Motorbike in Africa

Just wondering if it's possible to buy a motorbike in JBurg and ride it up to Kenya? Is it possible to cross international borders with a motorbike?

What sort of money would get a decent second-hand small motorbike? And where abouts could I find one (local dealerships, local classifieds paper)?

I've read that all vehicles require a 'carnet de passage', so how much might this cost? And how much would registration/transfer fees be?

Yes, you can buy a bike. Yes, you can easily cross into Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.
You will need a carnet as soon as you go into Tanzania.
You will most probably look for a 600cc or 650cc dual sport? Something that moves more or less reliably: 25000 Rand.
I recently bought a 200cc dual sport for my wife for R 16000. (In Cape Town) Very good running condition but not flawless.
Registration and transfers of ownership is cheap and straightforward. A few hundred Rand.
The carnet requires a refundable on return cash deposit of 100% of the vehicle value with the AA of SA.
Good sources for a bike are small ads, BikeSA, Junkmail & CapeAds, various internet sources primarily www.wilddogtours.co.za</a>
You can also visit the Horizons Unlimited Bulletin Board for info.
Welcome to contact me if you have further questions or need help. You can contact me via my website see my TT profile.
I also have second hand bikes occasionally and I do buybacks.

Wrong! You will only need a 'carnet' to get into Kenya, you can enter Tanzania in the same way as all the other sub-equatorial countries!
But.... you cannot sell the bike in Kenya (or any other country than the one in which it is registered) without paying a hefty customs import duty!
If you want more on this see my previous entries or post me a private message here!
Ndlovu

PS. I'd suggest something a little smaller! Perhaps something like the (now elderly) Yamaha XT350 or the Honda XL250. Both are upright dual-purpose bikes with simple, single pot motors - easy to service and maintain on the road! Bikes suffer little from rust in SAfrica, so older bikes are worth a good look.

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<hr>I'd suggest something a little smaller! Perhaps something like the (now elderly) Yamaha XT350 or the Honda XL250. Both are upright dual-purpose bikes with simple, single pot motors - easy to service and maintain on the road! Bikes suffer little from rust in SAfrica, so older bikes are worth a good look. <hr></blockquote>

The XT350 was mainly used by the SAPD and is becoming rare in South Africa due to the bikes age.
There is also very few DR350. I am not 100% sure but I think the DR350 was not officially imported into South Africa. Le Cap used to run a few but the engines were not very durable.
You sometimes see XT250s but they are of limited use for overland travel unless you can travel light and have time.
Be careful with XL250's and 500's or XT500. Although they are good bikes most of them are by now 20 to 30 years old and bungled together by generations of bush mechanics.
Rust is not an issue at all for motorcycles in most parts of the world - maintenance is.

Many modern bikes are just as simple to service and maintain as the 1970's dual sports:
Suzuki DR200SE and DR650SE (both still in production), Yamaha XT600 (discontinued in SA only a few years ago) and Kawasaki KLR650 (still available). The DR200SE was only introduced recently in SA although being in production for 14years means slim chances to get a second hand one. You can sometimes get grey imports (Like the 200Djebel I bought). Honda CTX200 Bushlander and Yamaha TW200 have been sold for a while as ag. bikes. Both tough and simple as stone axes and parts are more readily available than for older bikes.
Kawasaki KLE's (400 and 500) can also be found for reasonable prices and make decent touring bikes. Honda AT are pricey and TA are very rare (grey import until recently).

Don't rely on a bike bought from a motorcycle shop to be in perfect condition. Many second hand bikes are badly serviced (if at all) and they are sold "as is". Get some independent motorcycle experts advice, check and test ride carefully.

A cheap solution would be to go for a small road bike. The Honda CD200 was and is used here as a delivery bike and you can get one in reasonable running condition for 6000 to 8000 Rand. Expect to spend the same to get the bike ready for long distances though. They are tough as a mule and can handle mild dirt road abuse surprisingly well. Maybe an even better buy looking at overland road traveling capabilities would be a Suzuki GS500.

The 650 BMW singles are very expensive to buy second hand, even the 1990's Funduros. An advantage might be little loss on resale as well as good availability and demand.

BTW: The Automobilists Association of South Africastill recommends to have a carnet for Zambia as well as for Tanzania. While I know for sure that Zambia is no problem without carnet you have to take ndlovu's word on Tanzania. I have ambiguous information on that issue.
Note that the deposits quoted on the website apply for SA citizens only. You have to confirm quotes with them if you are non SA citizen. (Genrally 100% of value)
You can get away cheaper if you have family in SA applying for you and authorizing you to use the permit.

Many thanks for all of the extremely useful info. I'm still checking things out and will likely private message you both shortly.

Hi,

I've had a dream for some years to drive through Africa from North to South. On the BBC 1, there has been a program running over the last few weeks on Sundays. Where Ewen McGregor from Starwars and a friend is driving through Africa from North to South, on two motorbike. But they are followed by and extra bike and 2 4X4 Landrovers.

Anyway, they make it seem possible to achieve. I think they are rushing the trip a bit as they are doing north scotland to Cape Town in 3 months. I would probably do it in 4-5 months..

But let say, incl buying a decent bike in Egypt and drive it to Cape Town. How much of a budget is needed to travel and live in Africa for 4-5 months?

Are there any books, dvd's, website that people can recommend from people that have driven through africa on bikes or cars over the last 5 years?

Thanks

Somewhat OT but an excellent read by metaljockey and traveling with his mates from Cptn to Angola. A bit long because it on a forum where everyone who is awe of this experience manages lots of comments. 51 pages.

Angola, it's not like they said. www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269251

For inpiration, here's a link to the BBC programme mentioned above:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/longwaydown/

So pleased to see such interest in motorcycling in Africa! My husband and I are in the process of starting up a motorbike touring and rental company in Ghana (called African Motorbike) to allow people to do exactly this! While I am American, he is a born and raised Ghanaian who has motorcycled extensively through Africa and Europe and knows much about the terrain, the people, the necessary bikes and gear, the routes, etc. If you make it to West Africa, be sure to look us up: www.africanmotorbike.com, and in the meantime, he'd be happy to pass along any useful info he's gained from his own travel experiences motorcycling through Africa. Good luck and take care!

Hello,
I can see this is an old post BUT hopefully this may get it going again. I am in Kenya at the moment with another female friend of mine. We are over from the UK doing pieces of work and we have decided that it would be a good idea to take our piki piki (motorbike) test and buy a bike to travel down to South Africa on it, over approximately 6 months or so.

We went to the Kenyan AA and everything is fine this end, however, the problem came when we realised we would not be able to sell the bike in South Africa! This is a big factor for us, as we were hoping to get a little of our money back from the bike. SA AA told us that we cannot sell within the country unless we are a SA citizen. I have since e-mailed them to ask about if we gave the bike as a gift or to an NGO and is it easy to change details for a purpose like that. They haven't got back to me SO ANY HELP on that question would be great.

Our second question is whether anyone knows if we can sell a Kenyan motorbike in Zimbabwe? - as we were told Zambia have the same legislation as SA. We know we will have to pay import tax which no doubt will be high.

Any ideas on how we would be able to sell the bike in any of these countries would help us a great deal. We are getting a little disheartened as it may not be possible if we cannot sell the bike further down the line.

Kind regards,

Emma and Jenny