Hey guys,

In January I'll start a road trip from Malaysia all the way back to Germany. Right now my motorcycle (Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS) is still in Germany so I'm looking for a way to ship it to Malaysia.

I already contacted several shipping companies and their offers all sound reasonable but hardly any of them can get me a crate. Do you have any idea how to get a crate in Germany? I thought about building one but the heat treatment regulations are rather rigorous.

Any advice on shipping companies or on how to get (or build) a crate would be highly appreciated!

Thanks a lot!
Steven

Steven,

get in touch with Suzuki dealers or other ones and ask for one. When you tell them about your plan, you may get one for free. All new bikes are delivered in such crates. Many dealers a happy to give them away.

Good luck

Servus

MR

Thanks for your reply!

The road trip will be a marketing event for Suzuki and other sponsors (I'll blog about it on HU as well). I'll get the motorcycle directly from Suzuki and obviously asked them first. They didn't have any crates as the bikes are delivered in metal/paper boxes.

Of course I'll contact several Suzuki dealers, but I'm not overly optimistic. So if there's any other way I'll gladly take your advice

Not sure I'm following you? Bikes are delivered in factory crates, which are made out of metal, and usually covered with cardboard. A model-specific factory crate has readymade fixing points for the motorcycle, and optimized dimensions. I actually once got one rather easily from a dealer in Australia, when I had to ship my DL650.
But you still want something else?

If it's a proper box, I'd gladly take it regardless of the material. However, when I was asking Suzuki, it sounded more like a cover than a crate. On Monday I'll talk to them again and just ask for more details. If it turns out to be a crate designed to ship the bikes, all my problems are solved. If not, I have to find another solution...

I read thread on here earlier in the year about a couple on a V-Strom 650 who transported their bike in the hold of the Malaysian Airlines flight they were on from Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam. It cost 900 euros for the bike plus two flight tickets for the couple. If you can go one way why not the other' All they had to do is disconnect the battery and make sure they had less than a quarter of a tank of petrol. No crate was required. The bike was simply tied to a pallet. It was very secure. They posted pictures. You can find them onn this site. I would be interested if you take this route by plane as I want to fly an XT660R to KL so I can do se Asia for 5 months next year.
Regards, Nick.

Thanks a lot, Nick!

I'll contact Malaysian Airways this second.

Packing our DL650 into the factory crate at Sydney City Motorcycles. Front wheel, windscreen, handlebar needs to be taken off. Handlebar mounting holes actually bolt on nicely to the upper beam´s two bolt holes, visible on the picture, keeps the bike very stable:



I also saw from the other photos, that this crate´s dimensions were W: 79cm L: 229cm H: 111cm. It had been used to transport a DL650K8.

Also made and used a wooden crate for this same bike in India, and again in Indonesia, so I think I have a pretty good idea, which one of those three I would choose!

Note, that freight from X to Y does not necessarily cost exactly the same as freight from Y to X.

How long did it take you to put everything back together? Which tools did you use?

I hardly have any experience so I'm not overly confident with my mechanics skills. Especially when it comes to brakes and other important parts. Before I start the trip I will ask a mechanic to teach me a few basics (how to fix a flat tire or change oil) but I'm not sure if that's gonna do the trick.

Do you think it's doable even with little experience?

To be honest, the bike was actually put into that crate by the dealer staff... guess they didn't want us messing around at their workshop!!

But we did basically the same dismantling/putting together with the wooden crates before. Generally quite easy, even though I'm not much of a mechanic... some brake caliper mounting bolts were a bugger to work on, but only because our tool was not the right shape, couldn't reach them properly.

Knowing how to work on the wheel at least, would be good for the trip anyway I think. So maybe do some practice, before you leave? If you feel nervous, I'm sure the Suzuki guys can get you to some workshop, where the mechanics can help if needed. Probably would be good to check out, how to get to the air filter & plugs, how to change oil, etc. at the same time.

Off-topic, but what's your general route plan from Malaysia? And how much time have you got?

I'll do just that. Today I called Suzuki and arranged a little mechanics workshop.

My (very rough) plan looks like this:
Malaysia (10 days)
Southern Thailand (10 days)
Cambodia (10 days)
Laos (28 days)
Northern Thailand (+ shipping to Nepal) (14 days)
Nepal (12 days)
Northwest India (15 days)
Pakistan (25 days)
Iran (30 days)
Turkey (21 days)
Greece (10 days)
Albania (4 days)
Montenegro (2 days)
Croatia (6 days)
Slovenia (1 day)
Italy (6 days)
Switzerland (2 days)
Germany... HOME

I might shorten my second Thailand stay a bit and add this time to Nepal. I just wanted to be on the safe side and plan in 4-5 days for shipping. Of course I'll prearrange everything so that I simply bring my bike there and off it goes (in a perfect, non-existent world ). Also Turkey might be shortened to have some more time in Nepal/India.

The above planning is taken from an excel sheet I put together to calculate the total cost. That's one reason why I'm taking my time in Nepal - Iran (I haven't been there + it's cheap) and rather rush through Europe.

Do you think this plan is reasonable?

Thammasat, did you get hold of Malaysia Airlines? I'd love to know how you went on? Want to do a similar trip, starting from Amsterdam and flying the XT660R to KL and then Thailand, Laos, Cambodia.

So 6-7 monts? That should be enough time. Dont know your timing, but rainy season in the tropics, extreme summer heat in some deserts, and winter cold mostly in mountain areas (esp. Turkey) are the most important weather factors to take into account.

edit. For me it also makes sense to spend more time in faraway countries. For a European, it'll be relatively easy to do Europe basically any time you want, but harder to go to the more remote places again. Also I don't know exactly how much the euro crisis has affected things, but at least some years ago the countries east from Turkey on your route were cheap or dirt cheap compared to Europe.

@AlgarveNick:
I contacted Malaysia Airlines along with several other shipping companies and they sent me a first offer. They're asking EUR 1.300 without dangerous goods charge and other customs fees. So their real price is probably around EUR 1.600 which is about average so far.
EURASIA Saga GmbH was by far the cheapest company at only EUR 1.031. Do you have any experience w/ this company? It seems a little low to me as (compared to similar offers) it's a solid 40% cheaper. I can't really see anyone making 40% net margin in shipping.
DHL was the most expensive offer at EUR 1.980 but they include more services that might prove to be helpful in Kuala Lumpur.
Right now I have 5-6 offers and will just wait a few more days and then decide. I'll let you know which company I chose and also how it went, of course

@pecha:
You're absolutely right! That's pretty much the trade-off I faced when planning the trip. I'll start rather early to have nice weather in the first few months. In Nepal it will still be cold, but not freezing and Iran/Pakistan will be very hot (in slight opposition to burning hot :P). The only downside is India as most mountain passes in Jammu/Kashmir will still be closed. I would have loved to drive there but you can't always get what you want (writing this line always makes me start whistleing the Stones song^^).

Thammasat. Seems expensive to me but the price I mentioned is KL to Amsterdam. Probably more expensive out of Europe. I've no 1st hand knowledge. All from a post on here. Are your quotes the bike in the hold on the flight you are on. And I take it the bike doesn't need crating.