Hello all.

I've just finished a 5 month stint in SE Asia on an XR150 and loved it.

I'm now planning my next trip which I hope to start at the end of this year (Oct - Dec) and am currently researching buying a moto to travel around all or part of South America. Peru / Chile / Argentina / Colombia etc.

The only requirements currently is that I want something capable on and off road so am leaning to Dual Sports. Around 250cc would be ideal but would consider larger bikes or slightly smaller too. It would be ideal if it was kitted out for long distances, racks etc.

Initial bike ideas were the Tornado, XRE300 etc but am open to suggestion. Buying a new chinese copy bike I have considered but I think I would prefer to travel with something Japanese having had so many good experiences with them.

I realise this is early but thought i would put feelers out to anyone who may be finishing a trip around that time. I am quite flexible with dates and start location.

It would need to have plates that would allow me to travel through borders, as well as being able to transfer legally into my name (with your help).

Thanks!

Buying in Colombia or Chile would be the go. Both for the starting destination (North to south and vice versa). Depends what kind of money you have to spend. I would highly recommend a small bike vs a big bike. I had a big bike at one point and it nearly killed me financially and physically.

Now I've got an XR150L in Peru on Colombian plates and I'll be heading north again in July. If you've got the money I'd recommend new, you won't lose that much money on resale even with 50k kms on it because prices of used bikes stay pretty high in south America.

If I were to do it all again I'd buy another xr150l or Xr190 (even better bike but $1k more) from Colvyn y Colvyn in Santiago Chile. I'd stay at casa de matte and ask very nicely for some help getting my RUT (requirement for buying a bike in Chile, very easy).

Most important bit of advise I would give you either way is learn as much Spanish as you can. It's not like SEA where it's near impossible to learn the languages without hard study for years in each county. Make the effort to learn as much as you can and you'll get rewarded for it.

Great advice, thanks

I agree on a light bike.... I was very impressed with the XR150L I had in SE Asia. With upgraded pegs and higher bars and more comfortable grips it was a sweet cruising machine. I would like a little more cruising speed though, so perhaps a XR190 is the way to go.

I love the idea of the new XRE300 but i'm a little worried about being a target, and it's not cheap - so resale might be tricky. I also considered buying one to keep somewhere for future trips, Do you know about the legalities of that if it's stored in the purchased country?

Spanish lessons start next week!

Storage wise. Storing in the country you bought it (ie storing a chilean bike in Chile) you don't need to do anything other than find storage. Storing a foreign bike in a different country is also possible. Peru for example you can suspend the import permit for up to a year. I think it's also possible in Chile but trickier. Argentina give 8 months import permit but it seems to be hit or miss whether they'll give it to you or not.

Great, thank you! So if I bought a new Chile bike, as long as i return and fly from there I can store it as long as I like?

I am tempted to go the extra mile and buy a new XRE300 and use it for multiple trips over the next two years or more. But I've noticed they are much cheaper to buy in Colombia ($1000+ difference). Is there any advantage to using Chile as the base as you mentioned?

Really appreciate your answers by the way, it's good to speak to someone directly who has experience.

Yup, so let's say you bought it in Santiago, and did the summer down to Ushuaia, up through Argentina, then maybe back into Chile and stored it somewhere in the north (maybe San Pedro de Atacama or Iquique for example) then fly home. Come back and go north to Colombia.

I'm not sure why but I don't think Honda Chile sell the 300? If they do, they didn't have it in the showrooms when I was there. Another nice option is the Yamaha tenere 250, a bit expensive but if you are planning on using it for a few years and if you've got the capital it might be worth it. I wouldn't go bigger than the 300 though. Honestly, all the good roads (nice twisties, high altitude passes etc) you'll be lucky to be going faster than 80kmh anyway.

Honestly though, I think the 190 is the bike to go for. Best compromise (in my opinion) of price, power and reliability. I used to stress with the 650 about route planning, looking up road conditions and fuel availability etc. But I just jump on the 150 and go where I like. Also, in a full day's riding, I save enough money to pay for my hostel and dinner for the night just with the fuel savings. PS. Argentina and Chile aren't cheap places, hostels and fuel prices are comparable to hmmm some places in Europe let's say. Fuel was more expensive in Chile than Australia!

As to where to start, I couldn't tell you because I haven't yet made it up to Colombia (I'm going back to Peru in July to continue north). What I will say of Chile is that it's very much a Western country. Might be a good place to start in that regard as it sort of breaks you in slowly to the south American "way". On the other hand though (and I know Chileans would back me up on this!) their Spanish is terrible! They speak so fast, with a different accent, and they use loads of modismos! I couldn't believe how much easier it was when I crossed into Bolivia. I'll PM you my number, you can contact me whenever you need and I've got contacts around the place (between Santiago and mid Peru anyway!).

Fantastic news Thanks again for all the detailed info, i'm so glad you replied as I feel i'm a lot closer to deciding how i'm going to tackle it all.

They do have it: XRE300 - Motos Todo Terreno Honda - Distribuidor Oficial Las Condes but even with the discount they have there it's a good amount more than Colombia/Brasil, and twice as much as the XR190L. Perhaps that matters less given I will most likely eventually sell in Chile anyway, so the used price return will reflect that.

I am still on the fence between 190 and 300. I did love my XR150L, and i'm sure the 190 will be a great upgrade for the first trip. But I was thinking for the second (or third!) year when I am more experienced in general I would want a slightly larger machine. The weight isn't too much different either, XR190L is 140kg wet, XRE300 is 157kg wet (Chilean versions with no ABS).

I also spent a good portion of my SE Asia trip (25% or so) with female sized pillions I met along the way, and although the XR150L performed surprisingly well in the mountains with 40kg of luggage (double the recommended), I think the XRE300 may be more fit for purpose for this riding, as well as a higher general cruising speed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv6v3WDg51D/

However, I did just check out fuel consumption - it is significant between the two. Tricky to find accurate figures but approx 55-65 mpg for XRE 300, and 80-90 mpg for XR190L. I also just found out there's a version of the 190L available in Colombia and Brasil that has ABS. In Chile, neither bikes are shown to have ABS (but perhaps it's an optional extra).


But I do agree in general, keeping light is always a high priority. So still very much on the fence at the moment. I will continue researching And I am just about to check out the baby Tenere!

Good to know about Chile & Argentina prices. That may end up swinging it as that will certainly add up over a long trip.

Did you have any issues crossing borders? I read a blog about some issues occasionally with people riding bikes with Chilean plates into Peru and needing proof of residency. With your Colombia plates have you had any issues? Is there a hierarchy of 'best plates' to have when traveling across borders in SA?

Many thanks for the PM! Super nice of you.

To check what they have for sale I'd send colvyn y colvyn an email, they sell to foreigners fairly frequently and even buy them back when you're done.

As to crossing Chile to Peru it's generally not the way people go, and I'm not 100% sure if it's possible as a foreigner? There's some info on it if you search the forum. Generally the way to go is through Bolivia and into Peru from there, I recommend the crossing near Lake Titicaca, it's a nice ride there and a much more relaxed, small border crossing.

I've only had 1 problem crossing borders, and it was my fault. My paperwork wasn't in order and the documents I had weren't 100% legit. But, they were very nice about it, they told me how to get it sorted, and even walked me back to the Bolivian border and asked them to let me back in to get it sorted. When I returned with the correct papers all was fine. If you're the owner of the bike and you've got all the paperwork in your name you won't have any issues. My issue was that I bought a bike from a friend in Bolivia, but he hadn't had the correct papers from the original owner back in Chile. Once I'd gotten the correct papers from the original owner (luckily I knew her, sort of) then it was all good. It was more of a case of, I might as well try while I'm so close to the border, and if not I'll get it sorted after.

As to whether there's a "golden plate" to travel with, no not really. If it's Chilean then you need the decleracion jurada, that's about it. People buying Peruvian bikes have had trouble leaving Perú lately but there's a workaround for that aswel.