North America to Europe (flexible)
 

My friend and I are planning a 3 month European motorcycle trip next summer. We need to ship 2 Buell Ulysses XB12X to Europe for a castle, country, and Alps tour. The trip right now is flexible but we want potentially ship to Portugal.

We are looking for the cheapest route for 2 bikes. Riding the bikes to a port city is certainly an option if it can help save us money. We are located in central Texas.

I've been reading the AirCanada route and it isn't out of the question to drive to Toronto if that ends up being the cheapest/most efficient route.

Does the fact that we need to ship 2 bikes make it more cost effective in a shipping container vs in the Air?

I've been reading on this website about hidden costs when shipping on a freighter vs flying. I want to know first hand if there is a no-brainer route given our flexibility and wide open agenda.

Would prefer to not deal with crating or additional hidden fees.

Also, is Portugal more or less strict on imports compared to Spain or other nearby countries?

Contact Stefan Knopf about his regular shipments from the States to Europe. He makes it very, very easy as well as (when I did it) quite cheap. Link: Transport. Note that there are usually better sources of green card insurance than buying from Stefan, although again he makes it very easy.

If you're willing to drive from Texas to Toronto to save money, you probably won't mind riding to and from from wherever Stefan ships these days. At the link above, he's advertising spring shipments from LA and Orlando.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

Agree on talking to Knopf (Stefan I think, not Stephen- if you're trying to find him through Google search.)

His price was good, he took care of customs, insurance, etc.- we thought it was worth it in 2010. It does take several weeks to get the bikes to Germany by boat.

..........shu

Motorcycle Express
 

It is worth it to go to the Motorcycle Express website. You can get an online quote for shipping your bikes in a few minutes. I had excellent service with them.

Patrick