Whenever I travel outside of the US, I try to snap photos of all the motorcycles I see to enjoy what’s different. Here’s my shots from about 10 days in Costa Rica.
First, some quick notes. Motorcycles in Costa Rica are typically small displacement (around 125cc) used for transportation, not for pleasure. The capital, San Jose, is the only place you’ll find bikes displacing over 500cc. I saw a BMW R1200GS, F800GS, 650 Sertao, Honda NC700X, Varadero, and a Ducati Monster – though I wasn’t able to get photos of all of them.
Because small bikes are so popular, there’s also a bunch of weird knockoffs from companies like Freedom (from what I can tell, it’s Kymco’s regional brand), Osaka, and UM…and you can buy them at local department stores!
Here’s some of the most interesting photos (not always motorcycles) I took:
At first glance from very far away, I thought this was a new BMW R1200GS with a Touratech fairing! Turns out it’s a Formula X400 R4, producing 30 horsepower and available for $3,740.
Did you know KTM sells bicycles? I didn’t.
This Suzuki Samurai was easily my favorite car in the entire country.
This was rather remarkable – right outside of a clinic/ambulance depot was a Toyota Corolla that had been possibly wrecked, then stripped of some parts. It’s just sitting there, on the side of the road:
Costa Rican police motorcycles are available in dual-sport and street variants – here’s one of the former, a Yamaha that looks to be a bit overloaded on the beach (check out the sweet bicycle helmet):
And here’s one of the latter, a Suzuki.
The Honda XR250 Tornado, complete with “Alpinestar” sticker. 249ccs and 23 horsepower.
Out of nowhere, a nice looking KTM:
In heavy traffic, lots of bikers choose not to split lanes but instead hang out in the emergency lane.
The rare USA-made early’90s Hyundai Excel.
Honda NC700(or 750)X:
I have a soft spot for the Suzuki GN125, as it was the bike my girlfriend took her MSF course on. Costa Rica has plenty of them…
…and plenty of knockoffs, as well. I guess the “Osaka” name is meant to evoke Japanese quality?
Another knockoff, by a company called “Serpento”:
Bajaj Pulsar 200NS:
Honda XR250:
A Qingqi QM150…
…which is similar to the Freedom Fast 150, a 11 horsepower firecracker.
You get the idea – there’s a lot of Chinese made bikes:
I love Toyota Landcruisers, so it was great to see some of the models that never made it to the US:
Follow this link to look through the whole album (there’s not much of an order, just random pics of bikes I saw).