Hi - I run the Hearts & Tears motorcycle shop in Lakeside, Pokhara.

If you're serious about riding home, you must have a Nepali-registered bike. This will enable you to get a document called a Carnet de Passage. This is not, repeat not, available for Indian-registered bikes.

This fact may influence your choice of bike. Most of the toursists in Nepal are running around on Indian-registered Enfields. You can get one of these bikes for around NRs 50,000. A Nepali-registered one will cost 4 times that much. It's a tax thing.

To get the bike registered in your name, you will need a "no objection letter" from your Embassy. You should also have a non-tourist visa. Maybe you're on a business visa or a volunteer visa if you're staying a year? It's difficult, but not impossible, on a tourist visa.

We specialise in Royal Enfield bikes. They are great fun to ride and very cool for thumping around Nepal, but they are not reliable. There is always something that needs fixing. That's fine if you like getting your hands dirty, but it's maybe not the ideal bike for riding home, or heading into remote mountain areas.

You can get a Bullet serviced in Kathmandu or Pokhara, but very few other places. Parts can be hard to find. It's still an unusual bike in Nepal and quite expensive, so it's only the big city elite that can afford to buy and run one.

We custom build bikes for people to make the long ride back. Of the last 5 that came to buy a Bullet, all of them have bought Yamahas instead. We also give advanced/adventure riding lessons and teach mechanics, so come and see us if you're interested.

There are some really good small capacity bike on the market here. There are showrooms in Pokhara. Yamaha's FZ160 and Fazer 160 are great. So is Bajaj's Pulsar 180. They are really reliable, and there are mechanics all over the country.

Hope that helps ...
Cheers
Rick