Originally Posted by fazer_1000

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.