Finishing our trip (y muy triste) in Buenos Aires. Flying out tomorrow night, but that's not the subject of this post...
Like many others, we contacted Sandra at Dakar Motors for assistance with air-shipping the bikes back to the US.
Can't say enough about how helpful she was and I now understand why she and Dakar Motors are such an icon in the adventure motorcycling world.

__________________
Mike R.
Santiago, Chile

Glad to hear you had a good trip, now where is the ride report????

Tell us some more about your shipping experience when you get settled in (cost, paperwork, etc).

Have a safe trip and don't forget to bring back some alfajores!!!!

Buen viaje!

__________________
John C.

A trip report of sorts is at Haciendolo… -- though we've been a bit busy and haven't gotten around to posting since we left Iguazu. It's on the to-do list, but we won't likely expend (scarce) remaining time in Argentina on something that we can do back in the US...

As far as the shipping details -- the short version would be "do what Sandra tells you to do" and it will go well.

A bit longer version was that Sandra measured our bikes (highest point, longest point) and provided an estimate. She doesn't control the costs the shipper will charge you, so this is kind of a courtesy estimate. When she had made an appointment for us with the cargo folks, we took the bikes out to the air cargo area at the airport. Prepping the bikes was easy -- just taking off the mirrors and windscreen to make them shorter, disconnecting the batteries and taping the terminals, and making sure we didn't arrive with much gas in the tanks (completely draining isn't necessary). We elected not to remove the front wheels, which would have lowered the height and saved a little cash, as we didn't want the bother. Oh -- and they lowered the tire pressure, but not so much that we couldn't ride to the nearest compressor at the other end if we need to.

The gents there at the warehouse then strapped 'em down on pallets. You are paying based on the volume of the bike, so our cases were full of our other junk (no liquids) and we tucked helmets and riding gear on as well. The whole thing gets shrink-wrapped and we were on your way back to town in only a few hours. The guys at the warehouse were very helpful and professional -- all in all a good experience.

The next day, we went downtown to the shippers offices and picked up a copy of the Airway Bill. With that in hand, we went to the shipper's bank and deposited (in cash) the cost of the shipment -- a shade over $2100 for two bikes -- an R1200gs and an F650gs. This was for shipping the bikes to Denver, where we'll retrieve them next week.

This morning I checked the Continental Airlines web site and the day after we paid for shipping them, they were already in Houston and booked on to Denver. After three months getting down here, that's pretty amazing.

Hope this is helpful. I think the price we paid may be useful as a rough guide, but air freight costs are pretty volatile, so I wouldn't consider this anything like a hard budgeting number. I know it has me thinking about the next trip already...

ciao -- mr

__________________
Mike R.
Santiago, Chile

+1 Sandra helped me last month shipping from Bs As to Boston. It was easy with her printed instructions. Hassle free - great folks.

__________________
Motorcycle Mexico - The easiest way to prepare for your first ride south of the border.
USA to TDF Blog