. If you have other examples let me know.

So I have three questions
- do you think it's realistic?
- how much time do you think it would take approximately?
- how can I get the motorcycle back in Canada in one piece?

I met a guy who had a 400cc moto and tried to do Brazil-Peru. His moto just fell apart. In my case the moto will be brand new, so maybe it's different

Thanks for any help!
if you know nothing about bikes or fixing them..you've got to with something more reliable..... and I'd be going with a bigger engine too....
between all the good stuff there's lots and lots of really really boring stuff...and its best not to have to suffer it at 50mph.....

go with a honda of some description...
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