Leaving a motorcycle in Panama for a year

My girlfriend and I plan to ride our motorcycle to Panama, or possibly Colombia next year with the intention of leaving the bike there in order to return home for a year before resuming our travels. Is this possible to do without violating all sorts of importation laws? If neither of these countries would work do you know of any other ones in the area, (Ecuador, Venezuale, CR, etc) where maybe it would be a possiblity? I would really like to avoid driving all the way back to Chicago just to return in a year :) Thanks for any help. -Jake

A couple issues-

There is no road between Panama and South America. You need to ship the moto, or find a sailboat captian/cargo ship willing to take the bikes, and you, to Colombia.

In regards to the leaving the Motos in Panama, I can only speak to autos, which I imagine a moto is a vehicle as well in immigrations and customs eyes-

When you enter each country in CA, the border formalities will vary for the moto, but basically each country will issue in your Passport, a Visa for the Vehicle, (need to bring title and registration), as well as you. When you depart the country, you will have to posses the vehicle that the Visa was issued for, otherwise, you will be fined for the sale of the vehicle, and taxes on that sale, and the value of the vehicle will be determined by the Customs officials, and its normally 3 times it worth in the states. Costa Rica and Panama are very strict about this, so you may end up paying for the value of the bikes in fines and taxes, to be allowed to exit the country, airport or border, and be a mess.

I wish I had better advice for you. I bought a Enduro in CR last year, and its registered with a friends address, and I store in San Jose. Its just a Yamaha 125, but I like to moto there, as I now really get off the beaten path in the dead ends of the regions. FYI- I just bought a Triumph Sprint in Chicago, and plan to keep that until 2010, then get a BMW 1200R used and do this route, but leave the ship the bike to a freight forwarder in Colombia, and retrieve it the following year, having the shipping company store it, and take care of the formalities until I arrive for my SA adventures.

Also, if you have not been to the CA region, you need to be aware of the seasons for riding via moto there, as rainy season is May to Nov, and Sept/Oct is terrible. Its also mostly 2 lanes the entire way, on the Pan Am 1, though mountains and the roads are clogged with cargo trucks and passing is a art there, but many locals have failed to master it :(.

I plan to take almost all the side routes and more coastal roads, once my spanish in up to par for such a solo journey...

Happy Trails-

Thank you Hobo, I am aware of the normal procedure down there and was looking for a way to get around it. I think the idea of storing through the shipping company is fantastic. I too will be doing it on an R 1200 GS and was planning on taking it on one of the small yachts that sail between Colon and Cartagena but if I could find a commercial shipper to store it that would make way more sense. If you find a company (or already know of one) who will do this I would be very interested.

It's funny you bought a bike in CR last year because I bought one in Guatemala and ended up selling it in Honduras without the paperwork. As for getting your Spanish up to par, consider just taking off and stopping somewhere along the way, like Guatemala, where you can take intensive private lessons very cheaply. Good luck on your journeys and thanks for the info.

Edited by: somasized

I am a slow learner though...:)

Have you seen this mack daddy of sport bikes....whoa mamma, not to shabby for$13K, but the Bmer will be more comfy for 2...

[http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/ktm_990_adventure_s_2007.php]

Hi There
If you send me a personal e-mail in a week Ill be able to tell you all about leaving a MC in Panama. Im almost finished a 5 week trip from Phoenix AZ to the Canal. Im in CR now but were leaving for Panama
in the morning and plan on arriving on the tenth.
I bought a cheap bike for the trip because I don't want to ship it home. Im hoping that by paying for a short term storage I can tell the authorities Im flying home but that I'm returning in four months to ride it back. Once I'm safely home the storage company can do whatever they want with it.
Unless of course anyone reading this wants to buy an undocumented MC for a cheap/quick cash sale.
If you want to see the details of our trip my blog is www.dboisclair.blogspot.com
Cheers