US to Europe: Rent, ship and store, ship and ship back, buy and store?
 

Hello everyone,

I live in DC, I'm planning a European motorcycle trip and I'm at the very early stages of researching the cost of various options. I was hoping that I could get some advice from others who've done the same. I plan on touring Europe for 3-4 weeks this year with the expectation of returning for more fun every 2-3 years. I'm very flexible on dates and destinations. I don't think I have any particular preference between riding my own motorcycle or a rental (my own would be perhaps more gratifying and comfortable while a rental might be more fun and new). Here are the options I've seen:

1) Rent a motorcycle in Europe. This is probably the option with the least hassle. Prices for touring/enduro bikes seem to be $500-$1000 per week.

2) Ship my motorcycle from the US East coast to Europe and store it there under US registration indefinitely. This option didn't seem obvious to me but I've seen it mentioned. The one thing that I don't understand is how US registration could be maintained (or re-acquired) without periodic in person inspections for safety and emissions and the like. Wouldn't that mean that the motorcycle would have to be shipped back to the States every two years or so, depending on state regulations?

3) Round-trip shipping from the US East cost to Europe. I think I've got the rough picture that one-way shipping these days is about $1200. I guess this means that two way is roughly $2500 but I do have requests for quotes in to a few shipping companies. Does this sound about right?

4) Buy a used motorcycle in Europe, have European family/friend keep registration/inspection, and store it there. I suppose registration could lapse and it could be re-registered as needed as long as it's stored off the street and depending on the frequency of use and costs differences.

I have a few questions:

1) First of all, considering my criteria, are there any other options to consider? For example, has anyone explored buying the cheapest addressable property they can find in the EU, just so that they can register a bike there? How well does bike swapping work?

2) How much does it cost to maintain motorcycle registration in Europe, let's say the UK? I've heard of VATs and MOTs, etc but I'm not sure what it all means or how much it costs per year.

3) Does anyone have any advice/guidance/suggestions about any one of the options? Good, cheap places to rent? Good, cheap places to buy? Good cheap places to ship?

4) Which option do you think (or know to be) the least costly?

Thanks for any help! This forum is great!

- J

The most hassle-free way has got to be rental from somewhere like Raceways Motorcycle Rentals UK - We hire Honda Suzuki Yamaha Peugeot Harley Davidson Triumph bikes at the best prices! Breakdown cover and insurance is included in their rates.
They only allow european use on shaft-drive bikes though. My mate hires a Dullvile a couple of times a year when a gang of them hit Europe. His other bikes are a KTM 2-stroke enduro and a 748 track bike so not best suited for a two week tour.

talk to stefan at knopf tours (Welcome) about renting or storing in germany. good guy, very helpful. as mentioned in a different thread, pm me for ways to keep your dc bike in germany.

Yes
 

Yes Stefan is competent, fast and honest. It would be cheap to buy a used bike in Uk but too complex to consider keeping over years. I'd have thought the only buy option would be to buy per trip. Or perhaps you could get honest help from a European HUBBer? I'd hope that was a possibility. ie When you have a date set in advance a bit, ask for a bike to buy and resell for the period. I see it could be a bad idea but give it a thought at least. Linzi.

More
 

Another idea would be to arrange an exchange use of bike: You use someone here's bike and they go states side and use yours. A long shot perhaps but a thought. The MOT is an annual test done on bikes over 3 years old. It's about $50 per year. VAT is the tax paid on all new products bought here. Check back through threads to learn about MOT, road tax and registration issues in UK. I think it's easiest to rent for the first visit. It gets all really complex otherwise. Regards, Linzi. Stefan's webite is knopftours.de I think. Or try .com

Knopf Tours also has a container that the use every year to ship bikes to and from Daytona Bike Week. Check with them for space but it would be cheaper than shipping on your own. Although slower than air freight. If you go on your own read Grant's article on air vs. sea. It in the shipping section in the menu to the left.

Thanks for your help everyone.

I've gotten in contact with Stefan of Knopf and he is indeed a very nice and helpful guy.

I'm going to spend the next few days trying to cost the various options. I'll post back with what I find in case it helps the next HUBB greenhorn that comes along.

- J

This thoughtful fellow named Curtis has a lot of great information about shipping and storing:

Curtis' packing list and preparation tips for shipping your own motorcycle and touring Europe

Does anyone have experience dealing with Lufthansa Cargo directly?

- J

I've decided to ship and store, using Knopf (http://www.knopftours.com) for both. Once everything is finalized, I'll post more detail on how I came to this decision, costs, etc.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

- J

Check out posts by welovebikes on this forum, if i remember they rent out kitted-out overlanders. :mchappy:

When you get to Stephan Knopf's place in Germany (pass on greetings and much thanks again from me!) ask him about the scenic road maps he has for motorcycle tours. I had a large scale map that proved virtually useless, and he gave me fantastic maps of several countries on my itinerary, essentially SAVING the first leg of the trip.

I don't think you'll regret your decision to go with him.

(I used a different shipping company for various reasons, but I'll ship with Knopf Tours next time...)

ALternative option available
 

Hi Jeff :mchappy:

Have just sent you a PM outlining an alternative that may suit you.

Regards


Chris

PS: Thanks for the plug Pottsy and look forward to buying you a beer one day.

Don't worry about inspections expiring
 

At least in New York, you can renew a motorcycle registration by mail. So just have someone do that for you back home if it lapses while you're away.

As for inspection, that's only an issue in your state -- so you'd only get ticketed for it riding in the state in which the bike is registered.

In DC you cannot renew the registration without an inspection which MUST be conducted in DC.

Trike tour thru Europe
 

I am new tonight to HUBB and it looks like what I need. I read your threads and am doing the same steps. I have concluded that renting a trike is not practical so I plan to ship my trike. Which shipper did you settle on and is it air or sea? From what I have learned air looks easier but more expensive.
I plan to get to England then tour Ireland, England and on to my niece living in Vienna. This leg to last 4-5 weeks. She will store my trike till we return to Vienna in the late spring for 4-5 weeks thru Italy, Spain and back to England. Plan to start 1st leg in Sept 09. Any thoughts or feedback???. This is our first Motorcycle trip to Europe.

We ended up shipping with Stefan Knopf of Knopf Tours (knopftours.com). He has a shipment of bikes going by sea/truck from Orlando to Heidelberg every Spring for about $1000, all included. I was lucky in that a friend of Stefan's was passing through taking his own bike down to Orlando and agreed to take mine down for a very reasonable fee. By the way, before I knew this was an option I had tried soliciting US ground shipping service quotes using uShip.com and had quite a good response. Anyway, this Spring's shipment has already sailed so that's not an option for you this year.

Knopf also offers air shipping to Frankfurt, which isn't as date dependent, for about $1800 from east coast cities. I think the cheapest quote I got for air shipping was from Berklay. I think it was about $1500 via Lufthansa. I tried contacting Lufthansa and Virgin Cargo directly to see if I could save some money by dealing directly with the carrier. Lufthansa told me that I would need to be "dangerous goods certified" and be able to "prepare the documents for this shipment" then referred me to Berklay. Virgin told me that I would be classified as an "unknown shipper", a designation that the TSA prohibits on passenger aircraft.

These are one way prices from US to Europe by the way. It seems that generally shipping from Europe to US is more expensive so you may consider storing with someone like Knopf even after your Spring 2010 ride. The one place I found that was cheaper from EU to US (~$1000 air) had super expensive prices from US to EU (~$2500 air, ~$1300 sea) -- jamescargo.com.

Now that I think of it, you may want to ask Stefan Knopf about his Spring shipments from Heidelberg to Orlando for Daytona bike week.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

- Jeff

This is all excellent info. I've read the whole thread and concluded that I can ship my bike to Europe/return for about $2500, all inclusive. That would equate to between 2-1/2 months to 5 months rental rates, so if a person is wanting to spend anywhere from 6 months to a year touring, that would be a great way to get your bike to Europe.
The all inclusive....does that include customs clearance, etc? What about insurance for bike and liability? Is a Carnet needed anywhere in EU?

Custom charges are probably NOT included. They are paid at the customs office when you claim your bike. We paid about 65 Euros in 2006 in Frankfurt, Germany for a GoldWing. We got our insurance at the ADAC office in Frankfurt before claiming the bike. Customs will want to see it.

We paid 22 Euros/month for liability only that covered almost all of civilized Europe. We had a German address that we used for the insurance although we were seldom there. Knopf Tours can arrange insurance too, but for more money. We had our bike in Europe for three years. When we came home we left it with members of one of the GoldWing clubs in Europe. We bought the next year's license tab and took it back with us for our next tour. The bike was continually registered in the USA. Although you are allowed only 6 months, we moved around too much for any police authority to realize we had overstayed the limit.

We had a fantastic time. The scenery is fantastic, the food delicious, the people friendy, the roads awesome. Ride Safe!

This from the post above mine.

We ended up shipping with Stefan Knopf of Knopf Tours (knopftours.com). He has a shipment of bikes going by sea/truck from Orlando to Heidelberg every Spring for about $1000, all included.

I presume the words "all included" means that the charges cover everything from departure to being able to roll the bike out and ride it away?
But I may be wrong.
Can you clarify this for us Jeff?

Jeff's post is 18 months old.
Sometimes current detailed info is best found at the source:
MotorbikeTransport
If that's not sufficient detail, call or email Stefan directly; he's usually very responsive.