so as a tourist I can buy a scooter under 50cc in Belgium .. and no need for plates / registration (if it is not new as old law applies)

BUT I can not insure one as a tourist!! (tried to with agents..) I need something like local social security #..

what work around can I do?

maybe getting an insurance for it at home in USA and extending it to be international? all legal? all good if police all over Europe stop me?

what do you think?

thank you ..

PS now also I imagine at end of my 90 day visa - because it has no plates - I can not take it out of Schengen Zone? to say Morocco or Tunisia or Romania/Croatia/..East..?

PSS also maybe someone in Europe can let me trade/burrow/rent their machine - *ANY* machine?

I think insurance would be the least of your worries, pretty sure you can only ride around in Belgium on one of those, unless you get full registration and a number plate... Even if it was legal to ride in other countries, you'd get stopped by every single copper who saw you, guaranteed.

Buying a bike in the UK isn't too complicated, though the insurance issue can be a pain in the arse again. I think I'd be tempted to lie and tell them you're a UK resident with a UK license. Even if they caught you out you could always claim you were confused and weren't deliberately misleading them. I think some UK insurers want to see a scan of your license, but I'm sure plenty don't. Obviously if you had an accident you'd get yourself into lots of trouble... I'm sure someone will pipe up now saying how irresponsible this would be... Probably the same types of people who've never tried doing something unusual or doing pretty much anything in a foreign country - In my experience plenty of ridiculous rules and procedures that just have no way to accommodate someone doing something like what you want to do. If you want to 100% obey all rules and laws then international motorcycle travel probably isn't a good idea...

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UK to Mongolia 2009, on a DR350

Well Nath, whilst I totally agree with you, you are going to get shot downin flames for your 'lawless' attitude by some on here....

Yep I think you're probably right. Let them. I don't care what those types of people think, I'm more concerned that somebody like the original poster knows what their options are if they want to do something fun like travel via motorcycle on the other side of the world to where they call home. Because I think they will find it very hard to do this if they stick to all the rules and do things the 'official' way.

If I was at home in London/Nottingham right now I would be willing to help the original poster buy a bike in the UK if that's the option they go down. I'm not, I'm stuck in Australia with a broken hand, a bike that's thoroughly shagged after being ridden hard on hard roads and been drowned in a few too many creeks. When you're in foreign countries everything is more difficult even without a language barrier. Helpful locals are worth more than any amount of money, and when I leave Aus I'll be contacting some of the great Aussies I've met who've helped me out to say thanks, and remind them that I'll return the favour whenever I can. Saying "The rules don't provide any way for you to do that" isn't very helpful in my mind. I'm beyond skint but I can't get the Aussie taxman to pay me back my overpaid income taxes for love nor money. If I don't get a job here in Darwin in the next week or so I'll have to fly home and abandon my trip/holiday, and in that event, InGearX, I may be able to help you if you want to buy a UK bike.

Keep riding, and don't listen to killjoy naysayers on forums

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UK to Mongolia 2009, on a DR350

Having no insurance is great right until the moment you have an accident or get caught so if you can find a way round it's got to be better. When I got pulled by the Plod in germany I didn't have my documents with me, stupidly - got a bit blase having been in Europe so many times and I was only there a couple of days and never been asked for them before. There's probably a lesson in there to do with sods law.

The solution we eventually used to get around the problem and my car being impounded for a week was the plod cut my number plates off and told me the vehicle had to stay at the service station where they had pulled me over. The next morning I had to tab the 15k into a local town and go to an administration building to register my car as a temporary german import. Then I had to get German number plates made up. I then had to tax it (I think). I then went to another place where they were able to give me German insurance. All this sounds complicated but only took 2-3 hours, so it is possible to obtain insurance in germany for a temporarily imported car. It's also often done by people buying cars for export in germany.

Have you contacted any specialist UK insurers? There are also companies in the UK that can offer a UK postal address for a small fee. Not having a UK licence isn't a problem (some of my friends are driving on foreign licences) but you may have to pay a bit more on the premium. You are time limited though being able to drive on a foreign licence. I think it's a year. You might need an international driving permit, not sure on that.

mate thank you so much

good advice!

really appreciate it

I agree sometimes there is so much bureaucracy that it prevents normal life from happening ..

how is your time in Darwin?