USA and Mexico trip (part 1)

Started to make some loose plans last week for our upcoming ride around the West Coast of the USA, down into Baja and across to Mexico. Planning to document this trip and people we meet etc for the next issue of Head Full of Snakes. It may even end up being an 'American' issue (although haven't really talked to Stewy about that yet!)?

We're leaving in April, and while I'm planning to be away for 3 months the other lads (Malcolm, Joe, Darren) are doing a bit more than a month with me. We've been speculating about bikes for ages now. Originally I was thinking I'd buy something old, ride it round and bring it back. Then when these guys came on board we ended up thinking about getting newer more reliable bikes and riding a lot further. At that point we were thinking about newer Harley's, or even Hinckley Triumphs.  However we also started thinking about going to more and more remote places, and especially into deserts. This combined with my lack of funds (due to the fucking house sucking me dry!) has meant that lately we've been looking at 'big' dirt bikes.

The more we've been looking the more excited I'm getting about the prospects these bikes offer, even though it's obviously quite a shift from my original ideas for the trip. All my research seems to point to one bike – the Suzuki DR 650. Been checking heaps of forums etc, and where we'd been thinking about Honda XR650s originally, it sounds like the DRs are better for what we'll be doing in terms of on-road/off-road activity...



Something like this. There's a few already kitted out on CraigsList/Ebay, including this fucking awesome one here (below) with it's 8 gallon tank! ...


But it's a bit pricey for us at over $7k NZD! We'll picking up bikes in either LA or San Fran I guess so we're focusing our attention there in terms of buying. I've heard there can be problems for foreigners buying motor vehicles in the States, but apparently California has more lenient rules???

If there's anyone out there reading this who has any info at all that might help us on our way it'd be bloody awesome to hear from ya!? Info about buying bikes in Cali would be awesome, as would any info about great spots to ride on the West Coast, Baja, or Mexico. Again we're pretty keen to get off the beaten track where possible...

Will keep updates coming and will be documenting the trip to some extent on this blog I guess!