approx costs for 2 week tour?

I'm just saying something like this could be an alternative to paying $1,000 for round trip shipping of your own motorcycle to the U.S.

Say four individuals, in a club or who know each other, each have interest in riding in NA for up to 4 weeks, once a year for the next four years or so. They start the “Sheep Dip Bike Partnership” with $18,000, each contributing $4,500. The Partnership buy’s a new 1200 Tenere’ with luggage, tax and license for $14,500. That leaves $3,500 in the account which should cover maybe three years of insurance, tires, and maintenance. To allow the account to stay solvent for longer than three years each rider could deposit some amount back into the account like .03 per mile ridden after each ride.
Each rider would return the bike to it’s “home” after each trip with a fresh oil change. Tires and maintenance to be done on the road as required, paid by the company. I'm not allowing for storage rental but that should be minor, if not free.
Each person can pick their 4 week slot from the 20 weeks comprising the best months, May-September. Change the order who picks first every year.
After four years sell the partnership. Or the partnership sells the bike for $8,000, which along with whatever may be remaining is divided up.

I would be surprised if each person will have invested total more than $3.2K.($3.5 maximum) which would be for 4 nice weeks each year, for four years, on a Tenere’. There are at least 4-8 additional good weeks available each year which I didn’t even count.

Go for it. Let us know how you get on.
 
Friend of mine has been a few times with the Triumph club, they bought their own container and total shippings costs to California return, including all paper work is around £600 max:nenau
 
I'm currently pricing up a trip for next year. So far there are three of us with bikes looking to ride coat to coast, east to west, Boston to Seattle. I've heard that it can be cheaper to ship/fly bikes in and out of Canada in which case transporting bikes into Montreal and then heading south over the border before turning right might make sense. At the other end we'd head north from Seattle to Vancouver to dispatch the bikes back to Blighty from there.
Does anyone have any experience of this they can share? Any issues taking a bike over the Canada/USA border for 10-14 days?
 
Triple that and you are close:tears


Ouch. That will likely ensure if/when I ever ride in Europe It'll be on a rental. I guess utilizing an entire container to ship multiple bikes together the way you do would be the most efficient method.

For someone wanting to spend a couple months or an entire summer probably the best option would be to just buy a good used bike then sell it when you're done. That way you don't have to return to the same location. I would probably start in the east to end up in the southwest where resale value would still be good in the fall.

Hiking in Utah I met a gentleman from New Zealand. He said for the last three years he leaves in the NZ fall to come to the States in our spring. He buys a used car, orbits around the country for 5-6 months, then sells it and flies back home. That year he started in Maryland and said he would likely leave from California. He said his car of choice was a 3-4 year old Kia or Hyundai because they were inexpensive, very reliable, and came with a 100,000 mile warranty which gave him piece of mind.
 
I'm currently pricing up a trip for next year. So far there are three of us with bikes looking to ride coat to coast, east to west, Boston to Seattle. I've heard that it can be cheaper to ship/fly bikes in and out of Canada in which case transporting bikes into Montreal and then heading south over the border before turning right might make sense. At the other end we'd head north from Seattle to Vancouver to dispatch the bikes back to Blighty from there.
Does anyone have any experience of this they can share? Any issues taking a bike over the Canada/USA border for 10-14 days?

There is no problem once you are in as the US and Canadian customs require the same paperwork:thumb Both sets of customs have their own oddities but once you know what they need there is no issue.
 
Really? Got a link please?
I've looked around & the cheapest I could sea freight it, with all the apparent hassle that involved, was around the £1,200 - £,1500 mark. You're not flying it in from Canada or Mexico are you?

www.jamescargo.com all explained on page 76 of April's RIDE magazine. £600-900 air freight to the States, 190 dollars for 2 months insurance. Enjoy!

sorry to disappoint those that think I'm in a time warp, now where's my clackers, space hopper and chopper bike?
 
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www.jamescargo.com all explained on page 76 of April's RIDE magazine. £600-900 air freight to the States, 190 dollars for 2 months insurance. Enjoy!

sorry to disappoint those that think I'm in a time warp, now where's my clackers, space hopper and chopper bike?


Cheers. Tried James - was quoted £1200 - £1500 & IIRC that was sea freight. There was also the potential for a lot of fannying about at customs & also the likelihood of my bike being in storage for a long time at either end.
 
I've looked at a couple of bike hire sites and rental of a bike (sorry hog) for a couple of weeks appears very expensive, for two of us 3-4k minimum once we chuck flights in. Am i missing something or are you all a bunch of very well off tossers?!:censor: As much as I would like to ride in the states these costs are pretty prohibitive - whats the cheapest way to do it, and how much have u spent?

Not sure if this is of any interest to you?

http://nicksanders.com/cms/adventures/incredible-usa/
 
Other options for your consideration:

1. Buy a bike out there. You'll need a local address to register.
2. Bike swap. You ride their's - they ride yours.

:beerjug:
 
If you're not THAT fussy, keep an eye on the one way or return rentals

I've seen cheap 'wrong way' route 66 trips on here too. They're really helpful and will do their best to help and keep you informed.

Look at the first one for example. LA to Chicago (Route 66) $49 a day on a wing
 


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