Pan American Highway

[DG]

Guys has any of you done this? If you have what’s the craic with shipping/flying the Darian Gap? Costs involved. And is there a need for any visas on the route into South America?

[Toe]

Hopefully this can help with visas and carnets. Unfortunately no experience with cross the Darian.

[herman]

The Stahlratte is the more colourful way to do it but it means meeting a schedule

[OnHellas]

I used Air Cargo Pack based in Bogota and Panama City wen we shipped the F800GS sidecar outfit accross the Gap in 2016.

We paid $1275 US. Solo bikes shipped at the same time paid $1000.

The service was top notch. Super company with super staff. Customs clearance was included into Colombia.
I would recommend them 100% from my and fellow travellers experiences.

www.sidecartravels.co.uk

[DG]

I used Air Cargo Pack based in Bogota and Panama City wen we shipped the F800GS sidecar outfit accross the Gap in 2016.

We paid $1275 US. Solo bikes shipped at the same time paid $1000.

The service was top notch. Super company with super staff. Customs clearance was included into Colombia.
I would recommend them 100% from my and fellow travellers experiences.

www.sidecartravels.co.uk

Cheers for that pal. When you shipped your bike over from the UK where did you ship it to? I’ve just got a quote from James Cargo into Santiago And was advised I’d have to pay import duty on my bike. If so any ideas on the costs involved?

[OnHellas]

I shipped with Moto Freight. They were superb. Everything that Roddy and Cathy told me would happen, happened.

I shipped the sidecar outfit from London to New York for about £1500, plus a custom made crate.
Motor freight have solo bike crates in stock all the time so it’s must cheaper than our big box.

We used airfreight as it was quicker, more convenient and not much money more.

We returned from Buenas Aires to London again using Moto Freight but through Dakar Moto in BA.
We paidabout £2500 from memory I think.

Have a chat with Roddy, I really rate him.
He is currently sorting out shipping my 800GS to Australia, this time without the sidecar.

Have a look at www.sidecartravels.co.uk
Mrs OnHellas did the blog, sadly she passed away shortly after we returned home. Cancer truly is a CNUT!!!!!!!

[Tonibe63]

Have a look at www.sidecartravels.co.uk
Mrs OnHellas did the blog, sadly she passed away shortly after we returned home. Cancer truly is a CNUT!!!!!!!

Great blog and a big kick up the @rse for those of us worrying about tomorrow, sorry for your loss and thanks for sharing

[OnHellas]

Thanks for that.
I reckon that if you want to, and you can, DO IT!!

Mrs OnHellas only made it to 48 years old.
But.....in the last 3 years of her life she rode her G650GS over 10,000 miles in a 3 month trip starting from home. Going to Nordcapp, through the Baltic states to the Alps, Romania, through Bulgaria to Greece before finally crashing in Italy.
A fractured spine and coccyx resulted in the end of her riding days due to a lack of confidence.
She was still up for being a sidecar passenger though. As the blog says, 8 months and over 28,000 miles. New York to Alaska and south to Ushuaia.

A lucky lady in many ways.

[Old Git Ray]

Guys has any of you done this? If you have what’s the craic with shipping/flying the Darian Gap? Costs involved. And is there a need for any visas on the route into South America?

We did 40k miles in North and South America in 2012/13 on a 2010 Super Tenere.

We paid £1000 to James Cargo to get us to New York.

The USA was the biggest hassle and to be honest it was not that much of a problem. They have a department called the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and you need to do a fair amount of pre-emptive paperwork prior to being allowed to import your bike there. They just want you to sign your life away and guarantee that you will take the bike out within a year. Easy considering you can only get a visa for a maximum of 6 months anyway.

Info https://www.epa.gov/importing-vehicles- ... r-vehicles
The form https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/fi ... nabled.pdf

Customs clearance was fairly straightforward providing you can show the customs officer you have a master plan that includes leaving the country with your bike.

Mexico was a piece of cake although you will need to pay $400 import duty that you pay with a debit card. The good news is that they re-pay it on exit. I was dubious but it went straight back into my account.

From there on, there was no need for any pre-emptive visas, nor were there any import fees or any need for a carnet. This was the same for the whole trip and all documentation, insurance and visas were obtained at the borders.

We crossed the Darien gap on the Stahlratte. It could have been done in 24 hours but it was turned into a mini cruise by the captain and stop offs at deserted islands were included.

We exited via Buenos Aires for a cost of $1940 for the bike via Dakar Motos. Just about everything is in USD. A small tip is to have the dollars before entering Argentina as they are difficult to get when there and they are preferred. Whilst we were there the exchange rate was in freefall and we could only pay in $ and we got fucked over with the exchange rate.

More info at http://raykarenhall.blogspot.co.uk but I warn you there is a lot of irrelevant (to you) stuff in amongst it.

This lot weighed 315kg inc panniers and helmets. Shipping costs are based on volume as well as weight.

[gbags]

I shipped with Moto Freight. They were superb. Everything that Roddy and Cathy told me would happen, happened.

Plus one for Motorbike Freight, they are great. We didn’t even have to fit the battery back on.

The bike was rolled out to us just as we’d handed it over.