store my bike several months in a foreign country

[frenchrider]

Hello, I'm french and 60 years old and I'm planing to ride through Canada and USA this summer (2022) on my CRF 1000 Africa Twin. British Columbia, Yukon, Alaska and all the Southwest of USA. To avoid shipping my bike in October 2022 back to France and ship it again to Central America 10 months later, I'm wondering if it's possible to leave my bike in a country (USA ? Mexico ? Guatemala ?...) to return alone in France and come back 10 months later to continue my roadtrip to Central America and South America.
I think it's all about temporary import and I don't know if there is a country who will allowed me to do this.
Does anyone have a suggestion ?

[mark manley]

Hello and welcome,
If you are shipping your bike to Canada then riding into the US it should be OK to leave it there for up to 12 months, rumour has it longer if it is not in use, my experience is US customs do not put it on any data base if you ride it over the border as opposed to shipping or flying it into the US, it is you and your intentions they are more interested in. I would not mention that you plan to leave it there and come back, if asked you are making the one trip then going home.

[vtbeemer]

No problem leaving your bike in US for as long as you need to.

Central and South .America is tricky to store your bike for any length of time especially if you need to leave temporarily. Mexico you have a limit of 180 days max.

The fall in Mexico Central America is a nice time to travel down there. Consider traveling down to Panama. In Panama you can store your bike in a bonded warehouse near the airport till your return next season.

Dan

[frenchrider]

Thank you for your answers. I'm glad to here that it will be possible to store my bike in the US. So if I understood correctly I will not need to do a temporary import for the bike when entering the USA from Canada. (yes I'm shipping the bike from France to Canada and not to the US directly)
If it's correct I'm going to save a lot of $$$ by saving 2 shippings

[mark manley]

Originally Posted by frenchrider

Thank you for your answers. I'm glad to here that it will be possible to store my bike in the US. So if I understood correctly I will not need to do a temporary import for the bike when entering the USA from Canada. (yes I'm shipping the bike from France to Canada and not to the US directly)
If it's correct I'm going to save a lot of $$$ by saving 2 shippings

Yes I flew my bike to Canada a couple of years ago and crossed into the US without any temporary import permit or questions about the bike, it was of course legal at home and I had US insurance which also covered Canada. I left it there in storage on two occasions and returned home before riding it back to Canada on my last trip to bring it back home.

[frenchrider]

Well, great news indeed ! Thanks a lot Mark.