Oregon to Ushuaia on an XR650L

I'll be in Lima for at least today and maybe tomorrow. I have to change my oil, find a new chain, and change out some sprockets. After that I'm headed for Nazca and then Arequipa.

Hey! Good to see you guys on here! Enjoy Ecuador while you can, Peru is expensive!

Ulyses, this is by far one of the best ride reports I've ever read!! As a former 650L owner and one that has lived with and worked with Marines for my entire life, you have my utmost respect. Awesome, once in a lifetime trip you are on, one I doubt you will never forget!! Recent close calls and budget aside, take some time to smell the roses, every day life pales in comparison to what you are experiencing right now.

...and leaves you with regrets about not doing some of the things you could have (and knew deep down you should have).

Ok. Hewby's about 600km north of Lima, aiming to be there tonight. My gear is held up in Lima customs, so I can't leave Arequipa until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, so it sounds like we'll run into each other in Nazca.

Loving the RR and looking forward to buying you a beer when I see you. And please, don't hit (or get hit by) any more things.

Bryce


Take some time to make out a pay pal donation link and I'm sure some of us will be willing to help contribute to your adventure. Your spirit, determination, and attitude is inspirational to many of us.



Brother



Tom

OK, but do we get a choice as to how the money is spent?

*New chain fund,
*Peruvian bribe fund,
*Sub-frame repair fund,
*Shave the beard fund.

you might consider getting farther off the road during your stops after the last few days ,I really enjoy your reports BUT
not the I just got hit ones.

Okay, okay! So much pressure....I'll try and get it set up tonight or tomorrow. Thanks!

Ohh, come on! It adds a bit of excitement to what would normally just be a bike ride!

Sorry to hear you got hit! Let us know if there's any way we can help from here. Hang in there bud

How dare you sir. That is a beard and a half!

Day 89 (January 12, 2013)
Lima, Peru
Day's Ride: 0 Miles

Today I actually found a reputable, legitimate Honda dealer that sells bikes over 250cc. I had kind of began to think that they were like Justin's KTM oil: unicorn blood. But, apparently they do exist.



They actually sell the new Honda Transalp 700 here. I was encouraged by the fact that they were also selling an almost new XR650L.



Talking with the manager, Ricardo, I ran down the list of things that I needed done: new chain, new rear sprocket, installation of a new front sprocket, front wheel alignment, luggage rack straightening, and a general look-over to make sure there wasn't anything glaringly wrong with the bike that I had missed after the crash. As it was already Saturday afternoon, he told me that they wouldn't be able to get all of that finished until Monday. Looks like I'll be in Lima for a few days.

Leaving the bike at the shop, I took my recently fractured luggage rack piece to a welder across the street. As you can see from the picture below, the gussets that I added in Ecuador did their job and the rack only partially fractured! Victory!



This is my fourth (and most likely not my last) time having this thing re-welded. Granted, it's been through a lot: two crashes and 10,000 miles of carrying nearly a hundred pounds of gear. The President of the Company that makes this thing told me that I'd put it through quite a bit of abuse. I think that's a slight understatement.

Once again, finding a welder was easy. Getting a quality welder remains impossible. Kind of like finding unicorn blood.



After welding practice, I walked back to the shop were the assistant manager offered to take us to the local "mercado" (market) for lunch. It was legit mercado, complete with butcher shops, fresh produce, and plenty of bootlegged DVD's for sale.



I think that everyone that eats meat should be required to go to someplace like this and see exactly where it all comes from. It's always fun to watch the butcher cutting the head off of a live chicken with a cleaver and then commencing to pluck it right in front of you. He'll even leave the head and feet on for you if you like!



For lunch I had "Lomo Saltado", a delicious combination of beef, onions, tomatoes, hominy, rice, and fried potatoes.



In the mercado, this meal only cost $2.50. I've got to start finding places like this more often.

Back at the shop we got to work on the XRL. Look how crooked my luggage rack is after being hit by that car:



There's really only one way to fix something like this in Peru: brute force!



After seeing this little scene unfold, I told them that it would probably be a good idea to tack the rack off of the bike before attempting to torque it back into shape. They agreed, and watched them have a fun time trying to figure out how to get that thing off. It's actually kind of nice to watch someone else curse that thing out for a change.

After watching them struggle for a few minutes, I showed them how to remove it. As they were pulling the last bolts, I noticed another fracture on the rack! It was on the opposite piece from the fracture that I had had welded earlier today. Looks like that impact really put the hurt on already wounded luggage rack.



Luckily, once again the gussets did their job and the fracture didn't completely break the rack. I'll have to take it the welder on Monday. Fifth time is the charm I suppose.

As some of the workers were torquing on my rack, the head mechanic and I removed the chain and old front sprocket and checked things over. He told me that the splines on the countershaft were fine but that the front sprocket needed to be replaced right away. He also told me that my rear sprocket was serviceable, but that I should probably replace it when I got to Santiago, Chile.

For all of the XRL riders and other bike junkies out there, here's some macro shots of the countershaft, old front sprocket, and rear sprocket:









I also showed him were my loose chain had worn through the chain guard and started eating into the swing arm.



He assured me that they could fabricate a new one on Monday. By this time it was about 5:00 PM and it was time to close up. I left my bike at the shop, flagged down a cab, and returned to the Hotel.

Since they won't be open tomorrow, it looks like I'll have a day to explore Lima. I'll also have to do something about my laundry situation. I haven't really stopped anywhere long enough to clean my clothes since I left Colombia and my things are starting to get a little ripe....

Good shots... Splines on your shaft look fine, Bryce. Dry and rusty due to lack of lubrication; don't forget to grease that up well before pushing the new sprocket on. Bummer about all these rack cracks; I really have to wonder if there isn't a better rack solution. Of course colliding with a car would put all bets off. But still. That thing's been cracking well prior. Parece que ha encontrado un buen taller, tambien un buen mercado. Espero que le vaya bien descubriendo Lima; acuerdese de cuidarse. Tal vez conozca una buena Peruana por ahi; quizas goze una discoteca...

I agree with the service manager. The rear sprocket looks pretty good, but the C/S sprocket needs to be replaced. Your countershaft splines are fine, but I am concerned with the rust. :huh Keep using the wider, XR650R C/S sprocket. Also, make sure you lubricate the countershaft with grease before you install another XR650R C/S sprocket.

I think your countershaft splines would have been stripped by now if you had not installed the wider, XR650R C/S sprocket.

Spud

Spud you have been a great help both during and before this trip started. I almost got around to making some chain rollers before he took off but ran out of time.

Thank you for the kind words, Alvin. I am glad to help, and I am enjoying Bryce's ride report very much.

Spud

Awesome ride report, I can't wait to take one of my own once I get out of the navy

Had the same subframe and luggage rack problems when I used hard luggage of road.

Once I switched to soft luggage that was the last problems I had.

For of road soft luggage absorbs a lot of the vibrations and impacts.

Getting hit by Cars is hard on any set up glad you are OK.

It was hard for me to do the switch also (Dry safe lockable hard cases are nice) but once I cracked open one of my BMW boxes on a rock it was easier to do the switch.

I am looking at a grate basin Giant loop bag for the next Adventure. My old Gear is getting long in the tooth.

All the best for the Journey .

Dude, 3 collisions ... you win! I was only hit by a bus! Finding qualified service is sometimes very difficult. Take it from me, Lima is a great place to find service. Santiago isn't bad but I had the best luck in Lima. There is a good place for general service in Osorno, Chile MotoAdventura they helped us a lot. In Punta Arenas there is a good mechanic as well, although expensive. Here is his info; Alejandro Lago 0056996401233.

There are a lot of motorcycle shops in Buenos Aires located along the Avenida Liberatador in La Lucila. I think I saw a honda shop, a BMW shop, an adventure motorcycle shop, a Kawasaki shop and probably a couple more on my way to the KTM dealer. However, if any are like the KTM dealer, they will take you to the cleaners for basic service. An oil change, plug change, air filter change and a repaired leaky back shock cost me $1,173 US and that was at a VERY favorable exchange rate. My advice is get service work done before coming to Argentina, they love the Gringo money, but they seem to be very proud of their work.

Also, as a side note, Argentina as of January 7th, 2013 started charging Gringos (US, Canada and Australia) a reciprocity tax at all entry points, not just at the airport. $160 US for us yanks. AND, you have to pay by internet and have the document printed and with you when you enter. I wasted a half day in Uruguay at an internet shop finding the site, signing up, paying by credit card then printing off the document just to get back into Argentina after traveling over on a day trip with my wife. I think they are trying to kill the golden goose!

Here is the site to register. By the way, if you sign up and pay on the English site, it doesn't seem to carry through to the Spanish site. Very frustrating, when you are trying to convince a spanish speaking internet proprietor that you just signed up and he should be able to get to the site to print off your document.

I am headed to the Dakar in Cordoba today to see the finish of the stage there tomorrow and the start the day after. I will give you some advice I got, "try to avoid running into things". Via con dios, mi amigo.