Was great to meet Albert from Shamrock Pub. Great place to hang out, lots of people internationally around. There are people here that do Mining, and Mike from CasaBlanca has a group of guys coming in for a motorcycle tour of Columbia.
James needs new tires for his 1200GSA. The KTM shop was nearby so we started there.
Then we rode down to Ruta 40 BMW which has a great reputation.
Meet Mike from Casa Blanca Hostel in Cali. He has also started taking riders on tours of Columbia. Great guy!! I knew about him and his story, and planned to stay at their Hostel in Cali.
http://casablancahostel.wordpress.com/
We spoke with Carlos about some service things we needed to get done while we were in Medellin. We would bring the bikes by the shop on Friday afternoon and they would work on them Saturday. Then I needed to get my rear rack on my bike strengthened as it was a bit loose. Frederico at KTM gave me the name and location of “the best guy”.
So Off we rode into Medellin. There are bike shops and parts for Motorcycles everywhere. Rode to the place that I was told the shop was…… Typical of Central and South America, they never give street address information
So it is always a bit of a wild goose chase to find specific businesses!
Stopped several times in the block to ask if they knew the business or the guy. Yes yes…just a block or two over in the middle…. Ok… Nope. Lost James in the process, but kept asking and found these guys… No english, but with my partial Spanish I was able to ask. Yes they Know Elkin… They gave me the same over a few blocks in the middle. I was frustrated and then one of them got on his bike and rode me over there. 
Following him several blocks over….
He gets me to Elkins shop. Of course I would never have found it as there was no sign outside
Our big bike attract attention. Just after I got worked out that he would do the work, and pulled my bike into his shop, two police guys show up to check it out. Nice guys! Just wanted to ask about the bike, the trip etc. Other people stop and stare as well. But I am used to this, greet them with a smile. “Grande Moto”…. Starts the conversation.
The young helper is great guy. Forgot his name …. Elkin is in the blue shirt.
He gets to work right away…. He has a very tidy shop and it supposed to be the best welder in town.
They fit a piece of metal that will tie together the top rack with angled pieces down to the side racks. I have them bolt it all in place so that I can remove it if needed.
Elkin welds it all together.. fits it and paints it for me before installing it.
Job is all completed. I paid the $70,000 Pesos ($35.00 USD) which I know was probably high, but he stopped what he was doing and got it done. Thanks Elkin 
And a short video Trailer of riding in Columbia. I am working on a longer version.
