“Stina is the dreamer, and I am the planner. Sometimes the dreams are in outer space and need to be brought back down to Earth. Still, our dream is to travel the whole world one way or another. Once you start, it’s really easy. We traveled and camped a lot before we both rode bikes, so it’s not like this was anything new. But once we decided to ride from Pennsylvania to Panama and back, we were scared shitless! Our first trip was to Newfoundland, Canada and we were unprepared, but it went well, cold as it was. After that, we decided to try something bigger yet manageable, plus skipping winter sounded good.” – Kyle Milne.
Stina and Kyle started their third overland motorcycle journey the same way they do most things. “We were thinking about going, got a Lonely Planet South America book and just went for it. We never plan out anything; it just seems to work better that way, less worrying, go with the flow and ride. We went to Mexico and Central America in the winter of 2016 for three and a half months. That was an eye-opening experience and a real adventure for us. We had hard days but also so much fun. There is a lot of bullshit to deal with, but it makes you feel alive, it was like a new world every day.” The duo rode from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania up to Alaska, down to Baja and back up in the summer of 2017. Then, when they decided to explore South America in the winter of 2018, they shipped their motorcycles to Chile and started south to Ushuaia, detouring to most of the scenic and must-see destinations along the route.
Stina is from Slovenia and moved to the USA in 2009 but only got her motorcycle license in June 2015. “I never knew how to ride or anything about motorcycles, I wasn’t interested, and I detested traffic.” But when she decided to quit smoking, she needed something to keep herself motivated and since she’d always wanted to travel decided on getting her license. “The total cost for a motorcycle license in the state of Pennsylvania was about $40, that was the turning point.” The day after she got her license she set off with Kyle on a 5000mi / 8047km trip to Newfoundland. “I would never have traveled on a motorcycle if Kyle weren’t in front of me, I’m the tail of the team. Because Kyle is so knowledgeable and experienced, I trust him completely.” They’ve been married for nine years, and early on Kyle bought an old Honda XR200 for $150 that Stina learned on. “Later I got a CRF230 and did some riding in the woods, and we even did a cool trip out to Colorado where we rode up to American Flag Mountain.” After that though she got involved in Ashtanga Yoga and riding dirt bikes became less of a priority. “But when I got my license, I got an old BMW 650 because it was mellow enough for me yet fast enough for road trips, and away we went.”
Kyle learned to ride bikes with his cousins in Canada when he was eight years old. “I didn’t get a real dirt bike until I was about fourteen. Within a year I was racing hare scrambles and cross county races. I think my Mom was pretty happy when I got my drivers license because then I was able to drive myself to the races every Sunday.” He spent the better part of his youth and twenties racing the GNCC series along with regional hare scrambles. “I did pretty well, won some local championships and had fifteen plus sponsors every year. I think I got my actual motorcycle license around age twenty-one and had an old cruiser for a while, then upgraded to a 1988 Honda Super Magna.” But he found himself still riding dirt bikes every weekend. “Finally I decided to stop taking the Magna across streams and got a KTM 950. We did some nice trips on that bike. I even did the western part of the Trans American Trail on it.” But when they decided to do some extensive overland travel, Kyle knew they needed similar bikes that could handle the task at hand while allowing for parts and the knowledge required for maintenance to be interchangeable.
Kyle and Stina bought two Suzuki DR 650‘s used in the fall 2015 with around 2300mi / 3700km on both bikes. So far they’ve clocked up over 50000mi / 80437km going through 14 plus countries. From Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina with everything in between. Stina’s 2009 DR is called Frida, after the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo while Kyle’s 2013 DR is named El Cato or The Cat. “I wanted identical bikes that we could both handle. Coming from a KTM 950, I thought it was going to be a bit of a downgrade, but in all honesty, I genuinely like the DR. Its cheap, simple and parts are easy to find. It doesn’t stand out so much, and nothing ever breaks. We also had to be honest with ourselves, if the bikes got stolen or destroyed, did we want to lose $20000 or $3000? I just saw a guy who hit a car on his BMW 1200 and destroyed the front end. You don’t get that kind of insurance down here in South America, all he can do is sell it for parts or ship it home.” Racing dirt bikes for 15 years gave Kyle a good base for how to set up a motorcycle. “Of course, there is a big difference between a race bike and an adventure bike. These DR’s are on their 3rd big trip, and each time they get a little tweaked, some more additions or some things come off. The more you travel by motorcycle, the more you find what works and what doesn’t and that you don’t necessarily need all this extra stuff. We’ve learned what we need and what we don’t need, and we feel we are pretty good now.”
“Rob at Moto Lab Dirtbikes is a good friend of ours and a big supporter. He stiffened up the suspension on both bikes, and now they can handle twisty paved roads, the Dalton highway in Alaska, the Carraterra Austral in Chile and everything in between. He lowered Stina’s bike so its a little easier for her to maneuver but can still handle the luggage load while soaking up all the bumps, potholes, and surprise speed bumps along the way. He also rebuilt both rear shocks, and since he is a dealer for Warp 9, they both got a fork brace which made an amazing difference.” Initially, Kyle had fitted a 5.3gal / 20L Acerbis fuel tank but during their central America trip found that he still needed to carry a spare 1.5gal / 5.5L fuel can. “It was a pain, always taking that thing on and off to get into a pannier, so I upgraded to the to the 6.6gal / 25L tank, and I wish I had done that in 2016. It also acts as a bit of a fairing which is great.” As for navigation on the long road. “I’m done with proper GPS’s like Garmin or whatnot. They always break, the screens crack, the charging port gets loose. An old phone attached to your bars is all you need. We use Google Maps, OSMAnd and iOverlander for everything we need.” Both bikes had Pro Taper bars, hand guards, and risers fitted. “Moto Lab Dirtbikes hooked us up with two Seat Concepts seats while I’ve got a sheepskin over mine.” Kyle’s DR has a Lynx fairing while Stina’s has an aluminum dash and fairing that Kyle fabricated to use the stock headlight while raising the display assembly giving it a rally look along with more room. Both bikes feature LED headlights, heated grips, USB ports and plugs for their heated jackets. Stainless steel brake lines, along with larger front brake rotors get the DR’s stopping. Other upgrades include auto chain oilers, voltmeters, RAM mounts, Warp 9 starter caps, RMZ foot pegs and GSXR mufflers with carb mods. Acerbis skid plates also protect the bikes from rough terrain while Moto Z Tractionator GPS tires are their first choice when it comes to rubber.
“Aluminum luggage is expensive, we tried it for the Central America trip and returned home with broken panniers.” Kyle’s bike fell over once due to strong winds in Panama and broke a lid. Stina went down on a gravel hill in Costa Rica and crushed one of her panniers. “So we decided that this was not a solution, we wanted hard panniers for the ability to lock them and remove easily. Pelican 1440 top loader was the way to go for us. They are ‘almost’ indestructible. This got tested when a cow plowed into the side of Stina when she was doing about 50mph / 80kmh in Baja, Mexico, the resulting impact did destroy one of her cases, but otherwise, they can take a fall or a drop much better than aluminum panniers.” Both bikes are also fitted with a pelican top case with a small soft pannier on the rear seat doubling as a backrest while keeping some extra items close at hand. The cases mount on Tusk pannier racks along with Pro Moto cargo racks. Fender bags, PVC tool tubes and waterproof duffel bags on top of the top cases round out the carrying capacity.
“Highs are the perfect little moments, something authentic, a magnificent view, an old bar, the local market or an untouched beach. Our favorites include seeing an Ant eater climbing in the trees over us while camped on a beach in the Osa Penninsula, Costa Rica, Mariachi Square in Mexico City or an untouched Pacific beach all to ourselves.” But each journey also has it’s lows: “When it rains, crossing borders in Central America or being treated like a walking dollar tourist. Being exhausted and just yelling at each other for no reason other than your mad and tired. A real low is when you get in trouble, like when Stina got arrested in Mexico City for drinking a beer in the street or when the cow ran across the road and hit Stina. Sitting in a hospital in the middle of Baja really sucks while your wife is getting stitches.”
“You really must like bikes to ride these types of distances. I always say after a long trip, I don’t want to see this bike for a week, and within two days I’m riding again. When you travel on a bike, you experience the world differently. You smell the flowers and trees and sometimes also the diesel exhaust fumes. You experience the wind in Patagonia, the dust in Baja, the bugs in the Yukon, just everything. It’s completely different to being in a car; you must be aware a hundred percent of the time. Comparing these experiences, good and bad makes traveling in a car seem as if you are sitting in your living room.” While Stina reflects that: “You can travel on a motorcycle even if you don’t consider yourself a ‘biker.’ In addition to everything Kyle said, I’m not a biker. I don’t identify with that label. I even feel like a fraud sometimes when motorcycle enthusiasts help us out even though I did ride to the top and the bottom of the Americas. I just like to travel, and I recommend traveling on a motorcycle especially because you feel like your on a horse, you’re free to move, close to the environment and free to change your mind.”
Check out Stina and Kyle’s adventures on Facebook and Instagram.
All images by Moto Migrants
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