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  #1  
Old 19 Dec 2016
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LA to Alaska advice
Hi,

Me and a friend are flying in to LA at the beginning of April next year and we plan to buy motorbikes there and then ride them up to Alaska (so far thinking we want a couple of Suzuki DL650 V-Stroms but are biking novices so would appreciate any advice on that front).

Our main concern at the moment is how difficult we may find buying and registering bikes, and making sure we are legally on the road the whole way up. Can anyone please provide me with some information regarding this, as it seems hard to come by online.

I'm happy to listen to any other advice you guys can offer as well. This is going to be a very new experience for us and your valuable words of wisdom would be much appreciated!

Cheers

Joe
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  #2  
Old 20 Dec 2016
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Where do you live now. The vstrom is a great bike but if you are real new to biking then you will want to buy a bike and ride locally for a bit to get your feet..

In Canada we will accept any bike registered in your name buy I would be surprised if you can buy a bike in California and register it there.

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  #3  
Old 20 Dec 2016
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You can certainly register and insure a bike in California. The details are scattered around on the HUBB forums. You can do a proper search yourself, or wait for someone to do it for you and post the results. It's not hard: try search terms like US States Register nonresidents how....

Hope that's helpful.

Mark
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  #4  
Old 26 Dec 2016
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We did the same two years ago. Here's how:
You can use ebay or Craigs list but we went to Dubbleju.com in S.F. and bought there.
You need to get yourself a California address. We have friends who live there.
Now you simply buy the bike and use the address that you give on the form.

About 4 weeks later the DOT will send your papers to the address that you gave.

Now you need to make sure that your friend puts then in the mail or UPS style to the hotel that you expect to be at in a couple of day's time.

We did this and the hotel accepted the parcel and held it for us for our arrival.

Now we had a bike and some valid papers.

This meant that we were back on Ebay and sold the bike before we left the US.
You need a friend with an address and his or her help to post your papers when they arrive at the address you use for the DOT.
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  #5  
Old 26 Dec 2016
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LA to Alaska
Hello,

I am from Alaska and I have made the trip many times, and one trip north and south on a bike.......Arizona to Alaska and from Alaska to the east coast of the USA on around the world.

I can tell you that Alaska is the most beautiful place on earth.

You can find all of the information on our Blog. Scroll through several pages to the very bottom and read about my ride north and our ride south. It is full of good information that you will be able to use.

www.travessillaexpedition (dot) org

Ride safe & God Speed
TravEx
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  #6  
Old 29 Dec 2016
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Joe:

How quickly do you plan to travel from Los Angeles up to Canada?

I ask because anytime in April is far too early to be riding north in British Columbia after crossing the border into Canada. In fact, an argument could be made that even the first half of May is a bit too early to be riding north of about 52° latitude.

If your schedule permits, you might want to set your starting time back about 6 weeks, so you start north from Los Angeles about mid-May. That would give you much, much better weather going through BC, not to mention a heck of a lot more daylight every day.

Alaska itself is surprisingly mild due to proximity to the ocean, but the northern portion of the inland BC route is a mountainous area and it can be very cold prior to June.

Michael
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  #7  
Old 29 Dec 2016
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Are you fully aware of all the ins and outs of the US visa conditions regarding how the days are calculated?
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Tony
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  #8  
Old 8 Jan 2017
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Hi,

Thanks for all the responses!

We are based in the UK. Will be testing out some bikes before we go. Based on what I've read the V-Strom seemed ideal for what we need, and from what I can see, there seems to be quite a few for sale which is important as we need to get the bikes sorted asap. Anyone know of a good way of getting the bikes organised before we arrive in LA?

Thanks for the advice on needing a CA address Nigel. We have a couple of options for that so we should be ok there. We will be riding back down to LA, so do we need the documents sent to us, or can we just pick them up when we get back so we can sell the bikes? I'm assuming whilst waiting for the documentation you are given temporary paperwork to prove you own and are riding the bike legally?

Also, with regards to buying privately, I'm assuming when we find a bike we want, we would then need to sort out insurance to be able to ride it to the DMV to get the registration sorted?

Thanks for the advice Michael. Our dates aren't flexible but we will be taking our time riding up from LA. We probably won't be getting to Seattle until the beginning of May so hopefully we will be ok with the weather.

Really appreciate all your help!

Cheers,

Joe
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  #9  
Old 15 Jan 2017
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Don't register in California. They will impose a sales tax. Just go North to Oregon. They have lower fees and no sales tax. California is a tax trap.
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  #10  
Old 16 Jan 2017
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xleland View Post
Don't register in California. They will impose a sales tax. Just go North to Oregon. They have lower fees and no sales tax. California is a tax trap.
I doubt it's possible for a non-resident to register and title a bike in Oregon, but you can decide for yourself at Oregon Car Registration Requirements & Steps | DMV.org . Basically, California and Washington (and certain other states) make it possible, but Oregon (and again many others) don't.

CA and WA do collect sales tax. You can't have everything.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark
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