Buy bike in Mongolia to go to Europe (impossible?)
 

Hi all,

I'm planning a trip from Mongolia back to Europe, the plan is going there, buy a bike and come back to Europe.

I've done London-India/Nepal on my own bike, with the CdP and shipping the bike back to Europe, so I understand all the mess with the paperwork with these things and I am almost asuming it would be impossible.

Anyway, I want to make sure, do you know if someone has done it before in the recent years?

Thanks!

The main question is: do you want to buy some overlander's just-arrived bike with European plates and take it back to Europe?

Or do you want to buy a bike locally, register it in your name, and drive it to Europe?

In the former case, the difficulty is getting paperwork in your name that would let you take the bike across the Russian border. Maybe a notarized bill of sale will be okay, maybe not. Ideally you would get a new registration certificate with your name in it fedexed from the country of the plates - depends on the country, some places you have to show the bike to change ownership, some places you can do it remotely or give someone power of attorney to do it. (Some European countries easily let you buy a bike without proof of residency, some don't.)

In the latter case, you're probably going to have a Chinese knock-off of an old Japanese low-CC bike, and the question there is will you be able to get into the EU with it and register it there in your name. (Does the bike have EU type certification?)

In any case, from Mongolia you are talking exactly one border crossing into Russia and one more out of Russia into the EU (via the Baltics/Finland/Norway), if you don't go via Kazakhstan. Much less paperwork and no CdP.

A good question but if you buy a UK registered bike getting it registered in your name should not be a problem as you are a UK resident, the reg doc will have to go back to the DVLA and back to you using someone like DHL.
If you buy a local bike and ride it back to the UK you should be able to get single vehicle approval and register it here without too much problem.
No CDP needed on the route back.

I buy, sell rent bikes in Mongolia in the past sold quite a few bikes mostly Mongolia registered ridden back to Europe even can get the bike registered under your name in Mongolia.
Got some bikes at the moment

2002 BMW Gs650 large tank
1993 Afrika Twin
2008 Tenere
2002 Suzuki Freewind
1990/1993 Honda Transalps

If you interested pls let me know goldensq at gmail com
Can get any size off road tires in Bayanulgi at the Rus/Mon border

Chinzo

Wouldn't bank on it
 

So,
Went through this a year and a half ago when my KLR lost it's shit in UB.

If you can get another travellers bike, arranged in advance somehow... then sure.
That'd work so long as you can get the paperwork.
Antyx has it right.

But the buying from the local bike market isn't amazing, most are lost causes left there by other travellers and the rest are former rentals that are past their days.
It's not that you can't buy one - it's that it probably won't make it to Europe.

I'm more than familiar with Chinzo above.
Wouldn't recommend him.
That 2002 BMW Dakar is a great example of why. It was sold for peanuts, years ago by a German who rode it there - I got a hold of the old owner and he said it was a write. Chinzo said it was all good, fixed as new and tried to sell it to me.
Bike was a total lemon.
I had a deposit down, got the paperwork sorted and then went test riding it - it didn't even last long enough to do that, before it shat itself halfway out to Tetserleg. I definitely wasn't getting to Europe on that thing - And that was the best bike of the lot when I was there!


Make of all that, what you will.