Dear bikerfellows

being out on the road in Nevada /USA right now since 17 th of may fro 12500 km so far, with an itinerary for Brasil / Fortalezza mid to end of July 2015I, I have a variety of questions on shipping to and riding in Brasil.

I hope you can help me along to come to a final conclusion, whether to travel Brasil or not at all.

( please note I have a bit bike-travelled various times South- and Centralamerica , Northamerica and Alaska as welll Northern and southern Africa, Russia and Asia with Kasachstan and Mongolia plus all over Europe and various other places in the past 33 years , so this is not a newbys question about travelling safety, but a serious concern , if the present constellation is a good one to be taken to Brasil and therefor appreciating experienced travellers opinions about the matter- and there is no better place than the Hubb for that ) I just fight a bad feeling about Brasil these days.

Being on a 50000 mile charity project as described here http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...a-canada-82369


, the Ride-of-Smiles is using a 2015 R1200 GS Adventure LC . This makes it pretty much impossible to "ride at low radar " through Brasil.

May I ask you about your personal opinion about the risk of loosing a) the bike and b) more and related also personal belongings up to your life whilst travelling Brasil north to South on to Paraguay and Argentina. Technical support , spares, tyres and alike will well make it necessary to get into some major cities like Rio and Sao Paulo.

There is (well understood) a variety of opinions on travels in Brasil. A lot of good advices point into the right direction of not causing any attraction by personal outfit- just like I would tell it to peole asking me about destinations I travelled before. I would travel Brasil anytime on one of my old 650s- so it is not about that )

Yet the attraction of an obvous torist and travellers bike on this mission cannot be avoided this time. Besides "wrong time and wrong place - and shit can happen anywhere" - what is your personal opinion on that. Will help me getting along to the right decision - thank you for that.

Another question I would like to ask you is about lodging with facilities to store the bike away in Brasil - is there anything like an Adressslist or Link on the Hubb about that ?

Would you be out camping in Brasil these days at all ?

Is anybody around travelling Brasil / Paraguay/ Urugay / Argentina and Chile these days and would like to share some miles on the road ?

please feel free to contact me here at the contactform

Ride Of Smiles - 50.000 miles - CONTACT + GUESTBOOK + LINKS + INFOS

or via the Hubb-Forum.

Final ( off topic here a bit) - does anybody know about a company building crades for the bike in Miami / alternative US or Canada Westcoast if I change travelplans in San Diego / Los Angeles / Vancouver )

Any answer is a good one - so thank you all for supporting.

The final question is : Would YOU do it yourself ;-)

BABA Henning

(registered before as ROC2008)

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BABA Henning
www.ride-of-smiles.com - when bikers make a better world

No need to ask for the answer to your question here now is because your CV shows that how much experience you have to travel .... just used comon sense and do not take advice from someone who has one leg and uses crutches and says you that he knows a good orthopedist ....
Enjoy your ride in by Brazil ......... may also meet somewhere on the road in April.
Kawazoki

Please advise why Brazil should be any more "dangerous" than any of the other countries you say you've visited. Asking about safely in places like Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq, for example, might seem prudent, but Brazil...

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Makes sense to ask experienced riders about any specific safety issues in a particular country. For instance, in Brasil, kite strings are/were a particular problem and there was plenty of very graphic examples of why. That particular danger might not exist anywhere else in the world.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-strings-68117

I imagine there are others specific to Brasil, or at least to that part of the world.

What about fuel quality, ethanol proportion. Maybe not all engines can handle it.

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Tony
Click here for Travel Photos & Travel Map

Yes

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Crime is of course Ramoant in Brazil.

I am not sure it applies to your bike, however police ride DS bikes there and will help relieve you of your DR or KLR bike or parts, like it or not.

Ride-OF-Smiles says Hello to all Adventureriders here and starts with 3 questions - ADVrider

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Simon and I (2ridetheworld) travelled through 22 of Brazil's 26 states in 2005 & 2006. No issues anywhere.

just remember some of the 'roads/routes' marked on the maps in some of the interior states are not there at all - or were there but have since been eaten by the jungle and taken back to nature.
Take your prophylactics- know how to work on your bike - speak some Portuguese and go and enjoy.

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Lisa
www.2ridetheworld.com

....especially the encouraging ones.

First of all sorry for somewhat late answering.

But as my tablet just broke down after 6 weeks of travelling ( broken micro-usb-contact ) I am about to set up all my IT with a new netbook I have to organize) And due to travelling I am not permantently online.

Thebackground of my question is that after all of many years of travellling and sharing just the same positive impressions like you for so many years ( why otherwise I would be back on the road if not for that ;-) there is a more than ever serious concern, resulting also of sources like this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzN_tcK0NzI

( tough stuff , sorry for that)

By the end I will involve all your positive affirmation into the final decisions- and do , what I ever did - follow the guts.

Thank you for taking that thread serious here - that is a true bikers and travellers forum.Apprecuate that and will have all travelling bikers welcome in my place in the bavarian alpes , once I am back home,

See you all hopefully out on the road

BABA :-)

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BABA Henning
www.ride-of-smiles.com - when bikers make a better world

A good riding buddy is a retired Orthopedic surgeon. He's worked with Doctor's Without Borders and other NGO's. He is a rider too, but doesn't screw around on bike trips pretending to be a charity ... he goes directly to various countries and operates or teaches, usually BOTH.

I feel Traveling by bike means little to local folk ... other than perhaps they think you've arrived from another world. (you have, Germany) Best get down to earth. One on ONe help is best.

I give to local charities I know, that work for projects I understand and can see ... not foreign ones with unknown middlemen claiming affiliation with an NGO.

Just because you're riding a bike is no guarantee readers here will support you. Why would they? We are all constantly barraged to GIVE GIVE GIVE. Why don't you try to get Brazilians to support your charity ... see how that goes.

BTW, How things going over on ADV Rider?

IMO, the best you could ever do for Brazilians (a relatively wealthy country) or anywhere they truly need help, would be to go there and TEACH young doctors and medical students everything you know.

To me, that is valuable and important work. Riding round on a lark ... while fun for YOU, does not help others. At all. And few will pay you to screw around on a new BMW while millions continue to suffer.

I share your concern about riding around on a new $25,000 BMW GS ... after all, it's worth more money than average folk there make in 10 years of hard work. No wonder they would steal it ... and possible KILL YOU to get it. Lots of guns in Brazil, not like many Latin countries where guns are basically illegal.

If you want to ride around and DO GOOD ... buy something the locals ride, like a scooter or 125 and get to work teaching and applying your medical skills and sharing what you've learned.

My friend also goes round to hospitals in California and gets them to donate equipment and supplies they consider to be obsolete. He does this on a project by project basis. He ships TONS of stuff, and has managed to obtain all sorts of perfectly GOOD equipment ... free!

So far he has been to Vietnam, Haiti, Philippines, Mexico, Uganda.
He rides a BMW too ... but would never be sponsored by them. (funny side note: both Uganda and Philippines wanted DUTY paid on the free equipment that was being donated to local clinics/hospitals! )

Do you want to be famous or do some good?



PS: I worked ON/Off for two major NGO's for 10 years, so I've seen a bit of the world where medical help is needed. (Africa, Asia, S. America) I really admired some of the Doc's I meant, like the ones in Cambodia. But I was there as a paid professional, not a volunteer.

Looking at this bike-jacking video, your bike should be ok as long as it has crashbars fitted Motor vehicles get stolen the world over and there are "parts of town" in any large city where you shouldn't go.

While I've never had a gun pointed at me, I've felt very uneasy in parts of Marseilles and Los Angeles (during the day). Does this mean I wouldn't go to France or the USA? No. Local knowledge will help you avoid the no-go-areas.

Carrying a mugger-wallet (in addition to your normal wallet), or just one wallet with not much in it can be viewed as a good idea in quite a few North and Latin American/African/Asian/European countries. Brazil is one of many IMHO.

I also try to avoid cities where-ever I go, and if I do visit cities, I park the bike up at the hotel and take public transport/walk/taxi.

Whether shooting a thief is justified is open to debate (my opinion is irrelevant on this topic), but probably not an appropriate topic on a motorcycle travel forum that tries to help and spread global understanding.

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Just go........

No more dangerous than anywhere else you have been.

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