Mexico ride?
Road Master
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 983
Likes: 4
From: Indiana
Has anyone ever toured through Mexico at all? Beng from the frozen tundra of northern Canada, I'm thinking this would be a great way to spend a winter. Has anyone ever had any issues with cossing the border, insurance or customs officials when riding across into Mexico?
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p...s/cis_970.html
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p...a/pa_4491.html
Or this link from your governments website.
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pa....asp?id=184000
Advanced
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 75
Likes: 0
Has anyone ever toured through Mexico at all? Beng from the frozen tundra of northern Canada, I'm thinking this would be a great way to spend a winter. Has anyone ever had any issues with cossing the border, insurance or customs officials when riding across into Mexico?
Mexico really IS a 3rd world country, you might as well be in rural Africa. (great food, tho!) Inexpensive travel insurance (required) can be bought at the border (U.S. side) or online. OK to split lanes at customs, always been waved through.
Last edited by Chilibiker; Jan 10, 2010 at 12:25 AM.
Road Master
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 833
Likes: 0
From: Corpus Christi Texas Area
One word ... DON'T! I live about 150 miles from the border, and have been there MANY TIMES! I won't go any more. Hell, the annual bike rally in South Padre makes a run through Mexico every year ... escorted by both Federales and Texas State Troopers. They didn't go this year. The ride was canceled because of the danger. And keep in mind, that's HUNDREDS of bikes and riders, WITH escorts! NO WAY dude!
To a couple of the other posters, it seems to still be safe to fly in or go on a cruise ship to the "tourist" areas along the Pacific coast or Cancun, etc, but I damn sure wouldn't go anywhere away from the main areas, hotel, etc. Same goes for Jamaica, by the way.
Ride safe!
To a couple of the other posters, it seems to still be safe to fly in or go on a cruise ship to the "tourist" areas along the Pacific coast or Cancun, etc, but I damn sure wouldn't go anywhere away from the main areas, hotel, etc. Same goes for Jamaica, by the way.
Ride safe!
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 7,079
Likes: 21
From: Queens, NY
my mexico experience has nothing to do with motorcycles, but i'll share all the same.
i was in san diego playing in a baseball tournament about 5 years back.
we had an off day in the middle of the week and a bunch of my team and some of the parents decided to drive down into tijuana.
my buddy derek and i weren't interested and spent the day poolside smoking doobies and drinking beers.
everyone else went in 2 separate vans. first van gets across the border, second van gets across and goes about 7 feet before being T-Boned, absolutely demolished by a car.
within seconds, and i mean seconds, police, military, and about 30 other mexican civilians were on the scene talking a mile a minute.
lucky for everyone involved 2 kids on my team spoke spanish fluently and were able to at least translate. the general consensus from anyone carrying a gun was that every single one of them was to go to prison, and both vans impounded.
about 2,000 cash out of a few pockets later, and they crammed into ONE van and hi-tailed it back into california.
dude, seriously don't go there. plenty of roads here in the good old US. and if you're really jonesin', it's hot and sandy in the southwest.
i was in san diego playing in a baseball tournament about 5 years back.
we had an off day in the middle of the week and a bunch of my team and some of the parents decided to drive down into tijuana.
my buddy derek and i weren't interested and spent the day poolside smoking doobies and drinking beers.
everyone else went in 2 separate vans. first van gets across the border, second van gets across and goes about 7 feet before being T-Boned, absolutely demolished by a car.
within seconds, and i mean seconds, police, military, and about 30 other mexican civilians were on the scene talking a mile a minute.
lucky for everyone involved 2 kids on my team spoke spanish fluently and were able to at least translate. the general consensus from anyone carrying a gun was that every single one of them was to go to prison, and both vans impounded.
about 2,000 cash out of a few pockets later, and they crammed into ONE van and hi-tailed it back into california.
dude, seriously don't go there. plenty of roads here in the good old US. and if you're really jonesin', it's hot and sandy in the southwest.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 24,728
Likes: 9,235
From: Snow Hill, NC
Thanks for your responses. Some of them even made some sense. Sorry I didn't respond sooner but I as busy and away from the site. While ppreciate your concern for mywell being I merely wanted to know if there where any special documents or insurances needed. I do watch T.V. every now and again, and do know about the drug wars going on in north eastern Mexico. To the person who posted the link to the other forum, thank-you. The fine folks in there, some of whom have even travelled through Mexico, gave some fantastic advice, and had worth while comments.
Last edited by Notgrownup; Jan 10, 2010 at 09:04 AM.
Tourer
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 274
Likes: 0
From: South Texas
My uncle has a lease down in mexico and he goes down there a dozen times a year. he says that it's really no problem and he feels safe, but he crosses the border in a really small town in texas that has no border town in mexico to speak of. The one problem with doing this is that there are no paved roads accross the border in mexico. I would never ride through mexico, but if I did, I would cross in a really small town, make sure I was fluent in spanish, and not take a harley touring bike. An enduro type of motorcycle is more suited for the job because in order to reduce risks, it is almost necessary to stay away from large metro areas. The biggest challenge in mexico is that the police arn't always honest. I choose to stay out of any country where I cant trust the police. Also, the metro areas are so bad that even Nuevo Laredo has dried up and looks like a ghost town now due to the violence. Good luck if you decide to go.
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Road Captain
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 717
Likes: 3
From: Cincinnati
2 men decapitated, 2 women killed on Mexico border 
Slideshow:Mexico Drug War
Sat Jan 9, 4:40 pm ET
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Police found two severed heads and the bullet-ridden bodies of two women and a disabled man in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, the latest chapter in Mexico's increasingly gory drug war.
The killing of women or the disabled has been rare in a conflict that has cost more than 15,000 lives in the past three years. But drug gangs appear to using such killings — and progressively more gruesome mutilations — to intimidate rivals and the public.
Prosecutors in northern Chihuahua state, where Ciudad Juarez is located, said the first man's body was found on a street late Friday with its hands and head cut off. Between the hands was a message with characteristics similar to those usually left by organized crime gangs.
Another man's body, with its head cut off and eyes gouged out, was found elsewhere. Mexican news media reported that a handwritten message was found nearby but Mexican police rarely disclose the contents of such notes, which the cartels use to insult and intimidate their rivals.
The two women's bodies were found in a vacant lot in Ciudad Juarez late Friday.
The body of a man whose legs had been surgically amputated some time ago was also found Friday on a dirt road on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.
Also Friday, a man riding a bicycle was shot to death in the city, five people were killed in drive-by shootings and a group of three men were shot to death at a fast-food restaurant near a school.
On Thursday, police in the northern city of Los Mochis, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, found the dismembered body of a man whose face had been skinned and stitched onto a soccer ball.
Slideshow:Mexico Drug WarSat Jan 9, 4:40 pm ET
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Police found two severed heads and the bullet-ridden bodies of two women and a disabled man in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, the latest chapter in Mexico's increasingly gory drug war.
The killing of women or the disabled has been rare in a conflict that has cost more than 15,000 lives in the past three years. But drug gangs appear to using such killings — and progressively more gruesome mutilations — to intimidate rivals and the public.
Prosecutors in northern Chihuahua state, where Ciudad Juarez is located, said the first man's body was found on a street late Friday with its hands and head cut off. Between the hands was a message with characteristics similar to those usually left by organized crime gangs.
Another man's body, with its head cut off and eyes gouged out, was found elsewhere. Mexican news media reported that a handwritten message was found nearby but Mexican police rarely disclose the contents of such notes, which the cartels use to insult and intimidate their rivals.
The two women's bodies were found in a vacant lot in Ciudad Juarez late Friday.
The body of a man whose legs had been surgically amputated some time ago was also found Friday on a dirt road on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.
Also Friday, a man riding a bicycle was shot to death in the city, five people were killed in drive-by shootings and a group of three men were shot to death at a fast-food restaurant near a school.
On Thursday, police in the northern city of Los Mochis, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, found the dismembered body of a man whose face had been skinned and stitched onto a soccer ball.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,447
Likes: 163
From: Northern VA
Thanks for your responses. Some of them even made some sense. Sorry I didn't respond sooner but I as busy and away from the site. While ppreciate your concern for mywell being I merely wanted to know if there where any special documents or insurances needed. I do watch T.V. every now and again, and do know about the drug wars going on in north eastern Mexico. To the person who posted the link to the other forum, thank-you. The fine folks in there, some of whom have even travelled through Mexico, gave some fantastic advice, and had worth while comments.
Check the fatality statistics for Americans in Mexico from Jan 09 to Jun 09, a six month period. The high number of Homicides and traffic accidents in Mexico should be of concern to bikers/tourists of any Nationality.
You'll also want to check the Canadian Embassy in Mexico Website for Canadian specific entry requirements and precautions:
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca...sul/visas.aspx
If you really do end up taking a bike trip down to Mexico, do some serious research on it first. Lots of risk involved and no one on here is recommending it (so far).