January 15th 2025 – Punta Arenas, Chile
A few weeks earlier the zipper on my camera bag had given up the ghost. From previous experience, earlier in this trip, I hadn’t even tried to find a replacement bag. No one uses compact cameras anymore making finding a bag for one nigh impossible. Luckily Latin Americans put pride (often out of necessity) in repairing rather than replacing stuff. Our host in Ushuaia set me up with one of his friends that could replace the zipper for me. He did a great job and only charged me $5.
With that out of the way I was ready to celebrate the new year – Katrine not so much. She had picked up a stomach bug and was out of the game.
Fin had offered that we could do a repeat of the Christmas dinner and celebrate New Year at his place. Most of the people from the Christmas dinner had left town, but a couple of new characters had decided to join us – Gudmundur from Island had reached out to me a few days earlier. He had planned a ride up north through Patagonia and wanted to pick my brain. Back in the 80s he had studied in Denmark and learned our language. It was a pleasure to be able to speak with some (aside from Katrine) in my native tongue for a change. He has an ongoing ride report here on the forum, if you want to see what he is up to.
Alex from the US and his Brazilian girlfriend Ana also joined us. They were old friends of Jimbo. The 3 of them had been holed up together in Panama during the protests in 2023.
Everyone contributed with something to eat or drink. It was a very nice evening.
I went home before midnight as I didn’t want Katrine to enter the new year, by the end of the world, alone. She hadn’t expected to see me until much later. The way she reacted to me leaving the party early to be with her at 12 o’clock, made it clear that I had made the right decision.
The first day of 2025 greeted us with glorious weather in Ushuaia. While Katrine stayed home to recuperate and prepare for departure the following day I went for a long walk to enjoy the weather and say goodbye to the town by the end of the road.
Fin and Jimbo joined us in the morning at our place under a heavy sky. Together we departed Ushuaia on wet roads. We had decided to postpone disbanding the posse for a few days. There is only 1 service station between Ushuaia and Rio Grande. It was a convenient place to take a break from the elements. We were not the only motorcyclists with that idea. It made for some interesting conversations and we stayed for quite a while.
The rain stopped as we resumed our trek north. In exchange the wind started to pick up.
20 kilometers outside of Rio Grande we reached a spot where the wind suddenly changed direction 180°.
It required quick adjustments to stay in my lane. My swerving gave the others a warning about what was about to hit them.
Fin, who had stayed there on his way south, guided us to the Fin Del Mundo Motorcycle Hostel.
We had only just parked the bikes when first Matthias and then Sandro rolled up. They were happy to see us in good health. When they had passed the point where the wind suddenly changed direction, there had been a crashed bike at the side of the road, a body covered with a blanket and 3 ambulances on the scene.
Later in the evening a group of Chilean riders showed up. It was a couple from their group that had crashed. They had been blown off the road and hit the guardrail. The rider had been transported to hospital. The woman riding pillion had been killed on the spot.
Matthias joined our posse as we headed for the border the following morning.
After the border we left the blacktop and followed the signs towards Porvenir. The wind died down and made the 80 kilometers of well maintained gravel along the coast a hoot to ride. The scenery wasn’t too bad either.
It added to the experience that it would be Katrine’s and my last proper ride together on the Honda’s.
Katrine was still getting back on her feet after several days with a troubled stomach and we didn’t have a place to stay in Punta Arenas until the following day, so we called it a day when we reached Porvenir. Jimbo stayed with us at a BnB in town. Matthias and Fin had decided to take the evening ferry across the Strait of Magellan. Fin had initially intended to stay with us in Porvenir, but the promise of a night spent with his head resting on a bosom softer than Jimbo’s across the water had (understandable) made him change his mind.
Matthias and Fin hung out at our house until it was time to catch the ferry.
When they had left Kat, Jimbo and I went for a walk to have a look at the town and get something to eat.
With a 2 pm departure and only 6 km to the port we had a very relaxed morning.
We are a handful of moto travellers on the ferry. I talk a lot with Steffen from Germany. He was on a 4 month journey around South America on an older 1200 GS that has been his travel companion on several longer trips during their years together. He’s a mechanical engineer and used to work for BMW motorrad. Now Porche puts bread on his table. I love the nerdy conversations I can have with a guy like that.
From the port in Punta Arenas it was a short ride to our small cabin in the northern part of town.
The next couple of days I was busy making my bike sales ready and finding a buyer.
Now the groundwork I had done when we visited on our way south paid off. I had been in contact with several interested buyers since then and had a really good idea about what it would take to sell my bike.
When the bike was squeaky clean, I took some pictures and put it up for sale on every platform I could come up with.
Then I rode it to La Guarida and showed it to the owner Salva. He was impressed with its condition and allowed me to leave it there to create attention.
Later the same day I received a message from a guy called Cristóbal who had seen it at the shop and would like to meet me there the following day to maybe close a deal.
I got to the shop a bit early to have a word with Salva about the practical details in case the buyer was serious. It turned out that Cristóbal was a good friend of Salva and that he could vouch for the guy.
Just as Cristóbal walked through the gate, another guy came up to me and asked about the bike. It was Ivan from the Czech Republic who had traveled down from Puerto Natales after he had seen my sales ad the previous day. When he learned that I was there to maybe close a deal with Cristóbal he backed out and said I could get back to him, if Cristóbal didn’t want it. He was not interested in offering more than the listed price.
Cristóbal turned out to be a really nice guy. It was immediately apparent that he really wanted the bike and after a symbolic price reduction we shook hands on a deal. We agreed to do the paperwork and finalize the transaction the following day.
He picked me up at our house in the morning. Together we picked up my bike at La Guarida. I followed him on the bike to a custom area in town. Cristóbal did most of the talking while I put my signature on multiple documents. The procedure was pretty straight forward but took a while. Everyone was friendly and helpful. Eventually they took the bike into custody and cancelled my TIP. It was with mixed feelings that I left the bike in the rain behind a fence.
From there we drove to a notary office together to have an official bill of sale and a poder written up. A poder is a document that gives another person than the one on the title authority to act as the owner of the vehicle. In this case Cristóbal would need it to register the bike in his name.
Again it was Cristóbal that did most of the talking and me most of the document signing. All I now have left of the bike is my AZ plate, which I’ll keep as a souvenir.
With the deal closed I dropped by La Guarida to give Salva some $$ as a token of appreciation for setting me up with a buyer. He refused to accept any kind of payment, saying that he was just happy to have been able to help out.
A few days later Ben arrived from Washington State to pick up Katrine’s bike. We have been in contact for a couple of months, since Kat and I first decided to sell the bikes in South America. The opportunity to buy a complete package suited him perfectly as this would be his first motorcycle trip.
We spent a couple of days handing over the bike and getting the paperwork done. The wording on his poder was a bit different than Cristóbal’s as Ben will need it when crossing national borders with the bike. Because of that we also had his poder authenticated at a government office. All the paperwork took about 1 ½ hour and cost $20.
Little over a week after we arrived in Punta Arenas both bikes were gone.
We initially picked the Rallys because of their light weight, style and perceived reliability. I’m a more skilled and experienced rider than Katrine, so it was important to choose a bike that she felt comfortable handling in challenging conditions. The Rally was at the top of her list in that regard.
The bikes have really delivered on that account. They have made things easy that would have been a challenge on a heavier bike and allowed Katrine to handle things that were on the edge of her abilities. The bike has helped her become a better and more confident dirt rider.
300 cc and 27 hp has proven to be sufficient on a journey like this. The engine was never a limiting factor. We have been able to go where we wanted at whatever speed that suited us.
The bikes have been very comfortable with a relaxed riding position for both sitting and standing.
The only area where the bikes have fallen short of our expectations is when it comes to reliability. There might be a good explanation for at least the last of our 3 engine failures, but it was something we hadn’t expected to have to deal with on softly tuned modern water cooled Honda engines. We have not been flogging the bikes and I have been on top of service from day one.
And now to the million dollar question: Would we choose the same model again?
Katrine would answer yes without a second’s hesitation. She loved the bike from day one and her affection has only grown since then.
My answer would be more nuanced.
With the options we had back in 2023, and on the premise that we had to ride on identical bikes, I would choose the Rally again.
Objectively I think it’s one of the best tools for exploring the backroads of the Americas. It’s Capable, comfortable, economical and with good range. On the other hand the bike has never excited me and in the long run that isn’t viable for a passionate rider like me.
Katrine’s skills have improved during the journey and new models have been introduced.
If we had to do a similar trip again now, I would consider the Triumph Scrambler 400 X or maybe give BMW a chance to show if they mean business with the new F450GS – the concept looks production ready and freaking awesome!
I would also like to say a few words about why we decided to sell the bikes in Punta Arenas – aside from it being legally possible.
After 60.000 kilometers and 19 months, traveling on a motorcycle had become a bit tedious.
We have seen and done everything we want in the Americas for now. That has moved New Zealand to the top of the list of places we want to explore. Shipping the bikes to NZ would have been pretty straightforward, but selling them there legally would not be an option, and shipping onwards could become both complicated and expensive.
We also considered shipping the bikes directly back to Denmark. It would be rather expensive considering the value of the bikes and even more so if we later wanted to plate the bikes in Denmark as imported vehicles are heavily taxed. On top of that, the 300 Rallys are not the bikes we want to ride back in Europe where the roads are generally in great shape and the traffic moves much faster than on this side of the pond.
Having reached the end of the road in the Americas was the perfect opportunity to change things up to keep it interesting. We have decided to camp out of a car during our time in Middle-earth. It will open up new opportunities and make us less dependent on seasons and the weather.
Motorcycles have always been my favorite means of transportation, and still are, but I’m really looking forward to this change of modus operandi for a while.
We are now busy preparing to leave South America.
With the Mosko Moto bags gone we needed another way to pack our stuff. 2 cheap suitcases is the solution for now. A benefit of having travelled light on the bikes is that each of us can fit all our belongings into a normal sized suitcase and stay below the airlines weight limit for checked luggage – even when adding some riding gear.
Not all the riding gear is coming with us. My bike would be Cristóbal’s first and he didn’t have any riding gear yet, so he was very grateful when I donated him my worn out ADVSpec jacket. Ben, who bought Katrine’s bike, offered me a good price for my helmet and riding pants, so they won’t be taking up any space either.
My toolkit has also been lightened. Fin has been eyeing my Motion Pro chain tool since Mexico. He came over when both bikes were sold and sweet talked me into letting him buy it off me. He’ll probably need it more than me considering what he has planned for the coming months – check out his rather entertaining ride report to learn more.
Fin left town earlier today. We said our goodbyes the other night when Fin invited us out for dinner at a fancy restaurant. We are going to miss the bastard but if things go to plan we’ll see him again on another continent before the year runs out.
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