Hi everyone,

I thought I would ask about this here, as I can't seem to find any information about it through google, maybe I don't know what search terms to use.

Does anyone know if its possible to do a motorcycle RTW trip in "sections", returning home for periods without the bike (months or even years), then continuing the trip afterwards?

The biggest problem obviously being that leaving a bike would require that it be imported into that country, and the import duties would have to be paid in full. Is there any way to get around this? Has anyone heard of someone who has found some clever way of doing this cheaply? Free ports perhaps?

Any information pointing me to a website or person who has tried this would be helpful.

Thank you in advance.

The ease or otherwise of doing what you plan depends on in which countries you plan to leave the moto and for how long.

Rules vary from country to country - as does the level of their enforcement, consequences and ways of overcoming them.

You will get more helpful responses if you are a little more specific and ask on the separate 'zone' forums here where you will get more localised information from those who know those areas.
For example, I can tell you about Russia (you can't!) but I know nothing about Africa or the Americas, north or south.

You will certainly get answers, so persevere with you plan - it will be worth it.

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www.sibirskyextreme.com

I can tell you that Argentina will let you store a bike for up to 8 months from memory, ask Javier at Dakar Motos, and like TonyP said, you will have to read all the individual threads on this subject and compile a list then do the hard yards and follow up because eveything changes, so the info may be dud

If you do find stuff out, feel free to create a thread with what you find

Cheers from Kaz
TS

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Seems like the simple answer to that is yes - check out, for example, from this very site:
Peter and Kay Forwood on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. World's Most Travelled Motorcycle.

But, as noted before, where and how long you can leave your vehicle, will vary a lot from country to country.

Thanks for the replies guys, appreciate it.

Tony P - you're right, I should have been more specific. I intend to start my trip in SE Asia, probably leave it there at least 8 months (if not 2 years) and then probably continue into India. I will also post on the SE Asia board as you suggested. I have recently read that Cambodia doesn't seem to bother tracking temporarily imported vehicles, so that may be an option.

pecha72 - I have read about Peter and Kay before, I will also contact them to find out about their experiences.

If you guys have stumbled upon any others that have done this, please let me know.

Thanks,
Dominik.

Gday Dominik,

We are doing just that.

We started in 2006, Korea/ Russia/ Mongolia/ Baltic States/ Western Europe.

We have stored the bikes in the EU (Germany) and return each year for 4/8 week trip.

2007 Czech/ Slovak/ Poland
2008 Pyrenees
2009 Bosnia/ Albania
2010 Greece/ Macedonia/ Kosovo
2011 Turkey/ Georgia/ Armenia
2012 Germany/ Czech

The bikes are Australian (Queensland) registered, which makes things alittle easier. We crossed from Russia into the EU at Estonia (took about 2 hours as they had to look up here Australia was!!!!!!)

On our travels we meet other riders who had left bikes in both Turkey and Armenia.

I understand that the limit is 12 months for Canada and the US (?).

I think we could have left the bikes in Korea for up to 12 months, but I am very vague about that now. I know the bikes are not link to the passport at all.

I am working on heading down to South America in 2014. Other threads suggest a limit of 8 mths for Argentina and 12 months for Uruguay.

I would appreciate if anyone has information on the time limts for other south amercian countries (so far my search on the HUBB has not turned up a relevant thread, but I am still looking).

If you can swing it, doing it in stages is a great way to go. We have done over 120Kms on the bikes so far. The first trip was in 2003 when we did London to Tokyo (via Iceland and Morocco).

Cheers

Brett

Hi Brett,

Thanks for the info and details of your experiences. I have also emailed the master of this type of trip - Peter Forwood, and he responded with a very encouraging email that pretty much said: "It can be done, you can figure it out along the way".

Since my original post, my bike has left on its journey to Bangkok, I am following it soon, leaving in a week and meeting up with it a week after that.

From my research, my first leg will most likely end with the bike stored in Cambodia, as from the reports I have read, they do not bother with import paperwork at most borders, and unless things change I should be able to ride out with it at some undetermined future time. But as Peter said, I'll know better when I'm there, and worst case I will have to ship the bike back.

If anyone else has experiences where it is possible to store bikes for significant amounts of time, please feel free to add to this thread. I may start some kind of webpage about it if we get a lot of info.

Thanks,
Dominik.

Hi friends,

I am investigating about this same issue so I intend to start my journey next May from my home in Northern Spain towards Mongolia and China.

I pretend leaving the Africa Twin stored somewhere in that area for a whole year if possible. Anyone can tell where it is easier?

On the other hand, if you ever need to store a bike in Northern Spain (La Rioja) I will always be glad to do it for free.

I have been doing the installment plan RTW for several years, posts above all have good info. But I am thinking that we need a post where all could gather up storage and time limit data from all doing the installment plan. This year I will head north from South Africa and had planned to get to Italy and store bike but it looks like that will be limited to six months. From above post I will check out Turkey to see if I could leave it for my normal 10 months m/l
Rioja May take you up on storage offer if I leave in Italy I will need to get it out about June. How long can Bike be left in Spain?
Bob

Hi,

I can not guess what the problem might be in Spain: I think there is no problem because you will not find any border crossing from Italy to Spain, so why shouldn´t you be able to have the motorbike stored as long as you want? I will ask anyhow.

Policemen in Spain will have no clue anyway and will leave you alone.

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Whatever you are criticized for, do it, because that is what you are!

Hello,

in Spain you can leave a bike with EU-number plates 183 days,after this time you have to import it.In same regions,like Mallorca the police look for it.

Mike

Storage in Mongolia is possible. My bike is in the company of 4 other bikes in the heating cellar of a well known biker's meeting place. I officially "imported" the bike for a year and paid 20% import tax (on a bike allegedly worth usd600, that's not too much). Allegedy I can get this money back next year, but I won't be holding my breath.

When I return in July 2013 it'll have been there 10.5 months. I'll let you know then, if I can get it out of the country.

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CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Thank you very much Chris, I had not read your last entry here. I will plan my trip with that one in mind for next June.

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