Motorcycles
Buy and sell motorcycles in Guatemala.
Nearly every helmet and orange vest on a Guatemalan road carries the plate number of the bike underneath it, which says a lot about how closely a rider’s kit is tied to the machine. Work bikes, scooters and dual-sport trail bikes are listed new by dealers and pre-owned by their owners, next to the brake pads, panels and engines that keep them running. Helmets, rain suits and top boxes turn up too, because a rider who sells the bike rarely keeps the rest. Buy the bike for its papers and its condition, and the helmet only if you know its history.
Motorcycles for sale and the parts that keep them on the road:
most people arrive needing either a bike or a part. For the first, motorcycles for sale runs from a dealer’s new 125 to a dual-sport with years of dirt roads behind it. For the second, motorcycle parts is where pads, panels and whole engines change hands, tuk-tuk parts included. Riding gear has no branch of its own, so helmets, rain suits, vests and top boxes sit with the parts.
Full-face, open and modular helmets:
the difference is how much of your face they cover. A full-face shell protects the chin, which takes the blow in many falls; an open helmet is cooler in the heat of the coast but leaves the face bare; a modular one flips up at the front and weighs more. Look for a DOT label on the back of the shell or an ECE 22.06 label sewn into the chin strap, and buy by the measurement of your head rather than the letter on the box, since an M from one brand can be an S from another. A certified DOT helmet starts around Q350 new, and a full-face from LS2, MT or HJC sits nearer Q550 to Q700. Either way, a used helmet cannot tell you where it has been, so a second-hand one should be cheap or left alone.
Rain suits for the afternoon downpours of the wet season:
matter because from May to October the rain tends to arrive in the afternoon, just as people ride home. A one-piece plastic suit is cheap and folds under the seat, but it splits at the crotch and melts against a hot exhaust within a season. A two- or three-piece suit with sealed seams, a hood that fits under the helmet and reflective strips lasts several rainy seasons, and Ciclón, made in Guatemala for decades, is the name many riders ask for. Add shoe covers with a reinforced toe if you change gear with your left foot. In Puerto Barrios a suit gets worn most of the year; in Guastatoya it can stay folded for months.
A second-hand helmet, vest or rain suit, up close:
start with the helmet, because its worst fault is invisible. The foam layer inside the shell crushes to absorb a blow and does not spring back, so a helmet that has been in a fall can look perfect and protect far less. Ask plainly whether it has been dropped or crashed. Find the manufacture date on the sticker under the lining; most makers advise replacing a helmet after around five years. A DOT sticker is easy to fake; a helmet that feels light and has soft padding instead of a thick, rigid liner is the giveaway. Work the buckle and hold the visor to the light: its scratches are what you will ride through at night. Turn a rain suit inside out to look for seam tape lifting, and flex stiff PVC for cracks. On a vest, the reflective strips dull long before the fabric wears out.
Peeling the plate number off a helmet before you list it:
is the first job when selling a helmet or vest. Riders here carry their bike’s plate on both, that number identifies your bike, and the buyer will fit their own. Photograph the shell, the lining and the label with its size and date, and say honestly whether it has ever hit the ground. Give the size and your head measurement in centimetres, which saves someone a trip from Totonicapán only to find it pinches. The riders with most to pass on have just moved up to a car or a bigger bike, and a newcomer buying a first work bike will often take their helmet, rain suit and top box in one trip, provided the helmet’s history is written into the listing.