Hi
As a 'non north american' could I buy a Canadian motorbike and use the 'out of state' South Dakota 'trick' to get some plates for it?
And talking of plates, would a Canadian bike come with the plates or does the owner keep these?
I know the insurance would probably be troublesome too but errrrr, baby steps lol
Thanks!

There are several issues involved, you will need to investigate and figure out how to deal with each issue in sequence.

The first issue is importing a Canadian vehicle into the United States. This certainly can be done (I've sold Canadian cars to American residents, and they have successfully imported them), but the importation process is a FEDERAL issue, not a state issue. So you will need to investigate what is involved in importing a motor vehicle to the USA from Canada. The process is identical for both cars and motorcycles, and there is lots of info on the internet about this process, so go Google it. Some of the items you will need to deal with include possibly paying a federal import tax, demonstrating that the Canadian-spec vehicle is eligible for registration in the USA (for example, does the speedometer show speed in MPH, or only in km/h), and demonstrating that there are no outstanding factory recalls on the vehicle.

The next issue is registering a "new to this state" vehicle in South Dakota. Different states have different rules about applicability of sales tax to a vehicle brought onto the register in their state, safety inspection requirements for a vehicle being brought onto the register in their state, etc.

My guess - and I stress that this is strictly a guess - is that you will find that the federal importation requirements will be a barrier to you successfully importing the bike from Canada into the USA, simply because you are not a US resident. But that's just a guess.

Michael

In most Canadian provinces, plates belong to the owner, not the vehicle, and don't stay with the vehicle when ownership is transferred. Ontario works like this.

But, this varies by province, so check out the rules for the province where the motorcycle is currently registered.

Michael

@Michael
Thanks for the input
This is the bike I want to buy
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-moto-sport-p...017/1468357700
Mainly cos it's incredibly cheap by European prices; heck it's incredibly cheap by global prices!
And you could ride around the world on one of those things...even an old fart like me
BUT if I went over to Canada now and tried to ride in -10 celsius temps I'd probably end up dead....

Hey, that IS cheap. Canadian dollars, too. Hmmmm.