RTW on one bike or many?
 

For RTW style trips, is it feasible to buy and sell small bikes along the way to make the trip cheaper and/or more hassle free... or will the exact opposite happen?

Im planning on riding from Vietnam to Portugal, and there are some major roadblocks in my way: Burma/ China/ Iran (Ive got an American Passport). I was considering buy/sell a scooter in Asia, buy/sell a small moto in India, and buy a small bike in Turkey and ride to Portugal on whatever beater I find there.

In some ways this seems far simpler to me (no shipping the bike/ carnet/ small bikes are simple and will force me to travel super light)

All input welcome

A couple of bikes on a couple of continents ?
 

G'day Overman,

I too have similar thoughts, shipping a bike all over the place, dealing with shipping agents, customs, carnet & insurance is tiresome, expensive and time consuming.

I keep a bike in Oz (home) and one in Europe, the next step is to buy one in the US. Given that travel out of the EU & the US will require a carnet. I believe it is far less hassle having bikes on a few continents, provided you have the resources / funds / friends to store them, passing them on is also an option, I prefer to get something reasonably decent and keep them for future use.

Cheers Dave

I think it depends on whether you want to actually ride all of the way or fly/backpack for some of it. Renting is cheap and easy in Asia but more expensive and difficult in Europe.
If you start in Vietnam presumably with a Vietnamese registered bike there will be a problem getting a carnet for places like India and a US passport will prevent you going through Iran so renting in each country might be your best option.

Those are two different approaches to travelling on a bike. Both will have their own ups&downs, so there may not be one simple answer to your question.

For me, real 'overland'-travel means going with your own vehicle, and you go from border to border (for one thing, that'll be more complicated to do, if you buy/sell locally).

And both ways will include a fair amount of paperwork, I would not expect it to be easy either way. And then there's the preparations that the vehicle needs. If you go with your own vehicle from home, you should be able to sort out its preparation, and at least a good portion of the necessary paperwork before you leave.

I'm not saying the other option would not work. But there's maybe a little more 'unknowns' involved in it, like what condition are those vehicles in, and can you get good deals, when buying or selling (and how much time do you have to find a good deal, when buying, and especially when selling, if you're in a hurry then you may have to sell very cheap)?

I would not send my own bike to Vietnam, in SE Asia I'd send to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur by air, or Port Klang Malaysia by sea. Freighting into Malaysia you probably need the carnet, for Thailand you don't.

Years ago me and some friends bought 115cc scooters in Thailand, and went to Cambodia and Laos, to try to get into Vietnam... on that one we finally did not succeed, though we tried at many border stations, but still the trip itself was just great, paperwork wasn't too bad, and I think I payed about 1000€ for the (new!) scooter, and sold it for 600-700€ after six weeks and almost 5000kms. But maybe I got lucky, when I sold it. Those 115cc "chicken chasers" could do almost the same as big bikes in that area BTW. And they're surprisingly funny to ride, and can be fixed in every remote village (oh, well, at least be put back on the road until the next village!!)... so if you decide to buy/sell locally, and want an easy start, go Thailand and get a scooter.

many bikes
 

I too do the same as you Dave. Have a BM here in Oz and one the exact same in Europe. I also want to buy one in the US.

I found that due to the frequency that I travel from Oz to the Netherlands (Dutch wife visiting family) it was easier to have one there instead of shipping. This allows us to take off for a 4 week jaunt each time we go over there.

Sorry Overman, this doesnt help you at all but it was the easiest way out for me.

Marty