The way the bike transfer worked:

Papers were in the name of owner (also a HU member)
Owner left back to Denmark after his trip
Bought it from his friend, who had Power of Attorney
Transferred at a Notaria in Santiago
Never went to the registro de civil since the friend had to fly home a day after the sale happened and the office was closed.

I now have all the papers (to date) with the original owners name, as well as a paper signed at the Notaria confirming it is now mine.
Is there a way to get all these papers in my name? Is it necessary?

I heard that the same model bike is for sale in Mexico (and not the U.S.)
Does this make it any easier to leave the bike in Mexico?

Also does anyone know if there is an equivalent of craigslist in Chile? Need to buy supplies (camping) on a budget.
Also I'm a little worried about the altitude and my bike, can it handle it? Are carb adjustments easy enough? I have some experience working on bikes and am good with tools but I'm no engineer

Also, what exactly is a PODER?

Hopefully Tony knows better but it was to my understanding that former owner and owner to be went down to the office to transfer the title. Presumably the office would take the old title and provide a new one with the buyer as a the owner. If you're names on the title it brooks no argument with the aduana.


I doubt that. Why would it make a difference?


Try Mercardo Libre for Chile. In Santiago there is an outdoor shop called Doite. They sell their own-branded gear which is cheap but decent quality. If you're going to camp do it properly and buy the essentials - good tent, sleeping bag and mattress. It doesn't matter if you use a 10 dollar stove in the same way it won't matter if it brakes, but if your tent brakes under a storm, it will matter a lot.


Carb'd singles often behave quite poorly at altitude. The Falcon will run a lot better if you change the jets and you'll get better fuel economy. In my Tornado stock is 132. Assuming air-filter was clean, that was fine until 2,400m. After that 128 was needed until anything over 3,400 and then 125 or 120. Maybe the 400 has enough power to bring it through.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the references for equipment, I'll check out those areas while I'm here.

I thought it may matter because I know that taking a foreign vehicle into the U.S., it must pass safety and emissions testing. If the bike is already sold in the U.S., the manufacturer will already have said testing done. Otherwise, it can be quite expensive to do the testing.

Also I have found some friends interested in coming along for different segments of the trip. I was thinking about shipping my Ninja 500 from DC to Chile and using it as a loner to people who wanted to come along, having them split all associated costs. Seems as though I will always be accompanied by at least one friend so I will never be left alone with two bikes.

Would it be easier / cheaper to buy another bike down here?

Can the ninja 500 handle the roads with rather low clearance?

I figured it may save me a headache at the U.S. / Mexico border. Leave my Honda Falcon at my place in Mexico then take a U.S. platted bike the rest of the way back home.