While it is technically not required to have chaleco and moto numbers on your helmet....we were pulled over at gunpoint by at least 10 cops a year and a half ago for not having chalecos...they don't cost that much so why not just buy a souvenier ???
Do get insurance...seguros del estado offices (some of them) will sell you by the day(the validity of your visa) or less if you insist....but you must INSIST as I did and they capitulate.
I have a post somewhere here with addresses and phone numbers..........

Buy the vest. Even if this is not required, you will be kept stopped and asked for it. The same with the helmet. The fine is USD 200 so Police can insist on bribe.
I have it.

Cheers
Michal

¨Will be¨ is a bit strong. In a couple of weeks in Colombia I was asked for papers a few times at roadblocks but never asked for insurance and never asked about the absence of numbered vest or helmet. Local riders in Bogota did try to warn me about the need, however. Note that my experience represents just a single datapoint of many. In other words, YMMV.

On the other hand, just the other day here in Bolivia on a tour with four other bikes (the so-called Most Dangerous Road in the World, which was not particularly dangerous but does make a remarkable tour out of La Paz), I was the only one stopped and asked for my passport. This might have related to the fact that I was the only one in the group who had stripped all sticker-covered panniers off my bike in preparation for the expected ¨danger¨, therefore looked less like a tourist and more like a local. Or not; I didn´t hang around to ask.

Hope that helps.

Mark

I have to agree with Mark, in the two weeks in Colombia I was stopped quite a few times for SOAT and passport checks and only once did a youngun ask me about the vest.

I just told him tourists do not need it and he let me go.

btw, the Road of Death is a doddle, the road to Batopisal in Copper Canyon is way more dangerous

Cheers
TravellingStrom

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www.travellingstrom.com

Just wanted to add some input here. I bought insurance and a vest. The vest wasn't needed but insurance was. I wouldn't try to play the gringo card on not having the insurance. Plus all the police stops I went through in Colombia were great, the police loved the bike and just wanted to chat. The best police to deal with on the trip. I even had a police chief on my motorcycle for a couple hours. He was trying to help get my papers on a Saturday.

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keep your front wheel ahead of your rear wheel
www.mototheworld.com

So where are you now (assuming I've got the right guy)? Our being pulled over and frisked by the cops was one of the highlights (?) of Colombia! Of course, it didn't help that you were wearing a bicycle helmet and riding pillion. Anyway, it paid to get the vests.
Steve

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Steve Barnett
Panama City, Panama

yea it's me
i forgot about the bicycle helmet...it's more or less legal in Costa Rica..what was I thinking ?
I'm in Costa Rica again for awhile. Made it to Peru, got pnuemonia, 1 month + recuperation, returned to states for 6 mos, bought GS1100 Beemer, wrecked it, bought KLR, left KLR in the states (another story), had an urge to get out of snowy Santa Fe quick,so flew down here til I decide what I'm doing (that sounds typical)

Where are you ?

James

I will fling my 2 pesos worth into the mix. We are in Colombia at the moment, just east of Medellin. Been here for 2 weeks. It seems the further from Bogotà the fewer people bother with vests. Most have helmets, though. On the Caribe Coast, vest wearing was even less. We see motos passing police checks all the time w/o vests and no one seems to care.

We have been stopped 3 times. The first time as soon as the officer saw our plates he grinned, strode over and shook my hand and sent us on our way. The second time was at an army checkpoint on our way to a small pueblo near the Venezuela border. No one yet has asked us for documentation. They are bored standing along the road and just want to talk and look at the bikes.

The third time a couple of days ago was a hoot. We reached a small pueblo at the end of the paved road, planning to continue on an unpaved road onward to another small place. These 5 police officers (see picture) were bored and jumped at the chance to talk to us. After the usual where are you from, etc.... and the inevitable disbelief that we have ridden all the way from Canada, the talk turned to the road ahead. A long, animated discussion ensued among the 5 of them, complete with a great deal of arm waving and pointing. It became impossible to follow the discussion. Finally a non-consensus was reached. The road ahead was:

1. Unpaved, in good condition, in bad condition, almost impassable.
2. It would take us 1 1/2 to 4 hours.
3. The road did/did not go to the next town.
4. The road went north/south of the next town.
5. We really ought to have lunch before setting off because there was/was not/might not be anything along the road.
6. We were told we really ought to be travelling with GPS.
7. Ask in town about the road.

Into town we went for food. Over lunch we had quite a discussion with the owner of the restaurant. He explained in great detail, as he closely examined our map, about all the roads in the area (not that any of this made any sense to us). A local truck driver and some other men hanging about offered all their sage advice as well, including one unsavory looking character who repeatedly offered his services as a "guide", even though he had no visible means of transport. Another non-consensus was reached.

1. The road was unpaved, in good condition, in bad condition, nearly impassable.
2. It would take us 2 to 4 hours or more.
3. The road did/did not go directly to the next town.

So much for local knowledge. We were exhausted from trying to interpret all this kind advice in rapid fire Spanish. It was too late to attempt the road by then anyway, so we raised the white flag and retreated about an hour back up the paved road to find a room. In the end we proceeded by another route, so we still do not know if the alleged road exists or where it goes. Perhaps it is best we did not find out.....it may have led us into the Twilight Zone.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2697/...fc1f9d1143.jpg

Joel and Taz

best to get chaleco, insurance a must whereas 2-3 yrs ago it was a maybe

Zig