Hello everyone,

I'm looking to depart from Texas on a RTW August 2018. The amount of time I am spending agonizing over bike selection really seems to come down to agonizing about trip philosophy: precision vs incognito, performance vs experiences, minimalist vs optimized etc.

Anyway, my main issue is trying to decide between a multi-bike or single bike approach. i.e. one for the whole trip or roughly one per continent?


It seems like shipping the bike is a tremendous expense (not to mention the complexity) that could be avoided by buying multiple bikes in addition to having smaller, less complicated bikes for places like South America and Africa. If I kept the same bike, I like the idea of doing the ferry from SA to Europe but I would prefer to ride from Cape Town to Europe vs other way round.

I used to live in Germany, so I'm thinking it would be pretty easy to pick up a bike there or elsewhere in Europe, no experience buying and selling elsewhere. Right now I'm planning to use a Mosko Moto Reckless 80 (reckless) so swapping luggage shouldn't be too difficult and I'm going to try to carry as little as possible.

I'm thinking maybe....
Buy Texas, Sell Paraguay (or other tax free zone)
Buy South Africa, Sell? (ideas appreciated)
Buy Europe, Sell Australia or Ship home?

Thoughts? apologies if this has been discussed at length already

I have a 2001 F650gs Dakar in the garage right now but I am considering replacing it with a CRF250L, Super Sherpa etc for South America

My opinion would be to stick with one bike, buying and selling at each end of a continent can be a problem starting with registering in your name and more if a carnet de passage is involved. There are plenty of bikes which are suitable for the whole trip, take a look at the Honda CB500X adventure for a mid sized trusty all rounder.

forget about selling in Australia, your MC will be temporarily imported there with Carnet, and you´re looking at paying full taxes & duties, and you are naturally in violation of your Carnet agreement if you sell it in a Carnet country, so you won´t get your bond back from the issuer.

Of course you go for a CRF250L haha. We are currently traveling around the world on them. Ride 60.000 km now and still going strong, just changed the clutch pads from 1 of the bikes that's all big maintenance we did so far..

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Hit the road, discover the world!
www.oneroadoneworld.com

Harsh realities of today means travelers may be hard pressed to go RTW on one bike without considerable extra expense and hassle. Lots of good alternatives however.

Not only is crating and shipping a bike expensive but can be stressful, a major hassle with endless document nightmares, insane invented fees and corruption.

You may also encounter massive unexplained delays waiting WEEKS to get your bike free of the port ... IMO, all this can ruin your whole trip and ramp up your expenses .... a lot!

PLUS ... you still have the Carnet to buy $$$$ in some regions (not S. America) get stamped in/out and if you screw it up you can lose a BIG chunk of deposit money ($thousands$).

The good news is you can ride your current BMW F650GS all the way South, then either sell it off, ship to S. Africa ... or ride it back to USA and sell it legally there. Or ... leave it, come back in a year or two and continue your trip.

If you do S.America as a loop you may even be able to do some "new" countries on your way back North, see parts of countries you did not see on your way South. (like Caribe side of Cent. America, East side of Mexico)

ROUTE:
On your way South stay West through Mexico and Central America, then stick to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru' and Chile. Then, if you decide to ride back, head North, do Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Venezuela and Brazil. You could spend a year in Brazil alone.

Perhaps ship to Miami from Colombia?? ... or take another two weeks and ride to USA. Sell off that bike once back in USA. You got your money's worth!

If you ship your bike to Africa then you're good to go for ALL of Africa and EU and beyond. You will have Carnet issues to deal with in certain countries.

If you fly to S. Africa and buy a bike there, I think Carnet is not required for most other African countries with S. African plates (not sure on this, look into it). It's not cheap for bikes there but not that much more than US or EU, AFAIK.
Asia- India
Most Moto-Queros don't ride into China and it's impossible to legally bring your own bike into China. So, that's another part of the world you have to buy (or rent) another bike.

Another challenge area for bringing your own bike into is India and most of Asia. India make it nearly impossible to temp import a bike and the Asian countries also can be a major hassle. Rentals or buying your own bike is THE WAY to go for both of those regions.

Cheap and easy to buy or rent bikes there. No point bringing in your own bike. Would be a HUGE hassle and expense.

You could also leave your bike behind once you get to Chile or Argentina. I hear it' quite easy to do this in Uruguay. No hassle with TIP. They love BMW in Argentina and Chile ... so you may get an offer you can't refuse. Let the buyer worry about registering the bike.

You're so lucky to be able to take off and travel!
!Que le via muy bien!

Nah - not quite right Molly. You can bring foreign vehicles into and through China, travellers do that all the time. But its expensive as you need guides and permits and a major PITA when it comes to paperwork and buraucrasy.
India - not s problem to get into as long as you have a Carnet. The traffic there might scare the shit out of you though.

I would say that if youre goal is to do a RTW-trip, then do it on one bike. Research its weak spots etc and set it up and equip it well.

But if your attitude is more of a traveller who want to see parts of the world, several bikes, renting or buying locally might be a better option.

Some countries and areas are difficult and or expensive to get axcess to such as Vietnam, so if you want to go there its probably better to hore or buy locally. New Zealand - quite expensive to ship both to and from and a country very easy to buy a bike as a foreigner, so thats definetively an option worth thinking of.

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

Its not possible for anyone to import a vehicle older than 2 years old in Chile except in the two Zollfrei regions.
It is also supposed to be a basically new car, not something with 20k miles.
We had a friend who owed a customs brokerage, even though my KLR650 was just 18 months old it was a hassle that a mere mortal would have given up with. For him it was a gauntlet thrown down!!My wifes F650 was 30 months old, we had to ship it out of the country.
Another little know fact is that when you get a TIP in Chile its for 3 months. Theoretically you cannot get another one for 12 months. We lived there for 2 years and only once did we get turned back after going out of the country with her bike.
We waited until the next day and a different time and person and got thru.

Uruguay on the other hand is relatively easy, but as said, leave it up to the buyer to figure it out.
Michael

You have to weigh up if you prefer to spend time buying and selling/renting motorbikes v the shipping/carnet aspect of using one bike. Can you potentially afford to wait for a bike to sell before you start the next leg of your journey?, not a problem if you are always renting though, but you will end up having to do a loop if you rent and drop the bike back off at the start point.

There are good and bad aspects of both, buying/renting gives you flexibility to change your plans but I prefer to have a bike I know well and fly it or ship it. Realistically if you start in North America, you have to cross the Darian Gap, ship from Buenos Aires to Durban, ride back to Europe if you want to - and ride to Asia, ship to to Aus and back to North America, which really is not that much actual shipping to complete a RTW

I would not hesitate to do a RTW on a CRF250L, great bikes, cheap to run, fix and cheap carnet.

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Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

Some really good points!

All good, fair points. I would counter with:
How long can you afford to wait until your ship or plane comes in with your bike?

And how much running around might you have to do to get your bike "free' of the port? Document hurdles and delays can be substantial. We've all read the nightmare stories NUMEROUS times.

Selling could be difficult, true enough. But many outfits offer "Buy Back" schemes. Also, in, for example, Vietnam, you can rent (or buy) a bike in either Hanoi or Saigon .... ride all the way North or South ... and drop the bike off ... as several rental/sales companies have offices in both North and South. Some also have buy back arrangements.

Not sure about India, maybe others have experiences on this????

This is all good ... and basically what I already detailed in my post above. From reading reports, shipping from Buenos Aires to Durban is no piece of cake. Flying by far the best method paperwork wise but expensive as HELL.

But certainly possible and many do it.

Not sure how one might Ride from EU to Asia. ??? Some shipping required along the way, not to mention Carnet issues, war zones and political road blocks too.

I'd not be too excited about riding through most of the Middle East currently ... but hey, terror is what 'adventure" is all about, right?
(just kidding!)

I would love to be on my own bike the whole ride too, but have less tolerance for tin pot paper pushers having all the power ... would rather just walk away.

This also is about what is important ... is it about the bike (your bike!) or is it about the ride (on any bike), the people you meet and places you see?

It's all very personal. For me, I have NO INTEREST in doing continuous long journeys that go on for years. Prefer shorter jaunts into one area, do some exploring, then return. Regroup, plan and do it again someplace else.

Back to school Molly! From the EU we just cross the Bosporus (bridge) and we are on the Asian continent. To continue to South-East Asia no war zones, depending on the route, only pain in the ass paperwork and guided tours through China, Myanmar and Thailand.

I agree on airfreight being the best shipping method. In the end it's not that much more expensive than airfreight. You can fly your bike from one continent to another between us$1000 and $2000 depending on the weight. When they charge more you have to continue searching....

Ofcourse you can buy a Chinese or second hand bike for this money in most parts of the world, this will work out cheaper. Personally I liked doing it all on one trusty bike. Future far away trips to single countries/continents I would consider buying there.

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www.amsterdamtoanywhere.nl

That's it! Simple as!


Once upon a time, in June 2009 if I recall correctly, I asked Peter Forwood - of 'The World's Most Traveled Motorcycle' fame - this question:

"Why challenge yourself with all the hassles associated with riding this one solitary 'tank' of a motorcycle continuously 'round the world Peter?"

"Because it's the bike's journey too mate" was his reply.

That made sense to me.

Reminder:
Aussie Peter - out from northern Queensland - along with his good lady wife and pillion, Kay Forwood: from 1996 to 2011, rode their 1994 Harley-Davison Electraglide Classic, epically RTW, visiting 193 countries in the process. Awesome!

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Right Way Round ...

The best bike to take is the one you already have. I would also let you know that just crossing the border doesn't turn roads in to dirt and make speeds of 70+ mph history. I rode with some guys on 250s in Patagonia but I had to leave them because I never got out of 4th gear.

Lots of ways now to go about RTW travel. Like I said ... it's personal.
I met Peter Forwood at a HUBB event in BC, Canada in around 2003 or 4. Saw his whole presentation. Impressive for sure.

That's one way to go about RTW or MC travel ... but not mine. I love the fact that Harley took his bike in and totally re-built it from the ground up at the H-D factory in Wisconsin. All NO CHARGE. Maybe that's why Peter is so wedded to that "tank" of a bike?

It's a different strokes thing. I like freedom and flexibility regards travel on bikes. And I try not to become too attached to ANY bike I own.

They are just machines made on an assembly line. Lots more like 'em. Get over the absurd sentimentality I see amongst some riders.

A bike is mostly what you make it. If one is good on mods, maintenance and service, then most bikes will be reasonably reliable. Don't get attached ... be prepared to just grab you kit off it and walk away if it dies.
As always ... YMMV.

Most riders doing RTW or equivalent long journeys use a single bike.

That must mean something. I'd be cautious about accepting advice from people here or elsewhere who haven't, or don't currently, make such journeys.

From my perspective, I've found it pretty easy and reasonably rewarding to ship my own bike from one continent to another. Considering what a pain in the butt it can be just finding tires and parts in an unfamiliar country, I shudder to think of the time and effort involved in buying and selling, then outfitting and maintaining, whole motorbikes. I'd rather take my non-infinite free time and go riding.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

I would compare this to having one wife vs many - just freaking too expensive
and too much headache plus you never know what to expect...