Getting a 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

A combination of cheap airfares and local buses might work too - there are lots of very cheap airlines around at present. Two well known in the UK are:
Ryanair Ryanair.com - CHEAP FLIGHTS - Fly Cheaper, Car hire, Hotels, Travel Insurance
and Easyjet. easyJet.com - Come on, let's fly!

They have very extensive networks. Note that the advertised prices do not include tax, which will be up to fifty dollars.

Hitchhiking is hard work - people are not keen to give rides to single males generally speaking. Depends on how much you like waiting by freeways I guess.

Europe is small, so a few flights and buses in between is an easy, flexible way to go.

Having said this, nothing beats biking. If you are still on the look out for a bike in a few months give me a mail and I might be able to help.

You can pick up running bikes cheapest in Italy and Iberian peninsula. 500usd should do it, then sell/dump at the end. UK is more expensive, but people tend to look after their vehicles better.

Simon

buying bike in Europe
 

Buying a bike in Europe can be easy and cost effective but there is the BIG question of if you will actually be able to legally ride it and insure it.
Phawker should be allerted to the facts that in some, if not all, the countries of the European Union they have put up rules requiring a proof of residence of at least six months prior in the country in order to get a bike registered to your name. This technically would stop us tourists from being able to buy and ride a bike there.
In previous threads on this same topic there have been allusions made that there are ways around that restriction to get a registration in your name and then buy insurance for same.Personally I cannot remember how that was managed , and it was not spelled out in detail. I too would certainly like to find out how to get a bike registered to my own name again.
From my own experience I can detail a useful method, but that requires having contacts in the European country who know and trust you.On a number of trips over the last thirty years I have bought used bikes in the Netherlands. It was a cinch getting them registered to my name until about 15years ago when these restrictions were enacted. My way around them now is to buy a used bike but have it registered in the name of a friend who must also have motorcycle license.. Technically it is then his bike and he will get any of the fines from photoradar speed traps (LOTS of those traps in NL) or other infractions and the demerit points off HIS license. This is why it must be somebody who knows and trusts you well enough to expect that you will pay such fines and not go around like a maniac piling up tickets and then leaving him with the surprise of a lifetime. . If that person already owns a bike he will have insurance and it will then be inexpensive to extend that coverage to the new aquisition paid by me on a per month basis. Using this method I get cheap liability insurance for the duration of the trip, green card being valid for all of Europe , part of North Africa too.
Again , please help us out with the actual info needed to get a bike registered.

I have relatives in the UK. Would I be able to use one of their addresses as my residence?

getting a motorcycle in Europe
 

Sorry abou t that, I answered this same question by you a second time today as it was posted under a different heading, check it out .I don´t know if the UK has easier rules on this and perhaps Ali can clarify. If you go the route of registering a bike under a relative´s name then your name does not have to appear on the registration form- it is not your bike. The liability insurance your relative might be able to supply through having your bike registered and insured under his name as a second vehicle. You should get your name written in as a second driver for the insurance. Also make a photocopy of the insurance green card, your drivers license from Ontario and your relative´s/friend´s drivers license all on the same sheet , then with a pen both of you sign it. This serves as a backup proof that you have legal right to be riding the bike, should a question ever arise .

I'm sorry I meant registering the bike under my name but using the address of my relative as my residence. Would that work?

Registratiion Document (UK)
 

I've just read my Registration Document for selling to a new owner, there are no details requiring you to disclose your nationality.
viz.
Section 6. New Keeper or New Name/New Address Details

Mr/Mrs/Miss
Title (Ms/Rev etc) or Business Name...........
Forenames............
Surname..........
For Company use only - DVLA/DVLNI Fleet Number.........
*Date of birth........
Postcode.......
Address..........
Post Town..........
New keeper.......tick box
Date of Sale or Transfer......
*Driver Number............
*Present Milage
Note * You are not required by law to provide your Date of birth, Driver Number or present mileage

So provided you have a valid address in the UK to send the new reg docs to, you should be ok

If you get stuck I have a '83 Yamaha XJ550 with 13500 miles on the clock you can buy for £100 and sell back to me for the same amount when done. Complete with throw over panniers. No good for trail riding 'cause it's a cruiser. It'll be MOT'd but you will have to arrange the insurance. That way I don't get your tickets and you don't need to spend a fortune on wheels. Where are your folks located, as there is a bed here if you want it for a couple of days too. Get to visit the Queen who lives down the road from me at Sandringham:cool4:

Here's a photo I took a couple of weeks ago. March 2nd, at Snetterton Race Circuit where my son was having fun on a track day with his Kawasaki pocket rocket.

http://www.drxart.co.uk/mediac/400_0/media/adsa45.jpg

She's not the newest bike in town, but has not let me down yet, although the longest journey I've had on her is only 300 miles and back again.

You never know this could be the start of a new trend - HU Pool Bikes for visiting members :thumbup1:

And me, well funny enough I'll be touring Canada on my BMWf650 come summer:clap: then to Argentina, but that's another story

Wow!
 

That's exactly the type of bike I was thinking of Stag! I currently ride an '82 XJ750 Seca and I was thinking of something of similar year but a little bit smaller for Europe.

My relatives live all over the UK but mainly in Wales (Cardiff, Pontypridd) and also in North-Eastern England.

XJ550 deal
 

North East (Durham) is where my Dad came from. either way I can pick you up from local rail station. (Peterborough or King's Lynn)
Anyway the offer is on the table, when do you plan to arrive Uk? Remember that it takes a couple of weeks for Registration documents to be processed, (may be ways around this:innocent: - will discuss if you want to take up my offer) although when I travelled to the continent no one asked for more than my passport, and that was UK immigration officials at the Channel Tunnel. There are no inter-continental check points anymore, except for non EEC countries like Switzerland and Norway.

And now as this is becoming domestic, send me a private message or email to drx.fairless@virgin.net. Be aware that I don't read my emails every day.

Cheers

Excellent, email sent.

interested in doing the same
 

Hi Phawker Please update the rest of us who are interested in doing the same thing... Thanks Philip