Shipping vs. Buying - South America
 

Hello,

I created this account a long time ago, at this point I‘ve seen most of Europe on my Transalp, that turned into a sv650x, that transforms into an 2019 Africa Twin.

My dreamtrip and motivation to make a license was to go from Germany to Mongolia. But life changes and right now I am not willing to leave everything behind for that dreamtrip.

I came to the realization tho, that i travel about 10-12k km on my 4-week vacations (in europe!). Half that its still 5-6k km, enough for nice trips around the globe.

On top of that, I am now for 5 years in a relationship with an ecuadorian, basically having family there. That offers me garages in atleast ecuador and brazil, maybe Chile, mexico and California aswell (that would be families from friends tho).

Since i dont want to do Mongolia on the fat twin, i came to the realization to get a CRF250/300 and ship it to south america. From there i could do trips like

Ecuador - Peru - Chile - Argentina - Brazil
and
Brazil - Paraguay - Bolivia - Peru - Ecuador

Even continue throu colombia, ship it to mexico and all the way to the US.
At some point ship it to Japan or Waliwostock and just drive it back to germany, a one way trip from Mongolia so do speak.

While Im a bit limited with 4-5 weeks at a time and about once a year, its a possibility.

Question now: shipping the bike from germany makes it very hard to keep it there for 2+ years. Buying it in southamerica makes reimport very difficult, as i dont see any light offroad bikes, that also get sold in the EU in either brazil or ecuador.

What would be ideal here?

I'm confused about what you're asking and what you're hoping to do. So just a couple of observations. One is that it's a bit ambitious to think about a four/five-week trip through Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Same with Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia,Peru, Ecuador. I mean, assuming you want to see stuff, do stuff, meet people, spend time with your friend or hosts.

Second, if you buy a bike in South America and are limited to one trip per year, several years will pass before you need to think about shipping your bike into the EU (at which point it'll be easier to sell it locally wherever you bought it).

Third, if you buy in the EU and ship to South America, don't forget that it can get awkward to leave a bike for a year--with or without friends and family to garage it for you--on a temporary import permit. That might be a compelling argument in favor of buying locally, but of course that's not so simple in some countries.

If any of the above misses the target completely, please feel free to ignore it. As I said, I found your post a bit confusing.

Mark

You can leave a foreign plated vehicle in Uruguay for up to a year. I met a German guy who has had a German plated camper (with bike on back) in South America for 6 years - he goes over every winter to tour around.
We got a 9 month TIP in Argentina - depending on the length of your yearly holidays.

Thanks for the inputs.

Maybe i mislead you guys a bit… as my life changed, so did my plans. And now instead of going to Mongolia, i will try to travel south america bit by bit, no exact routes planned yet. The idea tho is to at somepoint export it into asia to drive it back from mongolia to germany (IF it would be that CRF250/300 that I am thinking for this).

Problem as you mentioned: I cant leave a german bike that long in south america but the purchases over there seem to be odd… nothing comparable to a CRF as i see it. Maybe im missing something here.

Bike in South America
 

Based on what I understand. Your only practical solution is to buy a bike in South America.
Probably in Colombia. If your family relations does not help you to buy a Ecuadorian bike that you can be owner of and leave Ecuador.

Store the bike in Colombia. No TIP needed since it is at home.

Pick it up and use it for one month at a time.
Arounf three days to Ecuador. Depends on locations.

To buy a SA bike and import to EU is not realistic.

Honda produces a simular bike to CRF 300 in Brazil. For SA market.
XRE 300
More simple and robust. Air cooled. Good travelling bike.
RE has assembly factories in Argentins, Colombia and....
Good value for the money.

If you scale down to 200-250 cc, you have many options.

If you want to spend your month in very different areas, renting is possible the better alternative.

SA is huge. And the area Colombia, Ecuador plus Peru will provide you with good and intersting routes for a couple of months = years for you

Skyy- I agree with Erik, buy a moto in SA. You will be fine traveling with a 250cc or 300cc moto. You have no TVIP issues if you store it in the country where it is licensed. I owned a 250cc Honda Tornado in Peru and made multiple trips there of 4 to 6 weeks duration, storing the moto between trips.

Thanks, why colombia tho? Ecuador would be the easiest for me.

Colombia
 

Colombia due to the process of buying a bike.

a) Buy a bike and have you registered as the owner, without being resident
b) legally leave the country with the bike

Is possible and easy in Colombia

a) is possible in some other countries. But more or less difficult
a) is possible but b) is not possible for many countries. (Argentina, Peru, Chile....)


All lot has been written about this already. So I do not want to start from scratch.

Than comes all these... but you can.... Have the bike registered on a citizen, That writes a poder for you..or You write a poder for a citizen that rides it out of the country.... You register two owners, Yourself and a citizen. The citizen rides it out of the country. And you pick up the bike on the other side of the border... Or you try to pass the border illegally....Smuggling is possible but not legal.

Base your planning on that:

1) Colombia is the country where to buy a bike of you want to travel outside of the country
2) Do not plan for buying a bike in one country and sell it in another.
3) Rental bikes can not leave the country they are rented in
4) Check very carefully the rules for leaving a country with the bike where it is bought, OBS it is taking it out that is illegal. It has nothing to do with entry requirements in other countries.

=
Since you have family relations in Ecuador. Maybe one Ecuadorian citizen can buy a bike and write a Poder for you