I am planning to ship a USA BMW K1200LT to Europe through Genoa, Italy. I understand that I can use it for 6 months as a visitor without registering the cycle.
Is it realistic that I should be able to sell it somewhere in Europe before the 6 months are over so that I do not have to ship it back to the USA?

Thee-Duke

Once your bike is in Europe it should be possible to keep it here and use it for much longer, even store it somewhere and come back to it another time, just don't use it in the same place for too long.
Ideally you would sell it to another American but it would be easier to sell it here if registered in a European country, the UK is pretty easy going when it comes to this, it is also the only place that you can keep the MPH speedo although you might have to fit a left dipping headlight. If you import it in the UK and keep it for more than 12 months after there is no duty payable but sell it before and there might be some tax to pay.

Even though I know it sounds funny, when we´re talking about a bike that was made in Europe, the buyer of a US-registered bike might run into trouble registering it in Europe. That´ll depend on many things, like year model, etc.

I don´t really know about BMW´s, and I´ve never even imported a bike from US to here... but I was riding in USA with a Suzuki bike (2009-model), that looked exactly like the ones we have in Europe. But it was a US-spec model, and it had even a TOTALLY different frame number compared to ours.

Now the Euro-3 emission standards were enforced in the EU at the beginning of 2007, and even imported models (of 07 or newer) must comply to this. To my understanding, this US-spec model does not comply with Euro-3. It complies with the US emission norms, and that´s it. It was never meant to be sold in Europe.

And I´m not claiming its emissions were in fact any higher, they could actually be the same, or lower, or whatever - but the problem (for registration) is, how to prove it, because they don´t care, what´s coming out of the exhausts, they want it written in the official way in the official paper. This can become very troublesome and costly, unless you can get that paper of compliance from somewhere. Even if you can, it´ll cost you a few hundred bucks, and if you can´t, then it´ll cost so much importing is just not worth it any more.

This surely isn´t a problem on every bike imported from the US, and it´s actually done all the time. But I know I wouldn´t have wanted to try importing that US-regoed Suzuki here, even though its selling price was way lower. Don´t know if that´s really a concern for the seller (?), but as a buyer, I´d definitely check that thing out very carefully.

If you will have the opportunity to come to Europe every now and then, I recommend keeping the bike and storing it in Milan. There is a place there (mototouring) that stores bikes and that will drop off the bike at the airport for you. I keep my US bike there, it is very convenient.

There's some truth in all of the above.

USA-registered bikes (BMW and all brands) are manufactured to different emissions & 'safety' specs than bikes originally manufactured for sale in EU countries. Technically, each EU country has a separate procedure to change over/ "conform" a USA-spec bike to Euro spec. Each country's procedure can be bureaucratically complicated and somewhat expensive, e.g. in Germany, approx. 500 Euros.

If you sell a USA-bike to a European, who intends to re-register that bike permanently in their home country, the Euro buyer will have to pay the fees and time to make the emissions & safety changes required in that country, to turn your USA bike into a Euro-spec bike. Not many potential Euro buyers would be interested in going thru that hassle and cost, compared to buying a used 'domestic' BMW--or, you would have to offer a substantial 'discount' on your selling price to entice a Euro buyer to consider a USA-spec bike.

Alternatives, as mentioned by earlier posters:

1. Keep the USA BMW in Europe to use yourself for future rides. Yes, there is a technical "6 month" limit, but in reality, many USA riders keep 2nd bikes in Europe "indefinately" because there is no enforcement of the rule, as long as you keep your USA registration updated, and continue to buy required Euro "Green Card" vehicle insurance whenever you ride in Europe. You can store a bike at Mototouring - motorcycle / bike rental, motorcycle tours and riding tours throughout the world, www.knopftours.com (in Germany), at several BMW dealers throughout Europe, or anywhere you can find a secure garage.

2. You could find another USA buyer who wants to buy/ use your USA BMW in Europe, requiring only that you do a State title/ registration change just like any "out-of-state" sale in the USA. Knopf Tours, above, even has a webpage to facilitate this option, or just use your own word-of-mouth to find such buyers.

I meant to add that I bought a US bike in Europe from an American. Depending on your state (mainly if they demand a physical inspection of the moto), it can be a little tricky.

My bike is currently with Mototouring, and was previously with Knopf, and Hanna and David near Malaga in Spain (motoadventours). No problems with any of them, excellent way to travel around!