The Americas 2013

We left Lago Grey at about 8:30am to make our way to El Calafate where we are spending 2 nights. El Calafate is famous for the Perito Moreno Glacier that is near there and we are wanting to see it and get some well deserved rest too as we have ridden everyday bar 1 when we were in Ushuaia.

The ride out of the Torre Del Paine national park from the hotel to Cerro Castillo is an amazing dirt road that travels along incredible scenery for about 75km. The views in this part of the world are more dramatic every time you take a corner. Today however, was for riding so we made minimal stops as our ride included yet ANOTHER border crossing from Chile back into Argentina and all of the bureaucracy, tour buses that got there 2 minutes before us and queuing that accompanies the exercise. We also got our first taste of the infamous Ruta 40 that everybody that has ridden this road talks about in books and blogs….its dirt, its long, has tough patches but for the most part, this section of it anyway, we managed to maintain pretty good speeds and enjoyed the ride.

On the ride out of the Torre Del Paine, I came across this lake that was huge. I have never seen such a large body of water that was SO still without a single ripple anywhere. I sat there and stared at it for what felt like forever….

We weren’t able to fill up with fuel when we left the hotel this morning so 5km before we got to El Calafate, my trusty supermodel and her meagre 28L of fuel and 430km of some pretty hard charging, unfortunately ran out and we had to bear the shame of being towed into El Calafate by Lil Fatty!

Our ride for the day..

I am faced with a difficult upcoming decision that is going to start up the old BMW versus KTM debate in the world of bikers, and that is, which bike do I keep after Enrico goes home when we reach Santiago? As mentioned at the outset, both bikes are mine and the intention was always to send one back once we got to Santiago.The time to make this call is now fast approaching and so the bike I keep in South America will be the bike that completes the trip with me to New York. After the way I have gone on about my beautiful supermodel, one would think the decision is a simple one, Perhaps, but even in life, when longevity is the question, a marriage to a supermodel (think Kate Moss) can make you miserable just because of the nature of the beast versus marriage to someone with sturdier attributes (think your Grandmother) and so this is fast becoming the source of much loss of sleep!

The KTM has NEVER let me down. Not one single iota or mishap from Cape Town to Cairo in 2010 or Malawi in 2011. I cannot say a single bad word. The KTM downside versus the BMW however is:

• The 28L versus Fatties 33L when fuel is scarce,
• The chain that needs maintenance daily,versus fatties Shaft, 
• The tube tyres versus Fatties tubeless, that makes punctures easier to repair.

The BMW downside versus the KTM is:

• She’s Fat and heavy and riding her on dirt is a nightmare,
• In the event of a tyre slash, no tube becomes a problem versus the heavy duty tubes in the KTM that will enable you to keep riding.
• If the BMW shaft fails, and they have been known to, a repair isn’t possible on the side of the road, whereas a chain replacement is simple.
• Did I mention she is fat?

The ride onwards from Santiago has limited dirt versus the huge amounts we have and will be riding in Patagonia on route to Santiago. In addition I will have a passenger with me on the bike. The BMW riders are now all nodding that its the natural choice, but not necessarily. There is still dirt to do albeit in limited quantities relative to what we have/are doing and then there is the Dalton in Alaska and a fair amount of dirt in British Columbia, both of which I would want my KTM for rather than Lil Fatty.

My take on owning both is fairly simple. The KTM is better on the road than the BMW is on the dirt. That makes the KTM the better all round machine. The BMW however has attributes that make it a better long distance touring machine not to mention a more comfy seat for a passenger.

So convenience wise, and assuming no mechanical mishaps, the BMW is probably the right choice. If however, there are problems whilst riding, the repairability on the go of the KTM is probably simpler, not to mention that the ride is AWESOME and she is super hot to look at and so now I am going to do something I will probably regret and open up the question to the biking fraternity to weigh in with unbiased opinions that assist my decision making and not based on the fact that you ride a KTM/BMW and therefore that’s what you punt. If you are an experienced biker (Richard Clark, you don’t qualify), please post your comments as your views will be much appreciated with helping me out with my decision.