Anyone taken a motorbike over?

[charlie brickie]

Hi,
I have an 1998 R1 Yamaha which I love!! Is it worth taking it over? Are there trackdays in Adelaide as I'm addicted to trackdays over here! Is it practical to bring it over would I get good use out of it on the roads, are there strict speed restrictions there? Does anyone know roughly how much it costs to ship over? Any info gratefully received!!

Charlie.

[Angela]

A friend of ours shipped his over, although sadly they have just flown back to the UK but he did sell his motorbike for a lot more than he would have got in the UK. I do recall it came with part of his container & there are a few extra's to pay once it arrives, try a shipping company for some quotes.

Good luck

[kfoley0681]

hi we have just applied for an import permit if i remember rightly it was around 50 dollars and then they crate it up and put it in your container. without the import permit the shipping company will not take it. also it has to be drained down and you need to have it steamed cleaned! i have a load of info and the attachments re the import permit i can email if you would like. just send a message kerry

[charlie brickie]

Thanks for your messages sounds a lot easier than bringing a car with you. Will look into it, the wife will be pleased!!

Cheers Charlie

[Lea]

Have a look here. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/bulletin/importing_vehicles/index.aspx

Any questions just send me a PM and I will try and answer them :err:

Lea

[val diffin]

We were given a quote from Crown for approx 400 quid to take my OH suzuki gsxr 750 as the roads over in Adelaide are made for motorbikes ,so he says .he also has a yamaha rd 350 which is lying in bits on in our garage and he wants to take both so we are waiting to see if we can cos your apparently only allowed to take one into the country per year, I suppose it depends on which company you use. good luck
Val'n'Cameron

[Andrew Rose]

Hi,
I have an 1998 R1 Yamaha which I love!! Is it worth taking it over? Are there trackdays in Adelaide as I'm addicted to trackdays over here! Is it practical to bring it over would I get good use out of it on the roads, are there strict speed restrictions there? Does anyone know roughly how much it costs to ship over? Any info gratefully received!!

Charlie.

The removals company said they could have crated up my bike cheaply and put it in the container at no extra actual shipping cost. The cost of the crate, risk of smelly furniture, and hassle of all the import paperwork wouldn't have been worth worth it for the bike ('97 Triumph Sprint Sport),but might be for an R1. Start investigating now, I think the paperwork is the major obstacle.

Bought a TDM 850 here, thinking I might find it a bit puny, but its ideal for getting 16miles across Adelaide every day. Good for filtering, good for a long way home through the Adelaide hills.

On any straightish road you will get done for speeding if you maintain UK riding style. 1 point minor, 3 or more major, 12 to play with. (I have 5 points after 20 months, compared to 6 over 27 years in UK, and I'm a knee up, rubber down type, albeit a much more assertive filterer than most Adelaideans).

On the Adelaide plains nearly all roads are dead straight. Up in the hills the twisties are very twisty and brilliant bike roads, and often thick woods. Haven't seen kangaroos on the road yet, but they are a hazard. In my view its more TDM/Tiger/Vstrom/GS territory than R1, but that might just be me.
For track days, google on Phoenix Motorcycle Club as a starting point. Mallala race track hosts SA competitions and track days.
The whole bike scene is much more Harley/cruiser/jeans/open face than Sportsbike/knee sliders/Arai. I've joined the Ulysses club recently, 2 others I've thought of are SAMRATS (SA Motorcycle Riders Assoc) and SABERS (Google again).
For bike costs and major dealers in Adelaide, start at Bikesales.com.au. Plenty of big dealerships, plenty of wee back street workshops.

I've yet to find a non-Adelaidean who would disagree with the view that Adelaide car drivers are crap. No lane discipline, can't do hill starts, roll backwards and forwards while the lights are red then sit still when they go green, barely awake, can't work the gears (they all learn in automatics), can't do roundabouts, indicate all the time but don't actually check for safety, etc etc. In truth the real muppets are in the minority, most are just slow and not concentrating, but the proportion of muppets is definitely miles higher than in the UK. (Other poms in adelaide wish to comment?)

Specific questions, don't hesitate. Bring the bike or get a bike, you'll enjoy it either way. All the best.

[Pesty650]

Good thread. I'm hoping to get to Adelaide next year & was wondering about taking my bike (2005 Triumph Daytona 650).

Other questions that crossed my mind are:

How do insurance costs compare to UK?
Can you take your no claims with you?
Would an imported bike cost more to insure?
Are Aussie bikes different in any way to cope with the heat?

If anyone knows, I'd love to know please

[Andrew Rose]

Insurance seems a bit cheaper here. Comp here about the same as TPFT in Scotland. I guess you'd see a bigger or smaller difference depending on your UK postcode. The reason is probably that the compulsory bit is included in your rego (tax disc), which costs more than in UK. You can reduce your insurance costs to zero if you don't mind the risk. See elsewhere in the forum.
I managed to transfer NCD, but it took a bit of shopping around (not much, they seem quite relaxed about it). Bring all your old documents with you, and if you're reinsuring before you come over, consider going with a big insurer that has an Ozzie operation too. My impression is that insurers aren't so stringent about every detail, they certainly ask fewer questions when you phone for a quote, so on an imported bike the answer is probably " maybe, but not too much, she'll be right mate".
Haven't heard of bikes here being altered for the heat. Hard to accomodate all Ozzie climate regimes I think.

All the best,
Andrew