[jimmyr]

Man, can't believe I'm the first at ANYTHING...

Back in 1996 I moved to Switzerland and took my ancient (mostly) nekkid GL1100 with me, enjoying the pleasures of Europe and the Alps until my relationship ended...that's the way it goes. The relevant part here is that I found the best and cheapest way to take it over there: Warren Motorcycle Tours. Warren Goodman had a deal that was better than the Lufthansa employees could get. I have a long story about it if you wanna hear it! The link to his site is: http://www.gate.net/~bikeship/, and don't let the fact that it hasn't been updated since 1999 scare you...I recently emailed Warren, and he replied. As I am sure you know, the world of international transport (and everything else, sadly) has changed since 9/11. He is still in business, although I don't think he's leading tours anymore. He still has a deal, so get in touch with him and tell him I sent you. He's a great guy and I'll be he's still got a better deal than anyone else. If it is still the same as far as the physical shipping of the bike goes, I let it with most all of my worldly possessions strapped and crammed into/on it, with 1/4 tank of gas, they strapped it to a skid, and I got the pleasure of watching them load it last, as I sat on the plane. Even better was hearing someone say "Lookit, Ethel! Some lucky SOB is taking his bike to Europe!" I am hoping I can go back next summer with a more sporting ride! Good luck, and I hope it works out for you. There's nothing in the world like riding your own bike there.

 

[acecycleins]

www.motorcycleservices.com

i'm an insurance agent and have referred many customers to them.

 

[49343]

gas is about 6.50 a gallon. enjoy

 

[30874]

What kind of bike are you taking...

Torrnado I hope I don't start a long string of replies about how great or bad a motorcycle is, but here goes...

What kind of bike are you taking with you to Europe?

 

[mscuddy]

I do international shipping for a living. Drain the oil, gas out of it, get a crate built for it (remove the handlebars so there's less crate to build, dimentional weight and all that). And call any freight forwarder in your town for a quote on CFS (loose) cargo port-to-port crated motorcycle via ocean (10 day transit time from east coast ports). You migt want to go port-to-door if you don't want to hassle the Kustoms clearance in Europe. Also have the bike registered with US Customs so when you bring it back as "American Goods Returned" there's no hassel. Good luck.

 

[sqidbait]

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tripplan/transport/shipping.php

-- Michael

 

[MikeH]

You may find buying/renting one there is cheaper than shipping. A friend of mine bought one there, and keeps it in storage for whenever he returns. It's also nice for his friends! ; )

 

[1747]

too much trubble sounds like, i would just stay home and watch Yossef videos.

 

[28945]

Step back and thoroughly research the registration and insurance issues associated with transporting to and riding your machine in Europe. I'm not going into detail here, but you may well find that renting is the rational way to go, and that you may end up spending about the same over the term. Anyway, ENJOY! Sounds like a memorable trip in the making.

 

[emxgarcia]

NOw that you menton Horizons Unlimited website...

you might wanna check Peter & Kay Forwood trip arpund the world on a Harley. I met them while in Dominicana, and also partied with them at the 100th Party in Milwaukee... (I still hate Elton John)

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/forwood/mytrip.shtml

 

[vathimenil]

if you're really thinking of spending 3 months riding around europe, then do ship yours over. renting for that amount of time adds up rather quickly. also, i don't know what you're riding now and planning to ship over, but you may not be able to find something that works quite as well for you (especially over long distances) to rent in Europe, and if you do, you might have to pay top $ for it. i'm currently at the beginning of a 7-months stint in France myself, and my bike is on its way over here as i write this. i'm 6'5" with very long legs, so there aren't too many bikes that i can spend more than a couple hours on --believe me, i've tried. so i decided to ship my R1200GS over, and while it hasn't been completely pain-free, it wasn't all that bad either (DMV was the worst part, and that's mostly because it's the way it always is in NY). anyway, if you want info on insurance (green card/comprehensive), shipping options (airfreight, boat cargo, roll-on roll-off), etc., feel free to contact me --there's just too much to post.