Back to UK with a Royal Enfield
 

I'm planning to return in UK from India with a Royal Enfield Bullet. Any suggestions? Any idea about the budget?

Many thanks

Thierry

I'd be interested what time of year you are planning this? I'm trying to put together a trip, but can't get to India until Sep/Oct 2010 and am wondering if this is too late to then go back west? (i.e. too close to winter)

Sebbu
I think this is a trip of minimum 1 month and a half, then starting on Sept allow to arrive in Oct/Nov. Feasible. I'm trying to collect all the information necessary to organize the trip and to buy the Bullet. In any case I don't know when I will do the trip. I can consider the option of doing the trip with someone else. Let me know what you think.
Cheers

Yeah, I get to London (from Aus) at the end of July and was hoping to leave in the first week of August.

I want to cross over pakistan/india border about the last week Sep/first week of august which will then give me another 6 weeks in India/Bangladesh before shipping home in November.

I think this is ample time and, in fact, my concern is that it is too much time and that I'd be better off contracting my riding time and having a higher budget per day

Return to UK
 

Hi

I'm in india now and was planning exactly the same trip as you.

You can't ride an indian enfield through pakistan and Iran, as you need a carnet.

You can buy a enfield registered in Nepal but will cost you twice as much(due to 100% import tax), for the carnet you need to leave a 500% deposit of the value of the bike with the RAC.

For the bike not to have a SVA test when you return to the UK it must be over 10 years old.

Got my bike from Lalli Singh in Delhi, works a treat, been on the road for 3 weeks now. The bike cost 30000 rupees for a 1996 350cc bullet.

He'll sort you out with basic maintaince procedures and send you off with millions of spares, add a few thousand rupees on for these.

My orginal plan was to fly ther bike over pakistan and Iran to Greece/Turkey, lalli stated cost would be 80000 rupees, but am now going to ship bike back to UK for about 20000 rupees when my trip in india ends.

Hope this helps

James

If you're from the UK, can't you just get a Carnet from the RAC? I got a bike in Australia which I rode back and got the Carnet sorted over the phone. If you went the insurance route, you only pay up 10% of the value and then get 50% back once you return the carnet to the RAC. Just a thought.

Not straightforward getting a Carnet for indian vehicle
 

He's got his facts straight.

I did this trip in 2006, and I got myself a Norwegian carnet because the Norwegian Automotive organization didn't know they weren't allowed to issue one for the bike in India. Now every country in Europe knows (don't know to which extent they care).

Apparently, if you're not an Indian resident (don't pay tax in India), you are not allowed to own an indian vehicle. What happens when you buy one locally, is that the name of the original owner is still in the papers. You just make sure you get a purchase certificate. You can not (as far as I know), get a carnet issued in another mans name.

If you really want to do the trip, don't give up hope by these words. Search different travel forums and you might come across someone who found another way of getting through. I was offered to bribe custom officials to get through '..because you don't have a Carnet' (they got a bit dissapointed when it turned out that I had done my homework and had my papers in order).

By the way; Lalli Singh is the Man to talk to in Delhi - stay clear of Madaan Motors.

Also: don't bother planning a return trip from India to Europe lasting only 6 weeks. Waste of time - Pakistan and Iran were GREAT countries to travel through - you should plan for at least three months.

regards,
Max

You can see pics from the trip at Max Knutsen worldwide web trip 2005 - 2006