I'm back in the states now, Telluride actually, and figured it was time to post some of the pics of my last year riding down in Costa Rica. This bike started it's life as a stock 2006 SMR450 that I bought used while living in Santa Monica (ugh). So I raced it out a bit for canyons and then a year later I departed LA and imported the bike to CR, but not before I converted it to a ADV ready TE style 450. Also, import fees suck! I ride almost entirely solo so pics usually do not have me on the bike unless I was doing a two-up ride. There are a LOT of river crossings during the wet season that I simply couldn't get pics of due to riding solo, or having to rush so that the rain storms didn't strand me in canyons with rising water levels (no time for pics). So most of these pics are of pleasant non-stormy rides, but those are fun too. I'm not going to annotate most of the pics but if anyone wants to know a location on a specific photo feel free to ask. Riding in Costa Rica is a blast - and the bike is still there for when I go back later in the year. More to follow once the second folder syncs. I have some nice pics of the Samara to Santa Teresa "beach highway" in the next set.
Nice fotos and it looks like you have the right tool for the job. If I can ask, how much was the import tax on the bike?
Looks like a super great place to ride and the photos help urge a person on to what looks like a cool country. Thanks for taking the time for others.... Gary "Oldone" Grampa’s Lake Superior Ride Grampa’s National Monument Ride
Import tax was $2800 on a bike that I paid $3400 for used. However, I've easily put $6k into it via wheels, suspension, engine & carb, etc - so when they opened the crate I'm sure they thought it was worth more and wanted to charge a lot for tax. However, in general you can expect import tax to be anywhere from 40-70% of the value, depending on phase of moon and who you know. My bike sat in a warehouse, crated, for 3 weeks with emails back and forth about updates before I got a Costa Rican lawyer to help me - and then it was out of the warehouse and on a truck to my house the very next day. If you're going to ride there but not move there you don't have to pay import taxes (to my knowledge) because it's just getting stamped for the 90 day visa like your passport, which requires the bike to be out of the country in 90 days. I was moving there so I imported it and the bike has a Costa Rican plate and registration and all that. btw, for comparison, a 2004 XR400 goes for about $6500 USD down there -- so importing my bike made financial sense. There are no other bikes like it that I've ever seen in CR - I see lots of 125 and 250 but people get wide eyed with interest when I ride up to the gas station and it's always a conversation point; vs in the USA where it's just a bike.
That's what I did in March of 2012 - and when I came back I figured out a way to move, and was renting a place in CR by May. Those two weeks of riding sold me on moving
I had a design all setup to do custom passenger pegs but ended up buying these: http://crossplus.eu/en/Footpeg/crossplus-footpegs.html They're way better than bolting on the stock husky passenger pegs and come off/on really quick. Great system and totally worth the cost.
Your wonderful pictures bring back some very fond memories of riding solo in Costa Rica last year (link in sig line). It must have been amazing to spend a year in such a beautiful and friendly country! Cheers,
Nice job man ,more photos and ya gotta have some stories too . We wanna hear !!! Hope ya got a scoot for around Telluride this Summer ?Youre gonna have fun . Thanks for Posting
Yep, I'm well on my way to having some great moto adventures in the Rockies now - here's a couple of pics from last weekend. Ophir Pass Mineral Creek - near Silverton I'll see if I can dig up more Costa Rica pics - I know I have more.
where do you live at CR? I have a house at San Ramon where my Tica living and I am hopping that I will be able build duplex and house on my two lands at Parrita, close to the ocean 2013/14. When my house will be build there I am moving from Chicago for good, and I will be living Pura vida with my Tica.
Well I'm back in Samara now (which is 30 minutes from Nicoya or 1-1.5 hours from Tamarindo). Here's some new pics from my ride yesterday. These are from Playa Carrillo and the route to Estrada where I stopped for a soda and then returned via the same route. Quick ride at 6am just to get out and enjoy being back in country. Here's the same river from one of the earlier pics in the thread where they're building a bridge to Punta Islita - of course it will be finished "mañana". One of the many perfect curves on the way to Estrada The TE/SMR at a refresco típico Safety wire is important when you can't get parts for a Husky easily in this country. And here I am, quite pleased.
When you will be at playa Samara you can stop and say hallo my Czech friends, they owe hotel Barracuda. It is on the hill, over there was great disco party with Eros Ramazzotti...but it was long time ago. At Samara was also restaurant Hola Prdel, but these Czech guys closed it because when was a rainy season they had lot of water inside. Playa Carillo is beautiful. Land around is owned by canadian people, but after airoplane crash at Carillo airport lot of owners of the land died at plane crash. Last year I had great trip from hotel California at playa Carmen thru Santa Tereza to Samara. I crossed two rivers...very nice ride and breathtaking views.
