Hello, I just received info, that my friend, who´s currently on a trip from Argentina to the US, is having problems with the final drive of his R1200GS 2004-model. The bike has now been taken to Cartagena on a truck, and he´s booked some freighting to get the bike to Panama, to where it should be leaving in about 3-4 days.

The message wasn´t very specific about the parts that he´ll need, but mentions either all bearings and gaskets to the final drive, or possibly even a full replacement unit to the final drive (I´m hoping he´ll be okay with the bearings & gaskets, because that one must be expensive!)

He´s currently under the impression, that such parts will not be available in Panama City without a long wait. I don´t know, if he´s now trying to get them from Colombia.

Anyone have any info about places in either Panama City or Cartagena, that he should ask from?

And a further question: there could be a possibility to send him some parts from Finland with DHL (and if he leaves Colombia as planned, then those would probably have to go to some yet unknown address in Panama City)... any experiences about sending parts to Panama, and how did it work out with the customs (... like should you put the value of the goods quite low, or should you even make them look like used parts)?? He also mentioned ordering parts from the US, but I´m not sure, if that would work out well, because he probably doesn´t know anyone there. Parts are probably a bit cheaper there than in Europe, though.

I know it really sucks to have something like this happen when you´re in the middle of a big trip, so now trying to help him out any way I can. Thanks a lot for any help in advance!