Background

During December 1999 and January 2000, a group of five riders staged a two-week dual-sport ride from Santiago de Chile to Patagonia, returning to Santiago.  The members included Robert Runyard, who is a part-time Chilean resident and keeps a KLR650 in that country (see photo above). Robert has traveled into Patagonia on several rides since first visiting Chile in 1978, and through his work with the South American Explorers Club he has assisted in the planning for many riders who have subsequently gone to South America.  Robert also writes for the South American Explorer magazine. On this trip he served as a sort of impromptu guide and interpreter.

A few weeks prior to starting out on this Patagonia ride, Runyard took a trip on the KLR650 into Argentina and then north toward Tinogasta, then back into Chile across the Paso de San Francisco, which is about 15,000 feet high. Some photos and maps, and the start of the story, are found in "Back over the Andes"

 

 
The other members of this Patagonia expedition included John and Suzanne Volkman, Steve Maita, and Tim Crowley, all from the Sacramento area of California.

The four Californians used 400cc KTM LC4 dual-sport models rented from Spaarwater, the KTM distributor in Chile. Roland Spaarwater offers first-class preparation of the bikes, has an English-speaking assistant (Kathrin), and two well-equipped shops. Their headquarters is located in the pleasant southern Chilean city of Chillán, with another shop located in the capital, Santiago.  Anyone wishing to make arrangements for a dual-sport ride in Chile and Argentina would do well to get in touch with Spaarwater well in advance of an intended arrival since there are a limited number of bikes and they tend to be in high demand.

Roland Spaarwater, Ltda/KTM Chile can be the contacted here:

ROLAND SPAARWATER Ltda     website:  http://www.ktmchile.cl/
Email: ktm@ktmchile.cl
Avenida Ecuador 275      Chillán - Chile
Telephone  Country code = (56)  area code (4)   number is  - 2231592   Fax    - 2231592

In Santiago:   ROLAND SPAARWATER Ltda
                        Av. Apoquindo 8263,   Las Condes -    Santiago -  Chile
Telephones:  (56)  (2) -2299101,  -2247445,    -224589    Fax   (56) (2) -2299101

The map here shows the overall trip route, starting with the picking up of the bikes on 27 Dec 1999 in Santiago.  The blue line shows the ferry boat return path from Puerto Chacabuco to Puerto Montt.  The trip involved  three border crossings and nearly 2,000 miles of riding a mixture of pavement and gravel roads.  The condition of some of the gravel roads made a dual-sport particularly useful. 

The photo at the bottom of the page shows one of the riders along the Futaleufú River in Chile.