Hello all.

A few friends and I are in the final stages of planning our upcoming trip to Cape Town from London. Three of us are going all the way to South Africa, while one has only got a few weeks off, so he'll only be going as far as Antalya, Turkey. For him, the bike situation is a bit complicated. He wants to buy a UK registered bike and ride it down to Turkey. But given that the bike is likely to be quite cheap, it's probably not worth him shipping it back all the way back to the UK and selling it here. So really he has two options - sell the bike in Turkey or just ditch it.

That being the case, I have a couple of questions for you. Firstly, has anyone tried selling their bike in Turkey? If so, how difficult was it and what sort of taxes did you have to pay?

Secondly, and perhaps more interestingly - is there anyone on the Hubb who's interested in buying a UK registered bike in Antalya, Turkey on or around the 18th June? It'd be ideal for a bit of touring around Turkey or indeed riding back to the UK.

In terms of the price and type of bike - we haven't bought it yet, but it'll probably an ebay bargain bought for a few hundred quid. Nothing special, and probably cosmetically poor, but mechanically good.

Ideally the buyer would be from the UK, so that the paperwork is simpler, but the arrangement could probably work for anyone.

So if you're interested, or have some advice about selling a bike in Turkey then we're all ears.

Thanks very much.

Team Canuk

Hello there.

I am a Brit, recently moved to Antalya and planning to be here for 2 years on business and I might be interested in what you suggest. However, I see a few problems with your plan that you may want to consider.

I have a pretty good knowledge of the import laws as I am bringing my british registered bike here at the moment, I plan to collect it from my container I shipped her in the middle of May. I will be allowed the bike here for 6 months on UK plates and then I need to take it home or reregister it with a bond and a "blue plate" This is an expensive option, but one I am still considering in the 6 months I can us it here.


Now back to you idea. Your idea is a clever one, apart from one flaw. Your friend will easily get into the country, however your friend will have the bike he brings in with him registered on his Passport. He will not be allowed to leave the country until this bike is taken off his passport. This can only happen in 2 ways. 1. He rides it out or 2 he takes it to the port custom storage unit and they remove it and the bike remains in storage there. This is were in theory he can dump the cheap bike and never see it again, it happens with foreign cars a lot if they are now worth taking out of the country.

If he wants to sell it (to me maybe) we will need to see if we can take it off his passport and put it on mine. I could keep it on British plates and have it registered in the uk in my name as I still have a UK address also if required and then dump it or sell it on in the future. This bit I am not sure on and suspect from what i have dealt with so far difficult and may require a small miracle with the corrupt customs people. Maybe we need to talk when we know what type of bike it is as I have a R1150GSA already.

I hope this helps and let me know if I can help.

PM me and email if you want to talk.

Regards, Nick