Leaving a bike in Russia
 

I'm planing a trip to Asia with a Friend who lives in Canada, but was born in Russia and has lots of family there. We've been tossing around the idea of leaving our bikes there, at a relatives place, and making several trips over 3-4 years.

Does anyone know the legalities of doing this?

Thanks
Darrin

Maybe possible, but rather difficult, depending on how often you plan to go back, and what you plan to do when you go back.

When you bring a bike into Russia, you do so with a "temporary import" certificate; the bottom line with this is that the bike needs to be out of Russia before the temporary import certificate expires. Generally the temp import certs issued at the border are for three month, and then you can extend them for up to a year, no longer. So if you plan to go back at least once a year (within the time frame of the temp import), plan to leave Russia when you do go back, and have someone in Russia that will extend the temp import for up to a year while you're gone, it might work.