Seb, the guy who knows
every dirt track in the country
Behind Pura Vida Motorbike there is no agency: there is a rider based in Costa Rica, who has been riding these roads for years and who fixes the bikes he hands you himself.
A guide, not a chaperone
You see the difference after two hours. A chaperone follows a route; a guide knows which dirt track is rideable after three days of rain, where to stop for a real casado rather than a tourist menu, and what time you need to be off the pass so you don't end up in the clouds.
Seb lives in Costa Rica. The roads on this site, he has ridden dozens of times, in both directions and in every season. That's what lets him change a leg along the way without the trip losing anything at all.
A mechanic first
He services every bike in the fleet himself. On guided tours he rides with the tools and the wear parts: a chain that jumps or a flat 60 km from the nearest village gets fixed on the side of the track, not waiting for a tow truck.
That's also why the 24/7 roadside support isn't a marketing line: it's his own number.
Three languages, three countries
French, English, Spanish. You book in your language, you ride in your language, and you handle the border paperwork in the language of the country. On the Nicaragua and Panamá tours, that detail changes everything: clearing customs on a bike is a matter of patience and vocabulary.
Why “pura vida”
It's the phrase you hear fifty times a day in Costa Rica. It means hello, thank you, I'm fine, don't worry, and just about anything else you want. It's also a way of riding: you keep moving, you take the time to stop, and if the day decides to turn out different from what was planned, so much the better.
Life on the road
A few photos from past tours.
