Motorcycle in Europe
 

Hi Guys!

I've been kicking around different ways I can get around Europe (I'm planning on heading over in the next few months to travel for as long as possible, starting in either the UK or Portugal). I've decided against getting a Eurail pass. I was going to get one in the beginning but all Eurail passes are timed and I don't want to feel rushed on my trip.

So my current idea was to purchase point-to-point train and bus tickets and hitch-hike my way around Europe. This will be expensive though. It's recently been recommended to me to look into purchasing a car when I get over there and then using it to drive myself wherever I want to go. I'd have to best flexibility and be able to go wherever and whenever I want.

Now that's an option but I'd prefer to get a motorcycle. What kind of price would I be looking at for a decent mid-80's bike? What are the laws like regarding registration and insurance? I'd like to be able to buy the bike in the UK or Portugal and sell it again somewhere down the road so to speak.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Peter

if you come to the uk you can pick up a working tax & mot'd bike around the 500cc range from about £200 -£500 quite easily and you probably wouldn't lose much if any money on it so long as you took care of it.

motorcycle in Europe
 

Ali , are you sure that a foreign tourist can buy and get a bike registered in his own name. Perhaps the UK is more liberal in this respect than the EU members on the continent. Since about 15 years ago this has been practically impossible in the Netherlands which I believe has rules similar to the other countries . They now require a buyer be registered as a resident of one of the EU countries if he is trying to get a bike registered.
In previous posts on similar questions it was suggested that there were ways around this but those ways were never explained clearly .
The Dutch vehicle r egistry, the RDW in Veendam, has all kinds of rules and explanations why this registering by tourists cannot be done.I tried several times to get it explained in Dutch which I speak like a native( which I am). Other than getting some kind of export permit and registration , it is a no-go because then the bike must be taken out of the country within two weeks, which may be OK, but you could not even ride through again.
What I have done after this law came in was to buy cheap used bikes in the Netherlands for my vacations and have them registered in the name of a friend who must also have a motorcycle license.Beurocracy gone mad - only licensed persons can own vehicles, and even if a vehicle is never put on the road it still has to be registered,plated and paid for not to be used annually. That person when he has a bike of his own can add ÿour ¨bike to his liability policy for which you can then pay him.
In this alternate method the bike technically belongs to the friend and any photoradar tickets /fines and demerit points will be held against his license. Therefor this method is only recommended for friends or relatives who know they can trust the guilty party to own up and pay the fines and not leave at the e nd of the trip with a ton of tickets racked up.

In 1992 I bought a 1986 GPZ-750 for less than $2,000usd as I recall. I bought it in Switzerland and only needed to buy insurance for it, the dealer handled everything else. Hope this helps, H.

I hear its a bit easier in germany -but am still searching for answers. Does anyone know if it can be a used vehicle?

Gentlemen,
There are a whole host of earlier threads on this topic with loads of advice, including the ones that show up at the bottom of this thread when it is opened.
I suggest that you do a search, also, on whatever key words take your fancy!
Enjoy the search.