Trip Map + Details
This is about a trip on a KLR650 motorcycle leaving in November and heading south from Toronto, Canada to Mexico Central South America. I’ve reached Buenos Aires and am flying the bike to Los Angeles (May 25th) and am going to drive to Vancouver and then across the northern US to Ontario. Any suggestions or GPS routes for the western and northern US or interesting places to see would be very well received.
This is a latest map of the route that I’ve taken. It may take a minute or so for the Google map to plot all the points…
Distance: ~40,845 kms
Time: ~6.5 months
Countries: 13
Police fines: 1 Nicaragua (but then unbribed – story here)
Police and Army Stops: 1 in the US, 4 in Mexico, 2 Costa Rica, 10 in Colombia, 1 Ecuador, 3 Peru (1st demanded insurance and threatened a large fine – apparently insurance is only available from SOAT offices for 1 year at 500 soles, 2nd told me I was speeding on the radar – wanted a $20 voluntary payment for gas for their police 4×4), 8 Argentina (documents requested once, otherwise saw I’m a tourist and waved me through).
Accidents: 1 (in the Copper Canyons in Chihuahua, Mexico – crashed in the loose earth)
Broken parts: Gear shift lever cracked, faring bent, GPS mount snapped, two rear tire flats, fusebox under seat melted and replaced with blade fuses, top broke off spark plug and went through the engine (and hopefully out of the exhaust), rubber/plastic front shock guards fallen apart – currently duck-taped, front turn signal shorted after filling with water on river crossings in Costa Rica.
Trip Log Google Earth/GPS KML File: http://tripdown.regioncoding.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Trip-Down-10036.kml
Mechanical problems:
December 7th, 2009 – Houston Texas
After driving over the median and unknowingly running over a nail I had my tire repaired in Houston and I drove on the interstate 10 out of Houston in the dark and rain the tire deflated at 110kms/hour and I skidded down the off-ramp. Story here.
December 16th, 2009 – Batopilas
Blog post here. Drove over a mountain of rock on a road under construction in the Mexican Copper Canyons and cracked the gearshift level so I couldn’t use anything but neutral and third while high up in the canyons two hours from Urique the next town.
Jan. 15 – 2010 Santa Elena, Oaxaca, Mexico
Spark plug blew in Santa Elena leading me to think bike wouldn’t start because of destoyed cam shaft lobe. More poor diagnostics skills on my part.
Jan. 28 – 2010 Tonala, Chiapas, Mexico:
I broke down twice today. blew the main fuse which seemed to melt the other instrument and lights fuse, replace the first one and drove to another town and then ended up completely replacing the fuse box with more modern blade-type fuses… $4 and two hours of messing around in the heat. Each time taking off both side cases to get under the seat to do the job.
Feb 24 – 2010 Santa Marta, Colombia
The suspension started behaving strangely as each speedbump produced an excrutiating (to my ears) scrape of the wheel against the rear fender. Fixed in San Gil by a good suspension mechanic who replaced the fluid in the front forks, lubricated the rear one and tuned it to a higher setting (something I neglected to do).
March 2nd 2010 – La Vega, Colombia
GPS wasn’t getting power. Blade fusebox installed in Mexico had melted. Replaced with better quality fuse box in friendly La Vega. Discovered the hole in the exhaust was melting the bottom of the seat and the side panel and fouling up the back end of the bike.
March 4nd 2010 – Medellín, Colombia
Bike started lugging (losing power and regaining it) and making noise. Turned out my chain had shorn-off all the teeth on my rear sprocket.
March 26th 2010 – San Agustin, Colombia
Side – luggage bolt and rear luggage rack bolt sheared off during a ride to the waterfalls outside of town. Soldering shop got broken bolt out and bought me a new bolt. 12,000 pesos.
April 30th 2010 – Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia
Speedometer stopped working – cog ring inside speedometer hub became sheared somehow and stopped measuring the speed or recording on the odometer. Sidestand kill switch mechanism stopped shutting off when the kickstand was up – disabled it, then later lubricated the cable and it seems to have fixed it. Front fender fell off and is re-attached with some stiff wire in place of the four bolts normally holding it in place. Water got in the carburetor stopping fuel from reaching the engine – drained it with the small screw after dissembling all other possible parts.
Sometime in June 2010 – Battle Creek, Michigan, USA
I woke up ready for my triumphant last day of riding of the trip – looking forward to sleeping in a familiar bed after 6.5 months. Descending from the lovely second floor balcony of the Battle Creek Motel 6 I stuck the key in my faithful companion and turned the ignition. Unfortunately this produced no sound and so after taxis to the Walmart and back I installed a new battery and left town for my final day or riding a few hours later than anticipated.
Final KLR650 motorcycle trip route
6 Responses to “Trip Map + Details”
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How to air-freight ship a motorcycle from Buenos Aires I'm working detals for a US to Buenos Aires ride on a KLR. Considering the cost of getting the b...
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Near the rich and amongst the expats of San Miguel De Allende, Mexico Heck of a job there, it abseolutly helps me out.
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Near the rich and amongst the expats of San Miguel De Allende, Mexico @ZayaBee Definitely the American an individual.
Hey,
I really like your website, and am a big fan of using WordPress (and a bigger fan of the KLR650).
BTW: which WordPress theme are you using for this site? It seems to be a good choice!
Ride safe!
Allen
HI Allen, I used the Aperture theme from Woothemes and customized it a bit.. cheers.
Your site is beautiful: well-organized, easy to navigate layout, nicely written stories, beautiful photos and interesting information about your travels and your bike. I’m a baby with my new KLR650 (only 800 miles so far!) I’m also in love with it and, after some shorter trips over the next couple years – to gain familiarity and competence in the whole experience including planning, riding, and maintenance – I intend to go south from Seattle to Panama (possibly farther depending on how I’ve positioned myself…) in 2015. I hardly know where to begin so I’m just scooting around the internet for leads or any info I can find. I imagine you have learned a thousand things along the way and have plenty of advice to share – I wonder this mostly: how have you chosen your route and what kinds of (paper) maps have you used, or where have you found them? Thanks for the inspiration your site provides, and thanks for giving me a space to inquire. I’m sure I could be a real pest with a million more inquiries… but I won’t do that to you right now! :) Be well. -Deanna
Hi Deanna,
Thanks for the email. It’s nice to here from fellow KLR riders. I had only put a few kms on my bike as well when I started my trip – in fact I was still on a ‘learners’ license when I left.
Regarding the route. I didn’t really plan it at all. I just told myself that I would go as long as I was enjoying the trip and didn’t promise myself or anyone else that I’d get to the next country even. The guiding principle I used was that I would avoid main roads, head for the mountains or the most beautiful scenery. I asked locals as much as possible what the most pretty place was around and then followed that. I stayed as long as I felt good about a place. I didn’t plan hotels or anything like that – just show up and check a few places – often dictated by where I felt best leaving my bike – I had the Pelican cases so I left most of my belongings on the bike.
Regarding the maps. Perhaps a bit foolishly I didn’t have any maps (other than one US map and a tourist map in Costa Rica). I used a Garmin GPS and loaded often-inaccurate data onto it for each country where it was available. The GPS mainly gives a (sometime false) sense of security about where you are or where you are heading but in most countries was of little use when you really got off the beaten track. Other riders were much more dependent on paper maps, most however were comfortable enough to just head in a general direction by whatever route looked appealing.
You might be interested in contacting Alisa for some advice as well, she’s had quite a bit of experience as well. http://motoadventuregal.com/blog/
I hope you get to do it – I am still missing being on that trip…
Deanna V. Hi – i’ve been reading (and enjoying) the website depicting the journeys of James from Canada to South America & noticed your email above one i sent to James. i see you may be attempting a similar trip in 2015. i’m just beginning my snooping around for any helpful info to help me next fall as i attempt to get to Oaxaca mexico on my old yamaha motorcycle. i was just wondering if you came across anything – websites,etc. – that might be useful if you could send them my way – it would be much apprecitated Barry
Guachito Gil – interesting website. you’ve help convince me to try to make the journey from home – Parry Sound area – to Oaxaca city Mexico next fall on my old yamaha maxim. hope to travel through some similar places ( copper canyon etc ) that you’ve been through – although if i get that far i think i’ll do that section by train. would love to have a bit more of a chat with you before i leave – good travels Barry