It’s taken a long time to get there but I finally own a new motorbike. It was probably 5 years ago I decided that I was going to ride around South America on a bike. And here I am. In South America and with a bike. This will be a pretty bikey post because getting a bike to, or in, South America is a bit of a process in itself and I’m going to talk about how I did it. There were a few times that I thought I was buying a caboose on a rollercaoster. Emotionally if not physically.

If you have read one of my previous posts you would know that I haven’t owned a bike for 40 years. There is always the question of buying a bike at home and shipping it here but I think being an Australian and the costs associated with getting it here make it unfeasible. The next option was to buy one in the North America and ride it or ship it down and there’s also cost involved with that. And getting it back or getting rid of it. I didn’t want to ride all the way down through central America because I’ve done that part before in a $100 car. So that left me with three options. Some people rent bikes but that wouldn’t work for a whole year. And multiple border crossings. So that left me two options. Buy a new bike or a second hand bike.

I did manage to do some google research on this topic and there’s no end of advice and opinions. It seemed like Colombia was definitely the best place to buy and later resell a bike. Other countries have all sorts of rules and regulations about importing and exporting and crossing borders and duty free zones. Once you have a bike or vehicle in your name you can’t really leave until you sort it out. I may have gotten around that rule 35 years ago when I sold our $100 car for $50 in Panama and left on a midnight yacht but technology has put an end to those sort of initiatives. I’m on a few South American Facebook groups and problems pop up almost daily. Buying a second hand bike gives you two choices. Buy one off another foreigner after they have done their trip or buy one locally. That also comes with its own set of challenges and bikes seem to hold their value well so it’s not necessarily much cheaper. So all that made me decide to buy new and from a reputable dealer who would do all the paperwork.

It’s not that simple. Firstly, I chose Cartagena as my starting point. It’s a big city. Everybody’s heard of it and so there should be heaps of motorbike shops. There is. But they are all quite small and anything over 200cc is pretty rare. And anything bigger is usually just a road bike. If I did this again I would probably start in Medellin. Theres a big biking culture over there.

I ended up bussing up the coast to Barranquilla and then also flying over to Medellin to check out different bikes before making my decision. I decided on the Honda XRE 300. I went to the biggest Honda shop in Cartagena and said I’d like to buy one. Okay. We’ll find out what’s available and get back to you. So they next day they said they can get me a new 2023 XRE 300 ABS. It’s black and grey and they could have it here next week. I had no real colour preference and that was the only available option so I said I’ll take it. The prices seem to be the same all over Colombia and are on all the Honda websites. I asked the nice lady who actually spoke a little bit of English to give me the total amount including all the paperwork. It was just a couple of hundred thousand pesos over twenty eight million pesos. Which is just over 10 grand in aussie dollars. Just slightly more expensive than buying one at home.

It took a couple of hours to sort out some stuff and then she said I had to pay the money. And that it should take about 10 days all up. The processes doesn’t start until you’ve paid the full amount. So I paid. She did most of the paperwork at the shop which mainly required my passport. I just kept signing bits of paper and backing up things with my fingerprint. A couple of days later she called me in to say I needed to get a RUNT. And that I would have to do that at the Minesterio de Transporte.

I got there about 8:00 am when it opened and it took about an hour and a half including all the hiccups. For some reason the other forty people waiting knew what they were doing or understood the guy when he came out from behind the counter and told us all something. I had handed my passport over to some lady on the way in and was continually watching her (and my passport). She eventually took it over to Window 10. It was by far the busiest window on the day. The guy was calling out names and people would go up and collect two pieces of paper and then go to another window and pay some money and then to another place and write something and then return it to the same window.  I had it sussed. On the second calling of my name or what sounded like my name and nobody else got up, I went to the window. He gave me the paper and I nodded like a boss, I’d studied the routine and pointed to the cashier. He said no. I had to go to the bank and pointed to the exit and then called out the next name.

I asked the passport lady at the door who seemed friendly and not busy and she also said something about the bank on the avienda (the avenue). So I took my pieces of paper which gave me no clue and went down the street and found a little hole in the wall bank. It was so indiscreet. I almost missed it. It was a door in a wall and inside it was about half the size of a walk in robe and had a woman behind a glass screen. I thought I’d nailed it. Turns out it wasn’t that bank but the one on the avienda. Long story short. It turns out they were saying Davivienda not the avienda. Which is the name of the bank.

I gave the lady in the nice airconned Davivienda Bank my bits of paper and 15,900 pesos ($6.00). I’d gotten pretty hot wandering around in circles and so the cool air was nice. She obviously knew what it was all about. Stamped them and stapled on a receipt and I was on my way back to the Minesterio de Transporte. I retuned my stamped form to Window 10 and took my seat and waited. When I was called up the second time the guy also called over another guy who spoke a bit of English which was great. He took me to one side and told me to write my name, email, phone number, address in Cartagena and my blood type. Apparently if you don’t know your blood type you may have to go and get a test done and bring back the results. They were happy to take my word for it. Apparently you need a letter and not a colour. He thought it was funny.

I should also mention here that I don’t have a local phone number and so I have been using the mobile number of the lady who owns the Airbnb where I’m staying. During the process at Honda the lady there entered something in the computer that required a code being sent to my phone. I called the landlady and she gave me the code. Good thing to remember if you’re actually reading this for practical purposes. I also was getting random official looking emails which I forwarded to her. So I knew stuff was happening in the background.

After a while at the Minesterio de Transporte  I was called to the window and given back the paperwork I’d handed in. I also had to give them a print of both of my index fingers on an electronic reader. And that was it. I was told I could check that it all worked by logging in online in a couple of days, which I did, and it was there. I had a RUNT. It would be a quicker process if you spoke spanish and you can apply for it before you buy the bike if you want to. I also read this somewhere else afterwards.

One day the lady from the Honda shop called me and asked me for my Colombian Identification Card. Obviously, I didn’t have one. She said I must have one and it was issued to me when I entered Colombia. I sent her photos of everything I had. No. It had to be the ID card. She said I needed one to purchase the bike and that I couldn’t have the bike without one and said she’d get back to me. That night I did some googling and realised I’d been a bit shallow in my research. It was old info, incomplete and untried advice. Not concrete advice. I was feeling a bit low.

The next day she called and said that all she needed was my Australian ID card. Which I obviously didn’t have either. I tried to explain this to her without much success. Apparently everyone has an ID card. I kept explaining that my ID was my passport or drivers licence. She got back to me that afternoon and said that I can register it at the San Juan transit station. It was the only one that would accept my passport as ID. And would I agree to that. I had no idea what that meant but I just said go for it.

Another worried night and then next day a WhatsApp message from her with a SOAT attached. I hear about SOATs all the time on the groups I follow. But I hadn’t really bothered to find out what it was. I have now. It’s what we would call third party insurance in Australia. It covers you and other people in an accident. Another piece of the puzzle and things were looking up. Another text told me the bike had arrived and that she was just waiting on my number plate. Earlier on she had asked me to choose a number for the first number of my number section of my number plate and I said I didn’t care but after her insistence I chose one. A few days later I got a text to say the number I had chosen was taken and I’d need to choose another one so they could issue the plate. I told her to choose one for me and thankfully she accepted. I could see where this was going.

Next day she text to say the plate would arrive on Saturday and I could pick the bike up on Friday afternoon or Saturday. Sometimes things get a bit confused in translation apps. I opted for the 11:00 am Saturday spot as it was already Friday afternoon. So in the end it did take about 10 working days and included one of the many public holidays in Colombia. I rocked up to collect the bike.  There was a bit more paperwork to sign and warranty and my bike licence? on a nice plastic card, and some keys and a hand shake and I was on my own in the busy street with a moto with 0 kilometres on the clock and a flashing low fuel light. I was waved goodbye and I was off. But things didn’t go to plan and this post is too long already and I need something for the next post.