Importing (& registering) a bike from the USA - difficult??
Discussion
Guys,
I'm hanging up my boots and geting rid of my sports bike - too many "nearly" moments and got the wife and kids to think about.
Still going to do the off-road thing - but I need a road bike to satisfy the primal urge.
Was thinking of getting (don't laugh) a Harley - just because they can be made to go decently quick (in a straight line) - but I won't be knee down on every bend. I know a few people who've made the switch and they say it makes them ride more carefully (i.e slower!)
However looking at Harley pricing, and what I will have to put into the bike to make it decently quick, - I'm coming to the conclusion there's a better way.
A couple of Amercian outfits ("BigDog Motorcycles" and "American IronHorse"
- make "reeady to go" street bikes in the style I like - i.e lowriders with big bore engines and FAT back tyres! Looks like it's cheaper to do this than to buy a Harley and do it all yourself.
Here's the rub - neither of these two companies seem to offer bikes in Europe.
So how difficult is it to import a bike from the USA? I've done the car thing but never with a bike- is it complicated - do I need some sort of SVA test for bikes? How do the procedures differ to cars?
Any feedback welcome (apart from the obvious jibes at me moving to a sofa from a sport bike - had plenty of all that already thanks!)
I'm hanging up my boots and geting rid of my sports bike - too many "nearly" moments and got the wife and kids to think about.
Still going to do the off-road thing - but I need a road bike to satisfy the primal urge.
Was thinking of getting (don't laugh) a Harley - just because they can be made to go decently quick (in a straight line) - but I won't be knee down on every bend. I know a few people who've made the switch and they say it makes them ride more carefully (i.e slower!)
However looking at Harley pricing, and what I will have to put into the bike to make it decently quick, - I'm coming to the conclusion there's a better way.
A couple of Amercian outfits ("BigDog Motorcycles" and "American IronHorse"
- make "reeady to go" street bikes in the style I like - i.e lowriders with big bore engines and FAT back tyres! Looks like it's cheaper to do this than to buy a Harley and do it all yourself. Here's the rub - neither of these two companies seem to offer bikes in Europe.
So how difficult is it to import a bike from the USA? I've done the car thing but never with a bike- is it complicated - do I need some sort of SVA test for bikes? How do the procedures differ to cars?
Any feedback welcome (apart from the obvious jibes at me moving to a sofa from a sport bike - had plenty of all that already thanks!)
I reckon it should be fairly straight-forward. I imported my Bandit 12 back from NZ after touring round for 2 1/2 months. Make sure you get a good, reliable firm to organise the shipping - my Bandit sat in a warehouse all summer ( 
) while the shipping company refused to pay for its transportation from London (it should have gone to Liverpool...), up North to Carlisle.. To my door delivery was supposedly part of the deal... When she actually got here, doing the SVA and MOT was simple - I had to change the speedo to read in MPH, that's it. Find a head light that dips to the left, and the job should be a good'un! (Although noise regs. for a custom Harley might be a bit of a hurdle! ) Best of luck with it, mate.
) while the shipping company refused to pay for its transportation from London (it should have gone to Liverpool...), up North to Carlisle.. To my door delivery was supposedly part of the deal... When she actually got here, doing the SVA and MOT was simple - I had to change the speedo to read in MPH, that's it. Find a head light that dips to the left, and the job should be a good'un! (Although noise regs. for a custom Harley might be a bit of a hurdle! ) Best of luck with it, mate. Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff