I have been a motorcyclist for the last 40 years riding every day, I am also an Engineer and very experienced in motorcycle maintenance. My wife is a pillion rider with 35 years experience, she has ridden with me on and off road.

In April this year, we came across the website Adventure Peru Motorcycling and called David Groves the owner of the company. It all sounded very professional and well planned. It was good to find an Adventure tour company that ran a tour that included pillions. We decided to take the plunge. We booked for one month of South American adventure from Sept to October.


The bike we were allocated was a Honda Transalp 650 and approx 6 years old. On inspection I could see the front tyre was low on tread and the back tyre was worn out. I pointed it out to David and I was told we were having new tyres very soon. We made short excursions during the first 6 days leading up to beginning of the main tour. It was at this point I noticed there were issues with the bike. The rear wheel was buckled and the handlebars would shake above 30 miles an hour. Even more worrying was that 30% of the spokes were loose and the rear wheel was buckled by 5 mm.

The lead tour guide/mechanics was busy working on his own bike, he had been in an accident with it on a previous tour. He was working on it until 4:00am of the morning we left on the main tour. The owner had brought second hand spares in his luggage from UK, which the mechanic fitted on his bike. He therefore had no time to work on the bike I was using. I worked on the Transalp trying to tighten the loose spokes, but there was no adjustment left on them as they were stretched to their limit. The brake pads were also very low, the rear suspension was not able to cope with the weight of two people (each weighing 60kilos) and bottomed out constantly on nearly every speed bump at the slowest speed. Dirt roads were very difficult because of these issues The centre stand was also completely seized, so I had to free it off. After twelve days of pointing out these issues, which didn't make me a popular person with David, I was getting nowhere. So, I then had to insist that the tyres were changed or we wouldn't ride the bike. We knew we were going to have very difficult unmade roads the following day, we had previously already travelled the road a few days earlier. They took the bike to a repair shop where new tyres were fitted and they tightened the spokes by bending the ends over and then then re-tensioned them. This temporary repair did true up the rear wheel and also made the steering more stable. I also had to ask for the rear brake pads to be changed, as no daily maintenance or checks were being carried out on the bikes.

There were seven bikes in the group. Many of the bikes were in a questionable state of repair and they broke down on a regular basis. From day one there were broken clutch cables and no spares carried. Half the bikes had got brakes pads that were down to 1.5mm, a clutch was slipping and failed after 5 days and no spares were carried. A temporary fix was made By packing the clutch with washers. A handlebar brace which had been previously welded was broken again and left in that same state for the whole journey.The vehicles had not been prepared for the journey that we were undertaking. I was told this is the Peruvian way.


On a day to day basis there were no briefings. We were not given telephone numbers in case of emergencies and the back-up vehicle often over took and went ahead leaving the last rider in the group alone. We often didn't know how many miles the journey would be or what road conditions to expect. From day to day we had no idea where we would be going until the morning of the journey. Only five times out of the three weeks, were we given a map, this was hand drawn and not to scale, although it was better than nothing. We had very little detail, not even a full address of the hotel. The meet up points that were on the map were ignored causing some people to get left behind. There were days we had no breakfast or lunch, but no one was warned of this.

The trip could have been the trip of a life time, but due to the lack of communication, no real organisation and the poor level of service on the bikes the whole experience left a lot to be desired. We left the tour 5 days early. The last straw for us was when David had booked the next hotel, without any prior knowledge of the conditions of the roads ahead or the distance. I was shocked but not surprised when he asked me to use my own sat nav and iPad to plan a journey for him, as i was the only one with a sat nav.


That was the point when we both myself and my wife felt that the lack of organisation had gone a step too far. We informed David that evening we would be leaving the tour, he showed no interest in speaking to us and made no effort to discuss our reasons for leaving the tour, he just turned around and walked away from us.


We are not seeking monetary compensation or taking any legal action against APM. We are just concerned for the safety of others and want to help them avoid finding themselves in the position we were in. We want to highlight our experience to as many motorcyclists as we can. David Groves had very little interest in the issues I brought to his attention overall. What really concerns me is that these same bikes were starting a four country tour just 2 days after our tour had finished with no time for these 7 bikes to be prepared for the long hard journey.


If you would like any more information, please let me know and I will do my best to answer any questions you might have.

Best Regards, Pete and Jane Makemson

Sorry to hear about your bad luck :-(

How much was the tour ??? If I may ask... !

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Wow!
I wonder if HUBB member Toby knows this outfit? Or it's owner?
Toby= Charapashanperu

I think Toby runs tours now? :confused1:

Guided tours (and the bikes offered) are ALWAYS a risk. It's all about money for most of them. And their clients are typically NOT experienced riders so don't know the difference between a pile of steaming shite and a proper bike. Many young folks do this ... and just come to party.

Had you read any "real" testimonials from previous clients before you booked? Always pays to DIG DEEP before booking.

I would not mind paying for a guide (but not a whole tour) to get me into some remote and hard to find locations, or to deal with difficult language issues (riding my own bike, thank you very much!) ... but most of Peru' is well marked out and has been explored by hundreds of riders going back before Ted Simon in and 70's. With minimal research, routes could be quickly put together. Buy a bike there or rent a good one ... or talk to Toby because from what I've read, he is a straight up guy and runs a great tour. No BS.

Could be the mistake made was ever starting the ride at all.
Since you're experienced with bikes ... I'm sure your "gut" told you the outfit was bogus as soon as you saw the state of the bikes? :confused1:
I would have called Credit card company and cancelled the charge for failure to full fill contract. And if you never even started the tour ... the bank would likely take YOUR SIDE if a dispute arose.

But I'm sure you both would have been gutted to bail before ever starting.
And hindsight is always 20/20.

Now you've at least got a feel for Peru' ... who knows? Next time you might even enjoy it?

I am not discounting what the OP is saying, but it is important to remember that there are two sides to every story..

It does sound like the OP had a really bad experience. However, every company has it's problems from time to time and things do/can go wrong.

The issue here is if the company owners know, care or are doing anything to sort this or are they refunding disappointed customers..

Company's like this rely on their reputation and their business is often through recommendation and referral. If this is the 'Norm' then I doubt they will be operating for long. Not under the same name anyway

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Our Sympathies go out. Especially with not much that you can do, but vent here.

May I echo, how much did you pay for the tour?
I ask because my bike rental out of Peru (Honda Falcon) this 2014 Spring for my two weeks was almost twice as much as what I had paid for (DR 650) in Costa Rica.

I ran into a dilemma with which company to rent with. There was a huge discrepancy in pricing. I went with the most expensive of them all. The web page was professional and bikes/tours was what they specialized in.

Everyone knows that you takes your chances with a rental. Required tools and breakdowns are always the chance/curse one takes on any bike. In Arequipa, I was given a plastic bag full of tools and tubes, but had no room nor the desire to carry the extra weight. I carried a can of tube tire repair- Slime. Break down with no tools = my fault. Company is in the clear.

After my first 12 hour day of riding, I dropped off the bike at a repair shop to lube the chain. I was just too tired to do it myself. Bike mechanics are all over Peru. He found the axle adjuster backing had fallen off and the rear foot peg was barely hanging on.

How many of us can do a really thorough inspection before signing the mandatory contract?

Check out other's experiences. Buyer beware!

Hi Everyone
Thanks for all your responses. We just wanted to warn others about this company. We hope that it will raise awareness about the dodgy things these people can get up to. For the tour we paid £5,900, plus £1,800 for the flights. He did not return our £250 deposit, saying we had damaged the bike. This was completely untrue of course. Now we are nearly 2 years on, despite many emails and comments on his Face Book page, still no response and no refund has gone into our account. We have met and heard of others he's done this to. When we were thinking about going, we had quite a few conversations on the phone and we corresponded by email with him and did bank transfers, so no credit card payment to fall back on for compensation.He didn't send us a contract, he didn't appear to be affiliated to any official body that protects us or him. Always wiser after the event I suppose.

I have also been on a tour with Adventure Peru Motorcycles and was riding one of the Transalps albeit a couple of years ago.

I cannot remember if we were given phone numbers but they are useless in Peru as often you don't have phone signal.

We were given a map every day and the leader always waited at key junctions. Having done several tours in South America and India I really liked the flexibility with AP for being able to stop, take photos and then catch up with the group.

Our bikes worked fine although the 250 bike did struggle at very high altitude which fortunately I wasn't riding.

On our trip the truck broke down and David Groves and his team worked very hard to make sure all the luggage arrived from initially taking it all on the local bus to eventually hiring a taxi for a number of days which followed us. They were carrying a huge number of spares, does it matter if they are new or used as long as they work.

Unfortunately the standards we come to expect are not always easy to maintain in countries where local people are use to making do and time is not important. There are companies like Compass Expeditions and Globebusters who operate using modern bikes with full western staff teams and their prices really reflect that.

Its sad to hear you had a bad trip but I do know there are many happy AP customers out there, I certainly had no major complaints

I just stumbled upon this thread....

Petemak, so sorry you had to go thru that! I know that undesired things can happen on the road, but there is NO EXCUSE for bad preparation. I have almost been stuck without a CDI for one of my fleet, but aside from that NEVER have we been caught without a spare OF ANY kind needed, even on a 6-week tour. And to not sit down and hear your concerns is the worst!

I have however planned 9-10 hour days which I considered a day of adventure riding, but my customers thot excessive, taken routes that I had not ridden yet and not made a destination.... errors I will NOT make again!

Mollydog, thankyou for your vote of confidence. I think we have even been at odds in the past on this forum! This is not a commercial thread so I won't go into my services, but if at the end of a tour of mine we are not close friends and riding in Peru has not been the best experience of your life (barring sickness) I will have considered the tour a failure.

No, I don't know the outfit, as they are only part time and function out of the north of Peru, and I haven't seen anything new come out from them since 2013.

Touring Ted, wise words as always.


Cheers to all! Toby

I stayed with Toby a little while ago. He is very knowledgeable about roads in Peru and also puts a lot of work into his bikes. If you are looking for an organized tour or motorcycle rental then Toby is your man.

I'm heading to Peru this winter. Bikeless. A tour might be worth thinking about .

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Ted!

You should NEVER be bikeless in Peru!

Come see me. I have two XR650Ls (I see you have (or have had) a '94)

Toby

You mean this bad boy ???

650L in Peru. Wow.... Amazing.

Well, I'll see how my trip pans out.. Might just do ..

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

+2

There is a guy on ChinaRiders Forums - Powered by vBulletin who is an ex-pat American living in Peru who goes by the name 'Oldgringo'

He started out with a Chinese-made enduro when he first started on chinariders, and rode it everywhere; he has since upgraded to a KLR650.

He has, in the past, helped people find cheap, reliable motorcycles, and in spite of what you read and heard 10 or so years ago, Chinese motorcycles have gotten better, and have large dealer networks through established 'brands' in countries like Peru.

The only problem with buying a bike in Peru is that a foreigner cannot simply buy one and ride out of the dealership...if I remember, it takes some time, like a week or so for all the paperwork.

If it could be done relatively quickly, I believe the cost of a new bike should be less cost than paying for a tour. Try to find 'oldgringo' on chinariders, and see if he could set you up with a bike, or even know of reliable, honest tour companies he could steer you towards if buying a bike doesn't sound like something you want to be involved with.