North and Central America

[Lloyd Vegas]

I'm toying with the idea of taking a trip to Honduras to do my Dive Instructor exams. Seems like a good excuse for a bike trip as well.

Current thinking is to buy a bike in Canada, the States or Mexico and make my way south.

Does anyone know how easy it is to buy and insure a bike in any of these places? I'd be in Honduras for around 6 months then ride the bike back to wherever I bought it and flog it again.

I'll apologise in advance for how late my replies will be to any posts - I'm slumming it in the Seychelles at the moment, monitoring reefs and turtles, and I only get internet access once a week.

Cheers,

Lloyd

 

[Commuter]

Possible

This is definitely possible, however you will need to get a few things first.

International driving license and then probably an American one when you get here, it depends on which state you will buy in, do you have an idea?

Craigslist is a fine place to find and then resell the bike, when you register it in the US you will need a permenent address for the documents and probably have to wait for them to show up. You certainly will not be able to ride into South America without those docs. Problems with resale is that you will never know if you can sell it quickly. You may want to approach a dealer in the area you plan to land and discuss a buy back agreement....not sure if this is possible but I am sure I have read about it.

What type of bike are you looking for and type of monies to spend, a 650 KLR which would be a better type of bike for this trip would be around 3k to 5k dollars depending on the age, mileage and extras added.

Thinking about your position, I don't know how much time and how much of the states you are looking to do, but you would need a week here to arrange purchase, collection and registration, insurance and get yourself packed and then your trip could begin. Documents could be forwarded to you before you get to the border, but again, it depends on the amount of time before that, that you plan to stay in the country.

Happy the help with enquiries if you need help.

Sounds like a great plan, biking then diving, nice combination

 

[Commuter]

Here are some sample buys for you:

San Diego Craigslist

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/mcy/134030634.html

San Franciso Craigslist
http://www.craigslist.org/sby/mcy/134028663.html

Hope it helps, Nick

 

[Lloyd Vegas]

Thanks Nick.

I've got addresses I can use in Vancouver, Oregon, Colorado and Mass. Colorado is probably the favourite though.

I agree with you about the bike...I'd have to do a few mods but it would be far better for getting about on once I got to Honduras.

I wasnt going to do too many States - the US is too big so I'll come back another time and do it properly.

I'd figured I'd fly into the West Coast, buy a bike and then buy some new dive gear and a laptop whilst waiting for the documents and before heading south. I'd like to see Baja California - there's whale diving around there - but at this stage the whole route is flexible.

I'd need insurance for riding abroad for around 6 months. Do you know if US insurers accept UK no claims proof?

 

[RussL]

If you're going to buy a bike in the US, another good source is http://www.cycletrader.com. I've been diving in Roatan off the coast of Honduras. It was fabulous!

 

[Lloyd Vegas]

Thanks for the tip. Looks like a good site.

Cheers,

Lloyd

 

[loafer]

I'm in the Uk, but I will have a 20002 1150GS for sale at the end of April. The bike is located in Indianapolis. Interested?

 

[Lloyd Vegas]

Thanks but it's a bit further out of the way than I was thinking of.

Good luck with it.

Cheers,

Lloyd