Heya, nice forum. 8)
Im a mining engineer who has had the opportunity to travel a bit, and do some biking when Im not. Done a number of countries in Africa, and have now taken the smoozy office type job in Lima. Still I get a lot of time up at the various mines, all at over 4300m. Left my two Honda off-roads in Potties (anyone wanna buy em pm me).
So apart from the altitude some of the challenges here for bikers is ice, snow, lightning, bloody brass monkey weather, and absolutely maniac drivers on steep mountain roads. Makes Johberg taxis look quite tame actually. There are some awesome passes here and I cant wait to take out the gear and hop onto a bike and hit the 4800m high necks.
My wife & I prefer the dirt road stuff, and theres plenty of it here. Out initial plan is to buy two new 650 bikes (bringing in our old ones just does not make financial sense), in March and cruise from Santiago in Chile up through Argentina and Bolivia, before returning into Peru, Lake Titicaca, cusco and all that good stuff: A 6,000km mixture of high altitude riding in varying conditions over three or four weeks. Should be awesome.
Another one of my posts mentioned the need to consider perhaps KTM´s or Hondas instead of BMW, cos there is no BMW bike shop in Peru. The plan would then change to a circular route starting in Lima. But somehow, the biking trip from Santiago sounds better to me: I know BMW, I dont know KTM and Im just not sure whether it will be as nice an experience. Besides a 650GS can be made low enough for my wife to ride her own. Some advice on this would be appreciated.
Cheers.
Im a mining engineer who has had the opportunity to travel a bit, and do some biking when Im not. Done a number of countries in Africa, and have now taken the smoozy office type job in Lima. Still I get a lot of time up at the various mines, all at over 4300m. Left my two Honda off-roads in Potties (anyone wanna buy em pm me).
So apart from the altitude some of the challenges here for bikers is ice, snow, lightning, bloody brass monkey weather, and absolutely maniac drivers on steep mountain roads. Makes Johberg taxis look quite tame actually. There are some awesome passes here and I cant wait to take out the gear and hop onto a bike and hit the 4800m high necks.
My wife & I prefer the dirt road stuff, and theres plenty of it here. Out initial plan is to buy two new 650 bikes (bringing in our old ones just does not make financial sense), in March and cruise from Santiago in Chile up through Argentina and Bolivia, before returning into Peru, Lake Titicaca, cusco and all that good stuff: A 6,000km mixture of high altitude riding in varying conditions over three or four weeks. Should be awesome.
Another one of my posts mentioned the need to consider perhaps KTM´s or Hondas instead of BMW, cos there is no BMW bike shop in Peru. The plan would then change to a circular route starting in Lima. But somehow, the biking trip from Santiago sounds better to me: I know BMW, I dont know KTM and Im just not sure whether it will be as nice an experience. Besides a 650GS can be made low enough for my wife to ride her own. Some advice on this would be appreciated.
Cheers.
