East coast USA to UK
 

Has anyone got up to date info and recommendation of freight forwarding to the UK from the US, Im at the end of my trip so time is not an issue just want to give the old girl a gentle ride home, she deserves it.

Many thanks for your input. Cheers Stu

If you use the SEARCH facility Stuart, you'll find this :thumbup1:

Toyota???
 

Bertrand....looks like you have a Toyota symbol in your signature. Does that mean Grant's getting advertising $$$$ from Toyota???

If so, woooohoooo!!!!

S

no Stephen- it is just that I bought a Hilux pickup for my humanitarian missions to two orphanages in Mali but since it seems to upset you- I've removed it!

Transport
 

Stuart....apologies for the little diversion with Bertrand there.....probably should actually try to provide some info to answer your question.....

I don't have any recent personal shipping experience NA to UK to share unfortunately. Maybe next year. And you have probably already read most of the HUBB shipping news, but here's a couple of notes.

Several people seem to have used 'Ship my Bike' although more reports are a couple of years old...Here's one person's notes....
2006

Dropped my bike off in NY, NY and it was quickly packed up with the empty panniers still on which saved me some luggage allowance. They were very friendly and knowledgeable about the whole process, and after signing a few forms I left the bike with them.
It arrived in london 6 days later as requested and was nicely secured on a metal sled. I took off the restraints and put some petrol in, started it and rode back home. The clearing process cost me ?80 as I had tried to do it myself but couldn't wait for customs to inspect it, the company was Proflex who offered to do it.
There was a website which allowed me to track it as it went to each location, it went to Paris and then took the eurotunnel to London. The collection place was open 24 hours.
SHIPMYBIKE.COM

Another option you might consider is to ride up to Canada and ship from Halifax using Air Canada Cargo. There are several 5 star recommendations from folks who've used this service with costs $1100-$1200 Can.

This was to be my 5th time to fly my m/cycle,and proved to be the easiest company to deal with. I had approached the airline direct and did not use any agents at either end. I explained that I wanted to fly it uncrated, this means the freight gets charged on actual weight not volumetric weight as it would be if crated,the latter is a lot more expensive. This was not a problem they said and they have a flight everyday to Heathrow.
So I disconnected the battery and taped up the terminals. The engine oil was left in as was a quarter of a tank of fuel. Note the bike was also cleaned. I was confident enough to fill in the dangerous goods form myself having done a few. Three copies were needed. This is easy to fill out if you have the right info and make no mistakes when filling out the forms, if there is an error the form will not be accepted. This is why most companies want us to use an agent to process the paperwork. The bike was then loaded into a ALN container,supplied by the airline at no cost. They checked my forms all was ok.
The cost was $3.89cdn per kg. My KTM Adventure was 250kg= $972.50cdn dollars plus the dangerous goods form and other charges came to a total of $1042.50cdn.=476.66 pounds sterling. The exchange rate at the time was $2.25cdn to the pound.
Once in the U.K I went straight to Air Canada cargo to collect the bike this took less than two hours with the help from Air Canada staff who took me to the customs dept, 20mins later we left with the papers and I was able to ride the bike away. All without the need for an agent. The cost at U.K for clearance and storage was 32.00 pounds sterling. The little extra you pay to fly, against sea freight is far outweighed by the frustration of hidden costs and loss in time when collecting your bike. And there is less chance of it going missing

There's lots more testimony of various experiences here....shipping news

Once you get your arrangements made, please consider posting your experience back into the shipping site as I'm sure lots of people would be interested.

Thanks
Stephen

Kingstown were great
 

I used Kingstown, contact Mark Cowley

mark.cowley ([aatt]) kingstownshipping (dot) co.uk

600 pounds all in, they ship from NY to Thamesport.
I also shipped a LOAD of goodies with the bike, no extra cost.

Good folks to deal with.
Hope this helps, do let me know

Guys , thanks for all the info, I will check out a few agents and post up the results. I want to ship as time is not an issue and with the weak pound and a lot of weight, flying is too costly. I did fly the bike in to South America and it is much more reliable when you need it on an exact date, but now is a time to save some £££ and relax.

Thanks again for your input.