Thanks to the generosity and Trip Reporting of Mark Larson, we get to see the rest of what happened on Mark and Joe's self-guided Patagonia trip from earlier this year.
There they were in El Calafate, Argentina on a Patagonia Motorcycle Trip and trying to fix a leak Mark's bike suffered after having a tie-down strap get caught up in the rear axle seal. The town of El Calafate is only a town of about 20,000 people, so BMW parts & service aren't an option.
Among the motorcycle touring options in South America that RIDE Adventures offers, the requests for tours and rentals in Peru are definitely on the rise.
With more incredible dual sport motorcycle route opportunities than anyone could cover in weeks of riding, there are certain events you might want to arrange your motorcycle rental around this or next year.
Just this past weekend, you might have missed the 2013 FIM Trials World Championship, held in Sequatchie, Tennessee. The best trials riders from around the world were all there, bouncing from rock to rock, tree stump to log, and inspiring motorcycle riders of all types with nimbleness and creativity. Don't expect to use your rental bike for the same thing, (we don't have trials bikes for rent....yet!) but just being there around such athleticism is a site for any motorcycle enthusiast.
Rifling through some pictures from our Patagonia motorcycle tour back in March just reminded me how our group reacted 15 minutes into our first stretch of gravel on the 9-Day trip. (See some pics here on our Facebook page, and while you're there...you Like us, right?)
Mark and Joe's Patagonia Motorcycle Trip Report Continues below! (Day 7 was actually written back on March 2nd this year, although we are posting it now.)
Dave Diamond went from being a motorcycle touring customer in Patagonia a couple of years ago (where he rented the BMW F800GS) to the guy that came home and almost immediately bought the KTM 990 Adventure Dakar Edition. You can see a
previous blog post here about how Dave's bike now turns 15% more horsepower than it did originally, and below are his thoughts about the bike and necessary add-ons overall. Really though, is this commentary about a bike, or the motorcycle industry as a whole?
-RIDE Adventures, LLC
-RIDE Adventures, LLC
The adventure riding world will be converging on Flagstaff, Arizona next week as the 2013 Overland Expo once again hosts travel enthusiasts from across the planet. Loaded with a long list of sponsors & exhibitors, instructors, adventure travel experts, authors, and videographers from around the world, this is absolutely the place to be if those words caught your attention!
POST UPDATE: As of 2020, we no longer offer the the motorcycle rentals mentioned below in the Southeast, but instead, riders can choose from our Oregon-based adventure motorcycle rentals for access to the Cascade & Rocky Mountains, the entire Pacific Northwest, California's Pacific Coast Highway, and many of the Backcountry Discovery Routes. The Tail of the Dragon is also accessible with our Oregon-based rental fleet, but only if you have multi-week rental plans to ride from Bend, Oregon, all the way to North Carolina before returning to Oregon.
Those who have reserved their Patagonia motorcycle rentals for the 2013/14 season are fortunate in that, you won't be stuck begging for motorcycles at the last minute like some people will! As we share more of Mark's comments from their February/March motorcycle trip below, it's obvious why Patagonia bike reservations sell out so far in advance:
