brittman,

thanks for the advice. I received a very thorough and informative email from the DVLA today explaining the situation. The only question I had for you was the green card insurance. Where are you getting $600 for 2 months? Everyone on this site, and the sites I've checked quote 50 euro/month.

So, here's the deal on buying a bike in the UK.

You do not have to be a citizen. All you need is a friend with a UK address (thank god I studied in glasgow) and you're good to go. You have to pay taxes on the bike (although I think if you're exporting it out of the country the same day you register it, you might be able to skip this. If the bike leaves the UK for less then 12 months, it's still considered registered there, but under temporary export. Over 12 months is considered permanent export.

The only trick is that if the current owner has the old registration form, you'll have to apply for the new kind when you pay your taxes, and that will take 20-30 business days to process. So that's kind of a hold up.

Anyway, I decided that the cost of doing a motorcycle trip in Europe right now is just too high for me. So I'm going old school on my perfectly serviceable bicycle. See you all around. You'll probably be passing me this summer while I'm struggling up hills in Switzerland. rock on! happy trails.