Buying the bikes in Santiago would have been another alternative. I checked the second hand market online (for example, go to http://www.mercadolibre.cl/ and search for “Trek” which is a popular brand in Chile) and found several which would have been okay as a base. However, we would have still needed to buy racks, drinking bottle holders, perhaps some parts to replace worn out ones and to adjust the bikes for us. In summary: it would have been possible but would have needed extra time in Santiago.

Selling the bicycles in El Chalten was surprisingly easy. It’s a popular area for mountain biking and people appreciate quality bikes. However, trying to sell an expensive touring bike with top of the line equipment might be a different story. We asked 250 USD each for ours (accepting Argentinian pesos for payment), which seemed to be a price locals were willing to pay for a decent bike.