Purchased in August (2009) and sold in October. I was told by a hubb user that two dutch guys had a problem (though they purchased used bikes) but we tried anyway and everything went very smoothly, we were given every paper required by the 5th day after purchase.

Buying from a dealer definitely helped, this way we didn't have to deal with any notarias or transit offices or anything like that.

The police asked to see our papers at least 15 or 20 times in the 2 months we were there as there is a lot of checkpoints however there was never even the slightest issue with what we were doing. I think we could have easily taken them out of the country as well however that was not in our plans.

Nobody I asked in Colombia when looking for a bike knew anything about that law (nor could I find anything on the internet) and all vendors I spoke with assured me it could be done. I wonder if this information is the result of only the above persons misfortune as I could find nothing else about it.

It's now my belief that it's not a law, just a hitch with the paperwork accepting the cedular, which cannot be obtained on a tourist visa. Convincing the vendor to put a passport number on there would be the only hurdle I could imagine when purchasing a bike in Colombia. Actually I do recall the vendor calling the transit office to ask about that and it was them who said to use the passport number.

Hope this helps someone as renting there is very expensive, especially since any bike above 125cc is quite suitable for Colombian roads, you could buy, sell after 2 months and receive most of your money back. I lost about $200 on my buy/sell which was done in a hurry, in Cartagena as well which has very few bike shops (Bogotá has a gazillion).

I've now bought bikes in Colombia, Bolivia and Chile, Colombia was the easiest and Chile was the hardest. In Bolivia though, I purchased 2nd hand, I think that buying first hand would make Bolivia the easiest as apparently the papers are ready in 2 days. Chile DOES have a law in regards to tourists leaving the country on their vehicles, though it's not impossible to get around, unfortunately you might not know what paperwork you're missing until you arrive at the border of either Argentina or Bolivia. Chile into Peru on a Chilean bike w/tourist visa is not at all possible either I have heard though Bolivia into Peru on a Chilean bike may cost you $10 or so