tires for GS in central americ
 

Hi all! My girl and i are on a NY -> Alaska -> Argentine trip and are about to enter mexico. We were wondering about whether it would be wise to take some spare tires along from San Diego. Do you guys think that would be necessary or are tires for a BMW r1100GS 'widely' available in central america?
thanx in advance!

I don't know, but Jose Del Busto at BMW Guatemala might. He is the importer for BMW in Guatemala. His email is motoclub (AT) bavaria (DOT) com (DOT) gt

Good luck.
Rene
www.renedian.com

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Go slow, be well.

thanx a lot, Rene. We'll send him an email to see if we can arrange something!
cheers
Ferry

There's a well-known BMW dealer in San Jose, Costa Rica. They even rent bikes and organize conducted tours on BMWs. If you can last that long on your tires, I'm sure you'll find a replacement there. Otherwise, Carracas, Venezuela, is your next BMW dealer in line. In Venezuela there are plenty of bike dealers handling all kinds of bikes. No problem with tires. Buenos Aires is a good place for bike tires, so is Santiago, Chile. Just bring money.

Hi there,
We are travelling on an 1150 GS and have had real problems with getting tyres.
We put new on in San Diego and wanted to change to TKC 80's for Bolvian roads.
We checked at Panama City BMW - really big dealership. No Luck. Then in Quito, no luck again.
We have had them sent from San Diego to Lima in the end and are carrying them for as long as our others last. Looks like Cusco at the moment.
I know this isñ't quite the same area but just to let you know our experience with BMW dealerships in this part of the world. Lovely friendly people who really want to help, but very limited in what they can actually do.
Definitly plan and order ahead if you can or you´ll be waiting ages or spending a fortune to get tyres sent.
Good luck and have a good trip!

There is a very friendly BMW dealer in Guatemala City, write him an E-mail an he will have them! There are more than 100 BMW around in Guatemala City.
There is also a BMW dealer in Panama City and a KTM dealer! The KTM dealer orders you the tires if you write him an E-mail!
I got the adress if you need it!
It's just back in my room!

Good luck Albert

Two recommendations on tires in Costa Rica:

1) I've been to the San Jose BMW dealer mentioned in the earlier posts. They were helping a long-distance traveler replace his GS fork seals when I was there. It's a very nice facility, and they service fancy sports cars also.

2) You don't need a BMW dealer to install some tires. There's a motorcycle touring company based in San Jose, owned by a German guy named Wilhelm. His brother runs a nearby KTM and Triumph dealership. I bought some tires from the brother, and he also told me about some great routes through Central America. This will probably be cheaper than option #1 above.

The contact info for Wilhelm's company is here. Just ask if he will order the tires for you, or if he can put you in contact with the brother's dealership. http://www.motoexpedition.com/contact.htm

-John

You will find tires for your bike only in the capital cities and they will be costly. Do not buy tires in Argentina, I paid $180 for the front tire in BA. Wait until you are in Brazil.

Our experience was much better than what is reported in the previous post.

We bought an extra pair of rear tyres in Cape Town before shipping the bikes to Buenos Aires because we did not know anything about South America, and this was the biggest mistake we made in terms of preparation. Tyres seem to be available in pretty much any large or middle-size city, and at prices lower than in the US. At least in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru...

You can find pretty much what you want in capital cities (except Michelin - we haven´t a single one) and there are made-in-Brazil Pirelli tyres in other large and medium-size cities. For instance here in Lima, you can count approximately $65 for a rear tyre (17" / 130) and $40 for a front tyre (21" / 90).

We replaced our front tyres in Salta and the brake pads in Jujuy, both in Northern Argentina. Good places on your road to fit new tyres before hitting the Bolivian dust are Arequipa and Cusco in Peru, with back-up in La Paz and Cochabamba still on the asphalt in Bolivia.

Good luck. Take extra inner-tubes.

Pierre Saslawsky
http://www.photobiker.com

The previous post referances tires for the older Gs's not the new ones. His tires are of a different size.

thanx a million guys. very helpfull replies! The way the tires look know i don´t think we´ll need new ones before costa rica... so i think i will contact this wilhelm, he must also know all the nice routes in the area http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/wink.gif

We just came from the copper canyon... man that´s one beautiful ride down to batopilas! IMHO it´s a must-ride for all of you who haven´t been there yet