Adv Riders in Guatemala

Let me know when you are coming to Antigua, my wife and I would like to meet you and show you a few of the for tourists usually hidden rides here around .
Ride safe,
Julio

Between Rich, Julio, and the CATours gang you should have plenty of company in the Guatemala City/Antigua area. Let us know when you arrive or if you have any questions in the meantime on routes.

Look forward to meeting you.

What Chris(Catours) said.

Kaw 1981...wow, I can't wait to hear all about that!

Any day is fine with me as well , I'm the master of my own time

I'm in Antigua , why don't you give me a call or PM when you're coming out here so we can get together and work something out . Maybe Don Richard can join us as well, if he's not too busy

Hey

We are in Guatemala headed South ( eventually Julio). We will be ahead of you likely, but would love to meet up.


Sara

Welcome to Guatemala Sara!

Give us your coordinates and ETA to Antigua. BTW, are you traveling Solo too? Or your title is reffering to Megan?

I see you are with Julio in Antigua already. You must be the Canadians he was telling me about on Saturday.

Dan and Sara are famous! No really, they are cool people and doing some awesome riding.

Thanks Chris!

Sara

Greetings from Iceland.

Well this certainly looks like a thread where I can get all the information i need.

I'm thinking about going to Guatemala with my girlfriend and some friends this summer. We were thinking about buying a cheap moto there and ride around Guatemala and other countries in the region.

I was wondering if you gentlemen (and ladies) might have some information about if this is possible. That is can I as a foreigner buy a bike in Guatemala and, if that's possible, what about taking it across borders in Central America.

I was thinking about buying one of these: http://www.honda.com.gt/motos-doble-proposito/honda-cb1-tuf
and riding with my girlfriend on the back. What do you guys think?

Any information would be great.

All the best
ans3

Hi ans3,

You're going to love motorcycling around Guatemala! Its a great country to explore and there is a ton of sights, awesome roads, trails, and culture. Check out my ride report link below to get an idea.

You can buy a bike and put in your name as a foreigner. You will go through some "red tape" but its something that is done quite often here. Myself and plenty of friends have done this as expats in the country.

I don't see the bike you posted on the streets here but there are a lot of very similar options available. Honda sells a CGL125 that looks like the equivalent to what you posted. http://www.honda.com.gt/motos-doble-proposito/cgl-125-tp

I will tell you that if you buy a new bike, getting the plates usually is going to take a while.. sometimes a month in my experience. If you stay in Guatemala this isn't a big problem, but if you are going to cross borders you will need a plate. So buying used might be another option to consider as you can put the bike in your name within a few days. Actually, here is a checklist for transferring a bike into your name that I put together for others:



The last thing I will say is that a 125cc is going to be pretty small to go 2 up, we have a lot of elevation changes here and depending on your size, I think you're going to want some more power.

Welcome to the thread and hopefully to Guatemala in the summer.

Beat me to it Chris! But at least we were consistent on our answers!

One more thing INSURANCE, since you will probably ask about it sooner or later. In reality it is nice to have, but not required. Make sure your health/accident insurance is valid here, for your own care. Usually any other expenses in case of an accident are taken care of on the spot. FWIW.

Wow thanks alot for the info Chris and richsuz.

I really don't have time to wait for a month to get plates on the bike so I guess i'm better off buying a used one.

Chris I can see on the homepage of CA Tours that you guys sometimes have bikes for sale. Do you anticipate having some this summer.
What is your opinion about the 200 ctx, do you think it has enough power for two up plus some luggage (me and my girlfriend weigh something like 320 lbs together).
I knew that 125 cc might be a bit small but I don't really have enough money to buy a large bike.

I have also been looking at the honda xr250 (http://honda.com.gt/motos-doble-proposito/xr-250) do you guys have an idea how much a used one of those would cost?

I have had little luck trying to find used bikes in Guatemala on the web. Do you guys have any pointers.

Richsuz, do you know how much insurance for a moto costs? I know my travel insurance covers me for any accidents and such but i'm thinking that it might be good to have a third-party liability coverage in case i run over somebodies farm animal.

I apologize for the flood of questions, especially if this is the wrong place to be asking them.

All the best
ans3.

It is possible, can't say for sure yet. To give you an idea, we have The Honda 200CTX's: 2011 for Q29,000 and 2009 for Q24,000. That's the prices the owner usually would ask.

It would get the job done, we ride two up on them all the time. But I will say that you will probably want more bike based on the weight you said, plus having some luggage.

Check out this page, you'll probably see a few on there: http://www.olx.com.gt/motos-cat-379 In my opinion the Tornado (that's what they call that bike here) is a sissy 250, weak compared to the XR250's we get in other parts of the world.

First result on OLX is a KLR650. That might be a better choice...

I agree 100% !!!
A 250 riding 2 up with luggage is not enough ; keep in mind that we have a lot of steep mountain roads here in Guatemala and a lot of buses that you need to pass going uphill...
Send me a PM if you are interested in a KLR , set up for long distance travelling with panniers and a lot of extras . And with Guatemalan license plates , meaning you could be on the road in 48 hours and no paperwork at all on the borders of Salvador,Honduras and Nicaragua .

Guaterider to the rescue!

What is your riding experience Ans3? The ideal bike it may be, but if you dont really ride, it can also be a handful. Give us a little background information. And what are your traveling intentions, arqueological sites? mountain explore? mainly transportation from A to B and then park it until C, etc.

BTW, don't worry about a dead pig, no insurance will cover that. You killed it you arrange for a price with the owner and you own it...Call us when/if that happens, so we can fire up the BBQ!

Thanks for teaching me the simple basics of writing on forums Saralou. And apologies to all those I didn't figure out how to reply to, fortunately I believe we have all crossed paths by other means. It's been swell Antigua.

Thanks again everybody for taking the time to answer my questions. I really appreciate it.

richsuz. I have descent riding experience both on and off road so I'm not worried about not being able to handle the klr.
On that note.

Guaterider. pm sent.

But I'm really there just to travel and see the country so going slow is not a problem for me and I also have a small budget.
I'm thinking that riding a cheaper and a more common bike might be better. Easier to get it fixed if anything happens and less likely that it will be stolen. I'll mainly use the bike just to get from A to B.
With that in mind don't you guys think that a small bike will suffice?
At least it looks like it could work: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=301156

The barbecue sounds great richsuz, maybe if I get hungry i'll even try to find a pig to run over. Then I'll strap it to the back and bring it to your place.

Thanks for the webpage Chris. It's good to have a site where i can get an idea about the availability and prices of used bikes.

Thanks again everybody for the information. I'll maybe send you guys pm's from now on if i have any more question, if that's all right with you.

All the best.
ans3