I drove from London to Dubai and I feel stuck
 

Hello! Me and my partner are U.S. citizens. In June 2022 (6 months ago) we bought a 2022 Yamaha Tracer 900 GT in London. The bike is registered to our friends address in London. We drove to Dubai (ferry from Turkey to Israel). No I’m that in Dubai, we wanted to ship the motorcycle to the U.S. however because we are U.S. citizens, the U.S. only accepts U.S. spec bikes built for the U.S. market. Yes I know this is ridiculous seeing as EU epa regulations are higher than US.

So shipping it home isn’t really an option. It seems selling it in the UAE also isn’t an option because I am not a UAE resident. Shipping it to the UK to sell makes no sense because current shipping rates are insane ($5,000+ by air). By sea would be 3,000 or so… but that wouldn’t make any sense because I won’t be in London when the bike arrives in a month to sell it.

My thoughts on my options are to either: A. Leave the bike in the UAE or Saudi with a friend for a year while I go home until I continue the rtw trip. Or B drive back to London (will take around $500 fuel, 1 week of driving, + a ferry somewhere. Does anyone know of any ro-do ferries from Israel to Europe? We arrived to Israel via ro-ro from turkey, but I want to get as close to London as possible.

I’m having the damndest time doing anything. And idk what to do. I wanted to be home in the US with my girlfriend who is already there and has been for 2 months. But right now I feel like I’m stuck with this $10k moto. I’m not sure on the laws for how long I can leave the bike in the uae or Saudi for if I were to do that route. Honestly I wish there was a brit here I could just transfer the registration to and they could continue around the world.

Does anyone have any advice/ideas? I feel so stuck.

If it is not a problem to leave it there for another time that is what I would do and come back at a later date to continue with your trip.
Another option would be to try and sell it perhaps to a Brit or anyone who has an address in the UK they can use to register it and is heading back this way, the registration can be done on-line and they would need someone to forward the registration document to them when it arrives at their address.
All of this is subject to it being OK with Dubai customs,

Do you know how long one can leave a motorcycle in Dubai for?

Need to be careful of shipping it back to the UK, has to be in the new owners name for 6 months or more, if not then duty & customs will hit$$$

There's a few places in Dubai that could store the bike, for you, selling it could be an issue with the massive amount of paperwork required.

Go down to the RTA at Al Barsha and ask them on how long you can leave the bike in the UAE, they are helpful, or even selling it to one of the traders, but be prepared to lose some money, they will try and rob you.

Ferry there's one from Asdod to Southampton, Grimaldi i think.

Theres a shipping company in kuwait on instagram hes ilogist1, he specializes in adventure motorcycle shipping from kuwait to germany and charges $638 usd. Air freight is $1637 usd More likely he does route through uae, so pretty sure he can pick up the bike for you. Shipping is via container so it will take around 30 days. That price is all inclusive, you can just ride the bike without paying anything extra.

Then you will need to figure out germany to UK.

This is incorrect, you can reimport the bike back if it has a V5 registration certificate as thats evidence that VAT and Duty has been paid on it. (assuming they just bought the bike in the UK and wasn't a dity free import to the uk by them)

Worth noting that DVLA's official position on vehicles abroad is that after 12 months they should be de-registered and permanently exported. Obviously not a helpful position for long term overlanders but that's for the record. I assume you have either declared the bike SORN (stored off the road) or kept up the UK legalities (tax, insurance) because otherwise there will be a shedload of fines accumulating.

Also worth noting that according to the traffic laws of most countries a bike must be legal in its home country to be legally ridden abroad. However many riders just SORN them and few get checked.

In your position I think I'd just leave the bike in Dubai until you can get back to it, SORN it in the meantime and then tax and insure it when you come to continue your travels. You don't need an MoT until it's 3 years old. There's the "12 months out of country" DVLA thing but I'd risk that.