Got one recommendation for bikes of any brands: Johnny Motos, 10 de Julio 542 (some 2 km south of Santiago´s city center), Local 13, Phone 222 9926, Cellphone 09 330 1408, e-mail johnnymotos***hotmail***com.

Ruben "Johnny" Contreras just did inspection and maintenance (including replacement of the fork seals) for my '99 BMW F650 and did it very thoroughly and conscientuously. I gave him a list of the checks BMW requires for a 30000km inspecion and he charged me little more than 1/3rd of what an "official" repair shop wanted to charge me (I did not bother to ask Williamson Balfour Santiago since they are completely out of question).

Apart from that he took digital photos of the dismantled bike and the replaced parts as a kind of proof of his work and to explain to me, what he had done and which problems he had found.

Despite his tiny workshop he already seems to have a good international reputation. He also seems to be a "very valuable human being" - if you know what I mean. In case of any questions or problems just call him and he will do his very best. Highly recommendable!

Best regards
Winne

[This message has been edited by winne (edited 19 January 2006).]

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BMW F650 \'99

After hearing loads of praise of Bimota in Santiago, I´m afraid that I had some not so good experience. After buying a bike from Motoaventura (who paid Bimota a lot of money to have it travel ready for me) I had a second service carried out in Iquique. The following work had to be carried out:

• Carburettor: needle was open 6 turns, engine wouldn´t run on less - full service
• Air filter: flooded with oil
• Speedo cable: replaced as broken after 200km
• Throttle cable: replaced as badly frayed and held together by 4 stands only (but had loads of grease in the handle to mask the issue)
• Battery strap: installed (replaced dodgy wire and switch holding battery just in place)
• General check up and adjustments...

Kates bike went through the same check up and received new brake cables and tuning as well as a repaired wiring job to the neutral light where Bimota said it was a defect sensor.

All in all? NOT happy with Bimota.

As other people were very happy I suggest you need to check carefully what they say they do and what really gets done. Our bikes were supposed to have been ready for us for 1 month and my bike looks like they didn´t look at it.

Remedial work was carried out by:

Alberto Araya
Serrano 1531 (just north of junction 12 Febrero)
Iquique
Chile

Fono 090673534
Iquique - 425807
email: Bemoto [AAAt] hotmail [DoTT] com (Bemoto stands for Alberto!)

He carried out excellent and thorough work on both bikes, was helpfull with good advice, had parts flown in from Santiago, and is a very welcoming guy (all moto travellers are his friends). Cost? 2 days work including parts 70,000 Pesos.

Highly recommended!!!

Jens


[E-mail address edited by moderator to prevent SPAM]

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You can never have too many bikes......

BMW R100GS
Triumph Tiger 885
Yamaha XT600e

Jens is gone, but not forgotten.

We can also recommend Reuben at Johnny Motos.

The NEW Florida, Santiago address (Americo Vespucio #8975) that we found on the HUBB was correct. However the gps coordinates took us to the wrong location. (Maybe a case of different formats for coordinates?)

The GPS coordinates that worked with our Garmin 60CSX were:

S 33 32.170
W070 36.549

Mark

. . we have just had 2 F650gs fully serviced by Ruben at the location given in another thread,

s 33 32.096
w 070 36.326
Americo Vespucio #8975
La Florida - Santiago - Chile
johnnymotos@hotmail.com

A seriously trustworthy guy with many contacts in the adv scene. While we were there, a constant flow of metal heads passing through for a coffee / chat, Super Teneres, Vstrom, 1200gs, motorcross you name it, he will and can work on it.

We left him a list of things needing doing (from valve check, fork oil change, coolant change, oil change, brakes and battery etc), agreed a date for collection and shared emails on the progress of the works and his final cost. Far cheaper than being ripped off at BMW in the city centre.

Look out for the big black gate, its on the corner of Huascar & Vespucio Americo. Its quite discreet with no signage, just give the black gate a good knock and mention HU, he has a lot of HU members drop in. He is a 2km walk from the metro so you can hop on and off it to get back to where you are staying. He is happy for you to hang around and watch or if you want to see a bit of Santiago he will film all of the works which you can watch when you return.

I will post this on a similar thread on the subject.

Chris & Chloe
BUENOS AIRES to VANCOUVER | Chris, Chloe & two motorbikes across South, Central & North America

I have been there a few days ago.
Very handy and nice guy. Has a lot of big bikes around, knows a lot about them.
Has all the computer-readout stuff to help those people out who can afford new BMW's ;-)
Just knock on the metal sliding door when you arrive at nr 8975; no name is mentioned on the door/building.

Based in Rancagua at the moment and i couldn´t been asked driving to Santiago for a mechanic...bad idea, after a not satisficing service by the local Kawasaki dealer i ended up at Johnny motos anyway. Brilliant lads, them two, can also only recommend them, the only negative point, i had to drink all the myself, but i could handle that.