South American Sidecar Tour
We're putting together a sidecar motorcycle tour of the southern half of South America slated for February/March 2011! It'll be a four week trip, broken into two segments to accommodate those who can only take two weeks vacation. We’re trying to put together a group of about 10 bikes and their riders/passengers.
Itinerary
We'll begin in Montevideo, Uruguay, travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina, then down the eastern coast of Argentina to the end of the world in Tierra Del Fuego, double back and head across through the Andes to Chile, then head up the coast of Chile up to the southern tip of Peru, go across Bolivia, then through Paraguay, into the south eastern tip of Brazil before returning to Montevideo.
Accommodations will generally be very good, but there may be a few days of camping as well.
Countries we’ll transit:
- Uruguay
- Argentina
- Chile
- Peru
- Bolivia
- Paraguay
- Brazil
Bikes
For reasons of nostalgic beauty, complicating simplicity, and enforced suchness, we'll be doing the ride on Chang Jiang M1 sidecar motorcycles. These are the Chinese copies of Russian copies of German 1939 BMW R71. For more info on the bikes check out my Chang Jiang Collective site. The top speed of the bikes is about 50 mph, they shouldn't be driven more than about 50 minutes without a rest, and they break down frequently! If you want to really take in a country, have an adventure, and turn some heads, you can't pick a better bike! We will be bringing tons of parts and hopefully a spare bike or two. You may also use your own bike or arrange for something else to be waiting for you in Uruguay, but that's on you to figure out and it must be (or at least look) vintage (pre-1973)! Be aware if you bring your own bike, we won't have any parts to help you.
Chang Jiang M1 with Sidecar
Logistics
We will have at least two excellent mechanics on the trip, tons of extra parts, and ideally an extra bike or two. We'll also have several support vehicles on the trip, for our safety and to carry the extra supplies. To conquer the language barrier we’ll have several native Spanish speakers and quite a few who can get their point across in broken Spanish. We will also try to get at least one rider who is an EMT (or doctor), just for added security.
Cost
This is not a commercial trip. We are not attempting to profit on this expedition. We're just vintage enthusiasts trying to pull off the trip of a lifetime. You'll pay roughly what things costs, but that doesn’t mean this will be a cheap trip! Expenses you can expect will include your airfare, accommodations, food, insurance, and the sidecar motorcycle you’ll be riding! You will need to buy one! We'll help you buy it and ship it at a discount from China and then at your option we’ll try to help arrange a local buyer at the end of your trip. The final cost to you may be nothing (if you sell the bike for what you paid) or several thousand (if you sell it at a loss or decide to keep it). We will do our best to make everything as easy as possible and as inexpensive as reasonable, but this trip will not be for those who expect to be spoon fed their destiny.
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Contact me if interested.
^Quinxy
All details in this sheet are subject to change; we’re still early in the planning stages.
Current Riders
- Quinxy von Besiex
- Kevin J.
- Markus A.
- Anonymous #1 (and spouse)
- Anonymous #2 (solo)
