1 month in Australia: best way to get a bike
 

Hello everybody,

To start with my basic question: how can I travel low budget for 1 month?

This spring I'm planning on going to Australia (northern parts) for 1 month.
I'm in doubt about wether to rent a bike, ship my own bike or buy a bike there and shipping it back. I'm from the Netherlands.

Because 1 month isnt all that long, I prefer renting, but this is quite pricy (around 2500 euros at least). I noticed that most of the rentals I find on google belong to BikeRoundOz, so I was wondering if you guys know of any cheaper options?

And how many days would it cost me (approximately) to buy a bike there, deal with all the paperwork etcetera?
Same question for shipping my bike.

Long story short: how can I travel low budget for 1 month?

Thanks in advance!
Robert Somers

Buy a Honda CT110 :)

Good Idea! Or I could just walk the whole way, even cheaper and slower :mchappy:
Just kidding though; you think buying is a good option?

A long while ago I read a few ads of Australian bike shops (in Melbourne?!) offering a guaranteed buy-back.

Also check local equivalents of fleabay and gumtree?

Buying quickly will probably be through a dealer. So the price won't be particularly low.
Selling quickly will mean the selling price will be low.

How much would you loose? 30% ? You say the renting costs would be some ~ $4,000 ... at a 40% loss that would be a purchase price of $10,000.



Looks like;
.. it will probably be cheaper than renting
.. it will be cheaper than shipping .. particularly with shipping delays, temporary import costs, etc.

--------------
Don't forget the set up of the bike ... you will want luggage.. Some throw over saddle bags and a small tank bag can be quickly and simply made to fit any bike ...

Low budget in OZ means camping. Bring your camping stuff if you have it - small and light weight is what you are after.

tour in Autsralia
 

Hi Robert Smers,
I am dutch too and are considerring the same. Perhaps we can help each other or even travel together a while. I want to end up in Melbouren, wher mu daughter lives, Butr woukld like to dicover the west coast. Coukld start north and travel south. When do you plan? For buying there some good site: gumtree bikesales.com.au cycletrader.com. I am sorting out what the problems are to buy in one state and sell it laterin another state.

We are Canadians who rode for 4 months in OZ earlier this year. I'll give you an answer to your question in 12 hours. In the meantime, have a look at our blog. But short answer is buy and sell a bike.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...wn-under-91314

The best would be to contact a motorcycle store and see if they would be willing to buy back the bike at the end of the trip. Make sure you do that in advance to ensure you get all what is needed to be able to register the bike. A local address is necessary but it seems some states are more flexible than others. The dealer might be able to help on that.
Another option is to use the website bikesales.com.au and buy from an individual. Some might be willing to buy back the bike at the end of the trip.
Since you are planning for a short period of time, plan in advance as it takes time to find a bike, register, get insurance if you want third-party insurance (Swann sell insurance to international drivers) and have the funds transferred (unless you travel with cash). You can contact members of the HU community where you plan to start your trip and they can help. We've found fantastic people both in Christchurch (New-Zealand) and Melbourne (Australia) who helped us buying/selling bikes. Feel free to PM me should you need more info.

I toured around Aus on a rented BMW 650 many years ago. I have a strong interest in returning, so I keep an eye on the rental vs buy-back options in Australia.

IMHO, for anything less than about 6 weeks, you might as well rent, and yes, renting even a smaller cheaper bike is still quite pricey in Australia. The cheapest I could find was Garners in Sydney and Melbourne.
http://www.garnersmotorcycles.com.au
They'll rent you a Honda CB400 for about $95 US a day. If you find anything cheaper than that, let me know....

Once you get to the 6+ weeks time frame, than a buy-back starts to make sense, but you have to allow yourself the time to buy and sell at the beginning and end of the trip.

Rent/Buy for short trips
 

Hi, This is a post I wrote in response to a similar question on NZ ie Rent or Buy. While I wrote this for NZ the same applies for Australia. Keep in mind the distances in Aus are longer and you may put more Km on the bike and so reduce the buy-back price.

The information in the posts is correct but we cannot be certain whether price or time is your main driver.

I have bought and sold a vehicle in London (UK) and while the price was ok the time it took to get a reasonable price was not. It is ok if you can to stay longer and your accommodation costs are low otherwise it becomes an asset liquidation exercise.

Some recent experience from when I was in New Zealand - I spent some time with a rider from UK who sought a buy-back from several motorcycle dealers in NZ(via email) . He chose a near new bike, told the dealer the distance he thought he would travel and used it for several months. I kept in contact when he went back to UK. The purchase/buy back worked out at just over half the rental cost of a similar bike. No time was spent haggling and he was happy.

A previous time in in NZ I spoke to a number of dealers in Auckland (Takapuna) and got a similar response - "get in touch with us by email, we will tell you the bikes we have, you tell us the mileage you will do + how long you want the bike and we will give you a buy back price. Use our address for your registration and insurance". The consensus was that the cost would be about half the rental cost.

Hope this helps.

Try the Brisbane company Rent This Bike who were cheapest on country last time I rode there.

just cutting and pasting from post last week...
Hey mate,
There are heaps of rental places and they will only cost you a major organ per day...

As for buy back, there is no dealer that i know of in AUS that will contract to do this. Gentleman's agreement at best, even when the market was good here the risk was too high, but now that most shops dont want used bikes at all cus the market is so depressed. However there are plenty of people that do the buy and sell thing, plus this also mean that you dont have to do a round trip. That is the other problem.. sell a bike reg'd in one state is a PITA to sell in an other (impossible for a dealer). So if you are willing to take a hit it is pretty easy to do.

Check out Gumtree, facebook marketplace, and biketrader for used bike options.

I am planning a trip to Australia / NZ in 2019. We plan to stay at least three months. I want to ride an adventure bike but after considering the price of shipping our bikes (mine and wife's) from the US, the cost of rentals, or the trouble of buying/setting up/re-selling the bikes, I have decided to just fly there and buy a used jeep (or equivalent). When I get ready to leave I will re-sell the jeep. Maybe while there I will rent bikes occasionally for short specific rides.

What is everyones thoughts and comments on this approach?

Hi guys, I live in Perth Australia and have done the buy-sell thing in the US - I actually made a profit of $600 on a $3000 bike after 7000km.
Most points covered above - Renting is expensive.
Buy - sell - time to find bike - Aussie address is needed - ((if your starting from WA, I can help) - an international license will make registering the bike easier. Selling in another state can be achieved by selling the bike unregistered with a Road Worthy Certificate. You send the number plates back to original state and get a refund of the remaining registration fee/insurance.
Full insurance is available through Swann Insurance provided you have an International Drivers license.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to help out...
John H.

Buying a car or bike
 

So just making sure I understand this. I need an Australia address to buy a bike or car there?