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Old 20 Jun 2011
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Cool Best Bike for spares availability in SA?
Anybody know what bikes are best in terms of being able to get spares in South America - I am thinking of riding a BMW F 650 GS but one person voice a worry that BMW spares are harder to come by than some other makes in South America? Is that so and if so, what are the better options?

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Old 20 Jun 2011
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There are Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, KTM and BMW dealers in almost every country in NA, CA and SA. I wouldnt worry about it at all.

I never had any issue getting KTM parts either when I needed them in SA.

However, youre not going to find BMW parts on every street corner, thats for sure. If you want a bike that you can find parts on literally every street corner, you need to take a Chinese 125-250. :-)
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Old 21 Jun 2011
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spare part
BMW parts are not always easy to find but you can always use Fedex , the problem is more to find people able to work on your bike or at least for a good diagnostic. the more basic the bike (Dr650 ,KLR650...) the better chance to find parts or people which can help you , even in the US most dealer do not carry much spare parts , the shipping is the only big difference between USA and South America . learn to do the basic maintenance and you will be alright with most bike.
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Old 21 Jun 2011
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Colombia imports Vstroms parts and builds the bike there, very cheap. I personally bought parts for my 650 Vstrom in BsAs without waiting.

One issue if you try and import parts is the wait through customs, especially in Arg

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Old 21 Jun 2011
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Thanks to all for those responses!

Crashmaster said

- if you want a bike that you can find parts on literally every street corner, you need to take a Chinese 125-250. :-)

when i rode in SE Asia that was also true for Honda - does this also work in South America?
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Old 21 Jun 2011
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Honda and suzuki seems to be the more popular mid size bike , don't spend too much time worry about potential break down . The tech in South America are pretty good and know how to fix most of the basic break down even if they do not always use the standar part for it.
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Old 21 Jun 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by goo View Post
Thanks to all for those responses!

Crashmaster said

- if you want a bike that you can find parts on literally every street corner, you need to take a Chinese 125-250. :-)

when i rode in SE Asia that was also true for Honda - does this also work in South America?

Yes, Honda 125 - 250 are found everywhere. But parts for larger Honda bikes, no, although the 400 Falcon is quite popular in some South American countries.

I disagree that BMW parts are difficult to find. It depends what you mean by difficult. There is at least one BMW dealer in every country. They might have to bus the part to from another city, but thats about it. Just as in the US, if you need something from BMW Germany, it will take about 2 to 3 weeks to get it.

Like I mentioned, I spent 2 years riding everywhere in Central and South America and never had a problem getting KTM parts and "everyone" says KTM parts are difficult to get. That's simply not true.

Of course you want to be good enough with a wrench that you can do your own oil changes, valve checks, basic things.

If you drop your bike off at a dealer, you will probably get some flunky kid who knows nothing about anything, working on your bike. Do your own stuff whenever you can.
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