Yankee coming to the UK- please help

ThunderBaird

ThunderBaird

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Hello all,

I'm going to be moving to the UK from the US fairly soon, and I have some questions about procedure for riding/buying/selling motorcycles over there. I've got a pretty good grasp on the age system, and I'm 24 so there's no issue there. Would any of you know how difficult it would be to register and/or sell my US FZ1 over there in the UK? I'm getting interested in swapping bikes to something more adventure oriented, and I'm curious to know whether or not I should try to sell the bike here before I move. I know of the required US car modifications, but I haven't read anything about bike mods, and I figured you guys would be the most knowledgeable about that. I would be very appreciative of any info on the subject. Cheers!
 
Add in cost to transport it vs cost to sell in the US and buy in the UK. I'm pretty sure you'd be better off selling in the US and buying a new bike in the UK.
 
Thanks all for the replies. To clarify, my work will be paying for my shipping, so that's not an issue. It's looking more and more like I might sell here in the US to avoid all of the paperwork and testing that I'll have to do over there, and just pick something else up. Considering selling is the end goal, it's hard to justify going through all of that butt pain just to sell it.
 
ThunderBaird said:
Thanks all for the replies. To clarify, my work will be paying for my shipping, so that's not an issue. It's looking more and more like I might sell here in the US to avoid all of the paperwork and testing that I'll have to do over there, and just pick something else up. Considering selling is the end goal, it's hard to justify going through all of that butt pain just to sell it.
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I live in the UK to be road legal here you will need insurance, MOT (29.50 for bikes this is a yearly inspection done after the bike or car is more than 3 years old) and road tax (this goes on CC and being a 1000 falls in the top catergory and is £80 a year). There might be slight differences in the US bikes to ours as well that I do not know, if there are it might not be able to pass an MOT. Do not forget import tax and VAT at 20% also apply. It really isn't worth it I feel.

You are also going to need a licence, being 24 you can do whats called a direct access, this allows you to ride an CC of motorbike. You will need to do a days raining (CBT) and then its training on a 500CC + bike and take 2 tests, one is maneuvers and one is a ride out.
 
I have a US import bike in the uk. Main differences I found are things like no flasher switch, larger indicators, slightly different ecu, no immobiliser on most US bikes as far as i know and the headlight dipped beam isn't uk legal if you leave it adjusted for your roads. You can easily adjust the lights to the right level though and i've not had any issues with mine.
The following is a link to where you get a download pack of how to import a vehicle to the uk. I reckon if your work are paying... bring the bike over!
https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/registering-an-imported-vehicle
Good luck!
 
I think you get 6 -12 months grace on a licence before you should get a uk licence.My american wife drove a car for more than 6 months prior to getting a full uk car licence.
 
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