Rota Biker: why motorcyclists are collecting monuments across Brazil

In dozens of Brazilian cities there's now an identical sculpture: two fingers pointing at the ground, the biker greeting, the gesture motorcyclists exchange with each other when they cross paths on the road. That gesture cast in metal isn't just any tourist decoration. It's a landmark of the Rota Biker, and for anyone who has joined the movement, it has become a destination.

The Rota Biker is a Brazilian motorcycle tourism project created in 2023 that's reshaping how motorcyclists plan trips. The idea is simple: each city that receives a monument becomes an official stop. Whoever visits marks it in the passport. Whoever completes the collection has material proof of a journey. And Brazil (and now Paraguay too) gains an entire tourist circuit made by and for those who travel by motorcycle.

The movement has a founder, Marcos Turbay, a motorcyclist who founded the Serpenteando Café in Bocaiúva do Sul (PR), and it's not an anonymous internet phenomenon. It has a visual identity, it has rules, it has an association behind it (the Association of Guardians of the Biker Monuments), and it's recognized by the Brazilian Motorcycling Confederation. And it has something few Brazilian tourism projects manage: it puts motorcyclists in small towns that would never show up on a conventional itinerary.

In short: Rota Biker is a motorcycle tourism movement created in 2023 by the Paraná motorcyclist Marcos Turbay. Each partner city receives a monument to the biker greeting, the gesture of two fingers pointing at the ground that motorcyclists exchange on the road. Today the official map already lists 40 points across Brazil and in Paraguay, with a goal of reaching 50 by the end of 2027. Each visit earns a stamp in the official passport. GT Overlander already has every monument cataloged as attractions in our database.

What exactly is the Rota Biker

Rota Biker is a network of tourist points aimed at motorcyclists. Each point is a city that agreed to be part of the circuit and installed, in a public place, the monument to the biker greeting: a metal sculpture, always with the same symbol, the two fingers pointing at the ground, a sign of respect and unity among motorcyclists on the road.

The movement has three fronts:

• The physical monuments: permanent tourist points that become travel destinations
• The passport: the official booklet where the motorcyclist records each visit
• The community: gatherings, events and promotion that drive motorcycle tourism in the host cities

The key point of the project: it's not just "doing tourism". It's recognizing that a motorcyclist values things differently. Someone traveling by motorcycle isn't looking for a mall or a five-star hotel. They're looking for road, scenery, community, a café with a mechanic next door, and something that marks the passage. The monument delivers exactly that.

The origin: Bocaiúva do Sul, Serpenteando Café and the Rastro da Serpente

The story began in Bocaiúva do Sul (PR), in the region known among motorcyclists as the Rastro da Serpente (Snake's Trail), a winding road in the Serra do Mar of Paraná that became a mecca for those who love curves. There, at the Serpenteando Café, Marcos Turbay had the idea of turning the café into the starting point of something bigger.

In 2023 the first monument went up, today officially listed as "1. Serpenteando Café". From there the movement gained traction fast. Other themed café owners, city halls of tourist towns and business owners connected to motorcycling started reaching out to join the network.

In a little over two years of existence, the Rota Biker already passes 35 monuments in operation, with others in the final construction stage, totaling 40 points on the official map (monumentobikers.com.br). The first point outside Brazil already exists, in Katueté, Paraguay, and the organization projects reaching 50 monuments by the end of 2027, with expansion to the North and Northeast of the country and new points in Uruguay and Argentina.

The passport: the collection that changes how you travel by motorcycle

Each motorcyclist who joins the movement receives (or buys) an official Rota Biker passport. It's a booklet, physical or digital, where, at each monument visited, the motorcyclist records the passage, usually with a stamp from the local partner establishment (café, gas station, restaurant).

Collecting all the monuments has become a serious challenge. Whoever completes the collection doesn't win a cash prize, but gains something a motorcyclist values more: the story of the trip. Each stamp is a city visited, a road traveled, a piece of Brazil covered.

The system also feeds the cycle of discovery. Whoever collects ends up traveling to cities they would never put on their radar: Socorro (SP), Jundiaí (SP), Barretos (SP), Bocaiúva do Sul (PR), Urubici (SC), Piumhi (MG), Goiás (GO), and dozens of others spread across several states.

Where the monuments are today

The largest concentration is on the South and Southeast axis: São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais. It makes sense: it's where the highest density of Brazilian motorcyclists is and where the infrastructure of scenic roads is most consolidated.

But the movement has already reached the Center-West (Distrito Federal, Goiás), Bahia, and crossed the border into Paraguay. Each new monument that opens automatically creates a possible route for anyone who wants to cross a state, or a country, border toward it.

Some host cities have already become references:

• Bocaiúva do Sul (PR): where it all began, at the Serpenteando Café
• Barretos (SP): coincided with the Motorcycles event, became a mandatory stop
• Socorro (SP): part of the Serra da Mantiqueira, connects with an already consolidated tourist circuit
• Jundiaí (SP): the gateway for those leaving São Paulo city
• Katueté (Paraguay): the movement's first international monument

Why this matters for Brazilian motorcycle tourism

Before the Rota Biker, motorcycle tourism in Brazil was informal. Each motorcyclist had their own stops, discovered in WhatsApp groups or trip reports. There was no recognized circuit, no specific infrastructure in small towns, no national identity.

The Rota Biker changed that in three ways:

1. It created an official tourism product. City halls of small towns now see the motorcyclist as a formal target audience. That means investment in parking, signage, safety, events.

2. It connected motorcycle tourism with the local economy. Each monument works as a hook to drive commerce, lodging, gastronomy. Small towns that were economically stagnant receive motorcyclists all year round.

3. It strengthened the identity of the Brazilian motorcyclist. The biker greeting became a visual icon recognized by the Brazilian Motorcycling Confederation. Whoever travels by motorcycle recognizes themselves and is recognized.

For anyone who wants to plan a trip collecting monuments, GT Overlander has all the Rota Biker points cataloged as attractions in our waypoint database, along with more than 4 million other points. You describe the trip in natural language, the AI builds the route through the monuments you choose, and the radar marks each one so you don't miss it.

Questions that come up before the first Rota Biker stop

How many monuments does the Rota Biker have today? The official map (monumentobikers.com.br) lists 40 points, between Brazil and the first international point, in Katueté, Paraguay. Of those, more than 35 are already ready and stamping passports; the rest are still under construction. The Association of Guardians of the Biker Monuments projects reaching 50 monuments by the end of 2027, with expansion to the North and Northeast of Brazil and new points in Uruguay and Argentina.

What is the Rota Biker passport? It's the movement's official booklet, physical or digital, where each motorcyclist records the visit to each monument with a stamp from the local partner establishment. It works as proof of the journey: each stamp marks a city visited, and completing the collection becomes a travel goal in itself for those who join the movement.

How do I get the passport? Directly with the Rota Biker, usually at partner cafés or through the official site monumentobikers.com.br. There's a physical version (booklet) and a digital version.

Do I need an adventure bike to take part? No. Any bike works: naked, custom, scooter, big trail, Harley. The criterion is traveling, not the model. The monuments are reachable on paved roads.

Is there a deadline to collect them all? No. You visit at your own pace. Some motorcyclists gather a good part in a few months, some take years. The monuments are permanent, they aren't going anywhere.

Can I do the Rota Biker in a group or does it have to be solo? You can do it both ways. Many motorcyclists go in a convoy to share the experience. Others prefer solo for their own pace.

How do I know the exact location of each monument? The official movement has a public map at monumentobikers.com.br. And all the monuments are already cataloged in the GT Overlander database as attractions, so using the app, you see each one on your planned route.

To wrap up

The Rota Biker isn't just a sequence of sculptures. It's a movement that materializes what the Brazilian motorcyclist always knew intuitively: that traveling by motorcycle is different, and deserves its own tool, stopping point, community.

For anyone who has never taken part, the suggestion is simple: pick a monument near where you live and use it as the destination of your next weekend. From there on, go. The collection begins with the first stamp.

And whoever gets there with GT in hand has an extra advantage: they'll already know where to pass, where to stop for fuel, where to sleep, where to eat good food. All the monuments are already in the GT waypoint database.