Buying a bike in Nairobi. Is it possible?

[Simonmogensen]

We are two people from Denmark who are going to Nairobi in june and we want to figure out if it's possible (and wise) to bye bikes there. We want to go to uganda, Tanzania, mocambique and end up in South Africa.

It has been a little difficult to find out what the prices on bikes are in Kenya(Nairobi), if it's possible to take the bike out of the country, if you need a carnet de passage, how it works with all the paperwork( how long it takes?) and if it's possible to sell it in South Africa after?

Maybe somebody has tried it, have some adresses or knows someone who did it?
If someone has some information to share it would be fantastic.

Thanks alot.
Simon.

[petefromberkeley]

You should contact the Nairobi HU Community.

[andygray]

Hi Simon,
It was possible in 1999 when I flew in and bought 2 new bikes. I had to get a social security number and address in Nairobi ( all a bit ilegal). The paper work and registering of the bikes took 2 weeks in toatal, which was hard work but aparently far quicker than usual.
I carried on through to Namibia eventually, all without a Carnet, no big issues.
I looked into buying second hand bikes but all I could find was junk so I went the new bike route. The new bike prices were very high because of taxes at the time.

It's all possible but it takes a lot of work to get it done. I was fortunate to have 3 months vacation so a couple of weeks wasn't too much out of my time and it paid back with future return visits.

Bit out of date info but it may help.
Andy

[5 Eyes]

HI Simon

the very best guy you can contact in Nairobi is a guy called Chirs who runs a hostel and camp site in Nairobi called Jungle Junction.
He is a German guy who has been living there for a long time and he is a fully qualified bike mechanic with over 25 years experience working for BMW.
He runs a great hostel and is a 100% straight guy.
I rode from cape town to cairo in july last year on a 1200GS and stopped off there. He gave me great help.
While I was talking to him he was talking about buying in a pile of 650 GS's for the purpose of renting them to people like yourself.

Im not sure if he got around to doing it but he is definitley worth a call.
I dont have his email but if you just google jungle junction Nairobi you will find him.

His cell phone number is +254 7227 52865.

best of luck and let me know if there is any more help you need

Gary

[Alan Whelan]

Hi Simon

Did you get sorted out finding a bike in Nairobi? I plan to do something similar next year - either buy and re-sell at the end of the circular trip or hire. But I cannot get info about whether it's possible and if I need a locally-issued carnet to travel through Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Alan