Across Aus
 

What's the best thing to do folks?
Buy - ride - sell?
Hire one way?
Into Perth out from Sydney?
Or the other way around?
Looking to spend about 2 months doing it.
Two weeks ish at either end?
Is a month long enough to get across?
Best time of year?
4 - 5 hours riding a day?
Looking at DR650 / XR400 sort of bike.
Best place to source one?
Vehicle recovery - if it all goes wrong?
Mainly roads but the odd excursion into the bush would be nice.
Staying in B&B with the odd night or two camping.

Any help is welcome........Thanks....Andy.

>Buy - ride - sell?

If you have a bit of time at the end of the trip then buy-ride-sell can be ok - BUT you need a quick sale so expect to offer the bike at a bargain price to get buyers quickly. There are a few formalities required when selling any motor vehicle - a safety certificate is required for anything over $1000. Being a federation the laws can be slightly different in each State as well.

>Hire one way?

Cant help you out there, but I doubt you'll find someone who can do that for you.

>Into Perth out from Sydney?

Where are you coming from? Perth is a smaller city and will be harder to sell a bike.

>Or the other way around?

>Looking to spend about 2 months doing it.

Not long enough, but then again I always say that.

>Two weeks ish at either end?

Maybe a week at the start to buy a bike and get settled in.

>Is a month long enough to get across?

Depends which way you go, South via Adelaide is an easy ride, good highways, in winter can being bloody freezing. North via Darwin the roads are worse, from Novemberish to late March it can be very wet due to monsoon season, roads can be cut.

>Best time of year?

Australia spans the tropical North to Alpine country in the South. Depends on what you want - summers can be hot and dangerous if you venture off the highways in 35C plus temps. Winter months in the north are usually dry (this year being an exception) with 25 to 30C days and 20C nights. Further South 10C nights and 20C days (Brisbane), Melburne -2C nights and anythjing from 5c to 10C days. Summer its just hot everywhere, it just depends if you like it dry hot or wet hot.

>4 - 5 hours riding a day?

Easily accomplished.

>Looking at DR650 / XR400 sort of bike.

We have travelled throughout Australia on BMW R65s (1981 and 1979) and they are ideal bikes (IMHO) lightweight, great for outback touring, usually have panniers and racks, good mileage, simple mechanically. I've been up and down the Birdsville Track on one, and ridden through snow in Snowy Mtns.

>Best place to source one?

I'd buy from a dealer, you pay more, but they will also handle the registration paperwork, get you insurance etc. Third party injury insurance is compulsory and you pay that with the bike reg. Do an eBay search or www.tradingpost.com.au to get some price ideas.

>Vehicle recovery - if it all goes wrong?

Your own country's motoring club may have a reciprocal recovery agreement with each of the motoring clubs here - RACQ, RACV, SAA, NRMA

>Mainly roads but the odd excursion into the bush would be nice.

Always let someone know where you are going and when you'll get back. Each year there are always a few people who head off into the outback and dont come back alive.

>Staying in B&B with the odd night or two camping.

Try pubs (hotels), B&Bs tend to be few and far between except in tourist areas. Most caravan parks also rent out onsite caravans, you only need the bedding. Motels are over priced for what you get. Pubs are great 'cos you'll meet the locals - maybe not at their best but you'll get a few ideas.

Across Aus
 

I did it last year, I went from Sydney to Perth, I bought my bike at Betterbikes( a BMW R80) for 3.750$ Aus, I went across the Nullarbor, starded in Sydney on Feb the 23th went to Melbourne, ant then did the Nullarbor, went south to Albany,(stayed in a greath youth hostel) Went north again, to Perth and Monkey Mia,and Coral Bay ( greath snorkeling spot) went back to Perth, put the Beemer and myself on the Indian Pacific train back to Adelaide ( 42 hours on the train, all across the Outback) went from Adelaide across the inland route, Broken Hill and Bourke to Brisbane to visit some friends, and from there back to Sydney. I sold the bike to the people of Motohansa ( a BMW motorcycle shop) for 2.300$ Aus, so I lost 1.450$ Aus for a two months trip and 13.500 km.
A few adresses: In or near Sydney: Betterbikes ( they have a website)
Motohansa (they do BMW, and the also have a website)
Near Melbourne, also BMW: K&R BMW Service, tel: 03/95831528( Phill, the owner is a wonderful mecanic)
Hope, I helped you a little bit on the right way, and maybe see you someday, somewere.
So long.
Chris.

I would say for two months, onroad most of the time, you should hire a bike, buy-back or buy-sell rather than ship your own bike over.

We're leaving in 3 weeks to do something similar, except a little more backcountry so we wanted to prep our bikes and ship 'em to Aussie. Costs were roughly $5k bikes, $2k mods, $2k shipping, about $9k.

We've got 3 XR650's and are riding from Perth to Cape York in a pretty much straight line. We've allowed 3-4 months.

You can read about it here: www.aussie2006.webset.co.nz. The website should be fully up by the end of this weekend.

The following link is one we came across when researching bike prep:http://www.amcr.com.au/motorcycles.htm. They hire DR650's, more kitted for camping out then backpacking though. They also sell under a buy-back scheme.

Au. info
 

I bought a 650 V-strom from Central Coast Motorcycles in Gosford north of Sydney. Great people. Registered it under my name with a US drivers license. The dealer wrote me a note saying I was staying with him to make it happen. Paid about 10K (Au). Rode from Sydney north to Port Douglas, across to Tennant Ck., south to Adelaid then the coast to Sydney. Stored the bike with an internet aquaintance in Sydney and going back next year to do the loop around the country clockwise. The most fun I have had on a bike in 35 years. The people were fun, friendly, love Americans, and ya just gotta love that accent! 7500 miles of WHOO HOOO!!!! I could have used tires more off road orientated but did take a few dirt track side trips. I bought a EPURB (emergency locator beacon). 225.00 Au and a real nice peace of mind since I was riding solo. I did an average of 350 miles a day at an easy pace and stayed in 4 places for a few days to take in the local tourist stuff. I will ship the bike to NZ to ride there in 2008 then sell it after getting it back to Au. A much much cheaper way than renting. Anything I wanted to rent was about 1000 to 1500 a week and then limited miles to boot. Have a great time.
Al

In NZ
 

G'day. Look us up when you come to NZ, mate. It's a good idea to sell it in NZ, as it's pretty easy to register imported bikes here. Just make sure you have the paperwork to say it's yours and they stamp and tick and take the money, and give you a plate.
Regards

Nigel in NZ

Hire
Look at the costs - wils chris example - $1,450 for two month ... $725 for a month... less than $200 a week .. $25 a day.. don't know any places that hire bikes out at $25 or less a day! For less than a one month use - hire .. takes out the time taken to buy and sell.




For motohansa try
http://www.motohansa.com.au/
they do emails.. they used to do hire and sell/buy backs

I bought with the intention of selling 12 months later. Can't do it. I want to keep the thing now, so many memories and achievments. While I can put bread on the table, I'll never let it go.

Be Careful
 

:cursing: Take due care when traveling the interior of Oz in the summertime.
In 20 years of recreational hunting trips to North Western NSW and South West QLD, I've learnt to be prepared for temperatures around 45 - 49 degrees Celcius. This kind of heat can kill if you're not carrying enough water and at the very least will dampen your holiday fun. (sucks the very life out of you)
It also puts unusual heat stress on all things mechanical, including your bike.
I once saw a perfectly good car windscreen split from one corner across to the other, just because the car had been sitting in the sun all day at 48 degrees.

hi Mega, a couple of links for you to look into,
Second hand bike search sites:
http://www.tradingpost.com.au/default.aspx
http://www.bikepoint.com.au/

protection to get you out of trouble if not tooled up for issues.
http://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/conne...e/bike+assist/

and a few local links:
http://dirtbikeworld.net/
http://www.netrider.net.au/

cheers al