well, if to be mature and try and help-
it`s probably the easiest if you and the seller (or the bike) are from the same country.
in this case you can usually make a legal ownership transfer according to your country`s laws.

if you can`t do this transfer (the country that the bike is from in origen does not allow or you don`t have the time/don`t want the hussle) than you can travel with photoshoped papers..
i know quite a few people that did and are still doing it. i`m one of them.
for most of us, western-thinkers, it sounds absurd. it would never work.
well, fortunatley, this is SA we`re talking about.
as someone else said- show a credible enough paper with some stamps and a signature and no one would ever bother you..
my papers are photoshoped, a friend did quite a good job and they look exactly like the original ones. the original ones, by the way, look like a joke. they are from british columbia and it`s a plain A4 paper with some writing on it and on the back.
i`ve been crossing borders between chile-argentina-urugway for the past almost 3 months. it`s very easy and works like a charm.
some friends i travelled with, even had the original papers and were waiting for the new one to arrive from the states while having the approval of a notarion and still prefered to travel with photoshoped papers! it was safer and led to less questions every time.
moreover, what happens when your bike registration ends? are you going to take it back to it`s country, renew it and come back down?
it`s easier to just change the date.
i probably sound like some kind of a con, hussler or just someone who gives a s#$t about the law but that`s just not the case.
i could have well tried to change the registration of my bike to my name but by the time it would take i would already be after the end of my trip and with a big hole in my head..

so, those are my two cents..
and yeah, i am selling a bike.

cheers,
asaf.

Exactly. And Possesion of a foreign bike in a far-flung land IS 9/10 of the Law. Maybe even more...

__________________
How much does a man live, after all?
Does he live a thousand days, or one only?
For a week, or several centuries?
How long does a man spend dying?
What does it mean to say “forever”? - Pablo Neruda

Seems as long as you've got some sort of 'official' documentation the authorities aren't too bothered?
Don't get me wrong -Im not that hung up on the legal niceties of buying a bike, I just dont want to be prevented from crossing borders coz my name's not on the reg document (do you have to show this at the border?)

Anyway, judging by SA bike prices (I could buy a new Ducati over here for the same price!!) looks like buying off a traveller is the way to go.

Cheers for you advice guys

"gimp" works too...
just gimped the title and last years import docs on my suzuki, changed all the dates etc, got a poder and insurance signed on it ...
now it "always was" owned by the new owner.......and he has a poder or power of attorney should he ever want to officially change it over

cheers

Zig

for us dumbwits, (well, only me..) what is a gimp?

does the same miracle layer thing so you can forge all your docs, change dates, names etc - just like Photoshop but free and small.....
we just did my Suzuki papers here in colombia.....sold it to an Alaskan who is going to just keep it here and update the DIAN and Seguro as needed every time he returns here

google "gimp photoshop"

Zig