Hello everyone,

I'm looking to depart from Texas on a RTW August 2018. The amount of time I am spending agonizing over bike selection really seems to come down to agonizing about trip philosophy: precision vs incognito, performance vs experiences, minimalist vs optimized etc.

Anyway, my main issue is trying to decide between a multi-bike or single bike approach. i.e. one for the whole trip or roughly one per continent?


It seems like shipping the bike is a tremendous expense (not to mention the complexity) that could be avoided by buying multiple bikes in addition to having smaller, less complicated bikes for places like South America and Africa. If I kept the same bike, I like the idea of doing the ferry from SA to Europe but I would prefer to ride from Cape Town to Europe vs other way round.

I used to live in Germany, so I'm thinking it would be pretty easy to pick up a bike there or elsewhere in Europe, no experience buying and selling elsewhere. Right now I'm planning to use a Mosko Moto Reckless 80 (reckless) so swapping luggage shouldn't be too difficult and I'm going to try to carry as little as possible.

I'm thinking maybe....
Buy Texas, Sell Paraguay (or other tax free zone)
Buy South Africa, Sell? (ideas appreciated)
Buy Europe, Sell Australia or Ship home?

Thoughts? apologies if this has been discussed at length already

I have a 2001 F650gs Dakar in the garage right now but I am considering replacing it with a CRF250L, Super Sherpa etc for South America

My opinion would be to stick with one bike, buying and selling at each end of a continent can be a problem starting with registering in your name and more if a carnet de passage is involved. There are plenty of bikes which are suitable for the whole trip, take a look at the Honda CB500X adventure for a mid sized trusty all rounder.

forget about selling in Australia, your MC will be temporarily imported there with Carnet, and you´re looking at paying full taxes & duties, and you are naturally in violation of your Carnet agreement if you sell it in a Carnet country, so you won´t get your bond back from the issuer.

Of course you go for a CRF250L haha. We are currently traveling around the world on them. Ride 60.000 km now and still going strong, just changed the clutch pads from 1 of the bikes that's all big maintenance we did so far..

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Harsh realities of today means travelers may be hard pressed to go RTW on one bike without considerable extra expense and hassle. Lots of good alternatives however.

Not only is crating and shipping a bike expensive but can be stressful, a major hassle with endless document nightmares, insane invented fees and corruption.

You may also encounter massive unexplained delays waiting WEEKS to get your bike free of the port ... IMO, all this can ruin your whole trip and ramp up your expenses .... a lot!

PLUS ... you still have the Carnet to buy $$$$ in some regions (not S. America) get stamped in/out and if you screw it up you can lose a BIG chunk of deposit money ($thousands$).

The good news is you can ride your current BMW F650GS all the way South, then either sell it off, ship to S. Africa ... or ride it back to USA and sell it legally there. Or ... leave it, come back in a year or two and continue your trip.

If you do S.America as a loop you may even be able to do some "new" countries on your way back North, see parts of countries you did not see on your way South. (like Caribe side of Cent. America, East side of Mexico)

ROUTE:
On your way South stay West through Mexico and Central America, then stick to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru' and Chile. Then, if you decide to ride back, head North, do Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Venezuela and Brazil. You could spend a year in Brazil alone.

Perhaps ship to Miami from Colombia?? ... or take another two weeks and ride to USA. Sell off that bike once back in USA. You got your money's worth!

If you ship your bike to Africa then you're good to go for ALL of Africa and EU and beyond. You will have Carnet issues to deal with in certain countries.

If you fly to S. Africa and buy a bike there, I think Carnet is not required for most other African countries with S. African plates (not sure on this, look into it). It's not cheap for bikes there but not that much more than US or EU, AFAIK.
Asia- India
Most Moto-Queros don't ride into China and it's impossible to legally bring your own bike into China. So, that's another part of the world you have to buy (or rent) another bike.

Another challenge area for bringing your own bike into is India and most of Asia. India make it nearly impossible to temp import a bike and the Asian countries also can be a major hassle. Rentals or buying your own bike is THE WAY to go for both of those regions.

Cheap and easy to buy or rent bikes there. No point bringing in your own bike. Would be a HUGE hassle and expense.

You could also leave your bike behind once you get to Chile or Argentina. I hear it' quite easy to do this in Uruguay. No hassle with TIP. They love BMW in Argentina and Chile ... so you may get an offer you can't refuse. Let the buyer worry about registering the bike.

You're so lucky to be able to take off and travel!
!Que le via muy bien!

Nah - not quite right Molly. You can bring foreign vehicles into and through China, travellers do that all the time. But its expensive as you need guides and permits and a major PITA when it comes to paperwork and buraucrasy.
India - not s problem to get into as long as you have a Carnet. The traffic there might scare the shit out of you though.

I would say that if youre goal is to do a RTW-trip, then do it on one bike. Research its weak spots etc and set it up and equip it well.

But if your attitude is more of a traveller who want to see parts of the world, several bikes, renting or buying locally might be a better option.

Some countries and areas are difficult and or expensive to get axcess to such as Vietnam, so if you want to go there its probably better to hore or buy locally. New Zealand - quite expensive to ship both to and from and a country very easy to buy a bike as a foreigner, so thats definetively an option worth thinking of.

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Its not possible for anyone to import a vehicle older than 2 years old in Chile except in the two Zollfrei regions.
It is also supposed to be a basically new car, not something with 20k miles.
We had a friend who owed a customs brokerage, even though my KLR650 was just 18 months old it was a hassle that a mere mortal would have given up with. For him it was a gauntlet thrown down!!My wifes F650 was 30 months old, we had to ship it out of the country.
Another little know fact is that when you get a TIP in Chile its for 3 months. Theoretically you cannot get another one for 12 months. We lived there for 2 years and only once did we get turned back after going out of the country with her bike.
We waited until the next day and a different time and person and got thru.

Uruguay on the other hand is relatively easy, but as said, leave it up to the buyer to figure it out.
Michael

You have to weigh up if you prefer to spend time buying and selling/renting motorbikes v the shipping/carnet aspect of using one bike. Can you potentially afford to wait for a bike to sell before you start the next leg of your journey?, not a problem if you are always renting though, but you will end up having to do a loop if you rent and drop the bike back off at the start point.

There are good and bad aspects of both, buying/renting gives you flexibility to change your plans but I prefer to have a bike I know well and fly it or ship it. Realistically if you start in North America, you have to cross the Darian Gap, ship from Buenos Aires to Durban, ride back to Europe if you want to - and ride to Asia, ship to to Aus and back to North America, which really is not that much actual shipping to complete a RTW

I would not hesitate to do a RTW on a CRF250L, great bikes, cheap to run, fix and cheap carnet.

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Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

Some really good points!

All good, fair points. I would counter with:
How long can you afford to wait until your ship or plane comes in with your bike?

And how much running around might you have to do to get your bike "free' of the port? Document hurdles and delays can be substantial. We've all read the nightmare stories NUMEROUS times.

Selling could be difficult, true enough. But many outfits offer "Buy Back" schemes. Also, in, for example, Vietnam, you can rent (or buy) a bike in either Hanoi or Saigon .... ride all the way North or South ... and drop the bike off ... as several rental/sales companies have offices in both North and South. Some also have buy back arrangements.

Not sure about India, maybe others have experiences on this????

This is all good ... and basically what I already detailed in my post above. From reading reports, shipping from Buenos Aires to Durban is no piece of cake. Flying by far the best method paperwork wise but expensive as HELL.

But certainly possible and many do it.

Not sure how one might Ride from EU to Asia. ??? Some shipping required along the way, not to mention Carnet issues, war zones and political road blocks too.

I'd not be too excited about riding through most of the Middle East currently ... but hey, terror is what 'adventure" is all about, right?
(just kidding!)

I would love to be on my own bike the whole ride too, but have less tolerance for tin pot paper pushers having all the power ... would rather just walk away.

This also is about what is important ... is it about the bike (your bike!) or is it about the ride (on any bike), the people you meet and places you see?

It's all very personal. For me, I have NO INTEREST in doing continuous long journeys that go on for years. Prefer shorter jaunts into one area, do some exploring, then return. Regroup, plan and do it again someplace else.

It is way more intelligent to use different bikes on different countrys insted of wasting money for shiping exotic bikes around the globe.
Riding the same bike as the locals all parts are easy to get if needet and one does not lool and will be treated as money on legs. I road around Europa and Africa with a Bike from Europa, bought a 125cc Bike for South America and rented many bikes to get around Asia and India: Offroad Motorrad Weltreisen - das letzte Abenteuer

Thanks for all the replies!


I've decided to move ahead with just using the 2001 F650gs Dakar that I've already got (though I'm still open to other options). Just bought some used Jesse Luggage for it and a new seat. The only issue now is the surging between 3-4k rpm (seems to be common) is what I'm trying to sort out now.

Good luck with your BMW! Might consider packing a few spares that tend to fail on that bike. Keep an eye on the water pump, head gasket. If your bike has never had a problem then it's probably OK.

Still, a water pump kit and head gasket not hard to pack. Also, fuel pump and F.I. filters and such may act up. Lots of info on Chain Gang and other owner forums on these issues.

Wheel Bearings another item I might carry on board. I think the '01 F650 uses a 520 size chain/sprocket?? I would consider upgrading to a 525 size chain.
In any case, get a DID X ring chain no matter what pitch size. Carry spare front sprocket ... swap it out about 8K to 10K miles. Will extend chain life.

Also, pay close attention to electrics and adding accessories. All the good info is out there, still plenty of these bikes out riding around.

I considered the beautiful F650 Dakars myself, but the extra weight over my DR650 put me off. The BMW is beautiful compared to my Ugly Duckling Suzuki, but the Suzuki is easy to maintain and has few problems ... ever.

Good luck! Where are you starting out your travels?

Well if that doesn't just read like a recommendation to buy a disposable bike locally...

Well, you could read it either way. That generation of F650 GS Dakar are beautiful bikes, fun to ride and work great if well set up and maintained. But of course the OP's bike is now 17 years old.

So ... measures must be taken! Nothing lasts forever, not even a BMW!
(don't believe the HYPE!)

But overall, that F650 may not be my first choice as a RTW travel bike. But if an owner knows his bike well, has done important upgrades and maintenance ... then ... WHY NOT? (Bring the spares ... and GO!)

But in some regions I prefer buying or renting a bike locally to avoid:
1. Import Paperwork hassles 2. border crossings 3. shipping costs (a big one)
4. Obtaining parts if riding NON local bike or exotic bike.

Being in California, if I wanted to cover S. America, I'd ride my own bike and ride South the whole way. I might sell the bike in Chile? ... or? ... ride home, ship home or ship somewhere else? Options are good.

Hi, sounds like a great idea but just thinking about the extra hassle of shopping and buying then selling plus the extra paperwork makes me shudder, Then there's the bike preparation including bike spares and tools to take etc would kill this option for me.
You have easy access to a bike I went to great expense to import to the UK from Texas, namely the DR650 and now ProCycle have waved their magic catalog over it I have what for me is the perfect travel bike. Just my 2pence

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