Shipping bikes to the USA

shakey

shakey

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Hi All,

I have been planning to ship my bike to the USA in April 22 for an eight week lap of the Mercans. Air Canada have always been a good shout for efficient service, bike almost always on the same plane as you but they still haven’t announced what service they might put on for next year.
A couple of shipping companies that I’m in touch with are still waiting for more air traffic before they start looking for air freight space.

Has Anyone sorted shipping for next year yet?
 
Talk to Moto Freight. Brilliant people, really good at their job!
 
Another recommendation for Moto Freight.
I have always found them very straightforward to deal with.

In my experience, they will tell you the truth and not just what they think you want to hear.
 
AberdeenAngus said:
Bilko to the shipping thread please. Bilko to the thread.
Click to expand...

Helloooo:D

I've got a container going over to the East Coast in June, which is a little later than you wanted, but it's definitely going and I can get you back from the West Coast at anytime.

Airfreight prices are through the roof at the minute and will stay that way until passengers are allowed back in decent numbers.

April is a little early for many places in the US as there is still a lot of snow at altitude and it's still cold in the northern states.

Motofreight are the people to go to for airfreight as they are excellent but stay away from James Cargo. They are not the company they once were and I've heard some pretty bad stories from people who have used them recently.

Give me a shout Shakey if you want any more details.
 
How much time should you allow to pack and freight a bike to the West coast ?
 
Sgt Bilco said:
Helloooo:D

I've got a container going over to the East Coast in June, which is a little later than you wanted, but it's definitely going and I can get you back from the West Coast at anytime.

Airfreight prices are through the roof at the minute and will stay that way until passengers are allowed back in decent numbers.

April is a little early for many places in the US as there is still a lot of snow at altitude and it's still cold in the northern states.

Motofreight are the people to go to for airfreight as they are excellent but stay away from James Cargo. They are not the company they once were and I've heard some pretty bad stories from people who have used them recently.

Give me a shout Shakey if you want any more details.
Click to expand...

Are you organising a tour or just shipping bikes?
I am still interested in moving two bikes there and back next year.
 
An update for you -

Moto Freight are being very helpful.

Prices as of this week for shipping a bike to the USA there and back.

Advice is now Air freight out as sea freight shipping is now "unpredictable", ships that were regular weekly are being held off shore for up to six weeks due to port backlogs. Some ships are diverting to less busy ports and there are regular stories of 12 week crossings. This has also affected prices and sea freight is now only about £500 less than air.

Prices that i have been quoted this week are Air fright to New York at £2965 plus $80 handling fee stateside. You need to deliver your bike to Moto freight at Heathrow a week before your own flight and they will get the bike on closest available plane to yours. Their agents in New York collect the bike (in its crate) and take it to their own warehouse where you can collect it. They don't open the crate until you are there but they will help you open it (Six screws apparently) and the will dispose of the crate.

Getting it home, the best option, if you can live without your bike is by sea as Moto freight don't have agents that can provide air freight. Again, you may be waiting up to 12 weeks. Prices for sea freight quoted from San Francisco are £1146 plus £1100 for customs.

I hope this is useful to anyone thinking of shipping their bikes to the states anytime soon. I have done my sums to see if it its worth considering hiring instead. My trip is eight weeks coast to coast and hiring from Eagle rider is coming in at about £6,000 for just four weeks.
 
:eek: So over £5k for freight, there and back
Erm…..no.

And £6k to rent for 4 weeks is bonkers.

What’s it like getting insurance and registering a bike if you just bought one ?
 
AberdeenAngus said:
:eek: So over £5k for freight, there and back
Erm…..no.

And £6k to rent for 4 weeks is bonkers.

What’s it like getting insurance and registering a bike if you just bought one ?
Click to expand...

From all of the research that I’ve done, buying and insurance in the US seems a bit of a no go.
It appears that some of the Canadian states/provinces make it doable. British Colombia for example. I can recommend Island BMW in Victoria, Vancouver Island. I’ve never bought a bike but had my 800GS serviced there both times that I was in North America with it.
 
If you were to buy, register and insure a bike in Canada, are you OK taking it into the states?
 
AberdeenAngus said:
:eek: So over £5k for freight, there and back
Erm…..no.

And £6k to rent for 4 weeks is bonkers.

What’s it like getting insurance and registering a bike if you just bought one ?
Click to expand...

£6K for 29 days bike hire didn't include insurance, roadside assistance, tax etc, its more like £7344.664. If you are going for more than 14 days the price goes up. Long trips it is still more economical to ship your own there. You can use your own bike luggage rather than the extra cost to hire theirs.

I have been talking to Bilco about insurance, that has gone up too, looking at £500 for 8 weeks cover with either of the only two insurance companies that will insure a UK bike and rider in the USA. we are trying to find a cheaper company.
 
AberdeenAngus said:
If you were to buy, register and insure a bike in Canada, are you OK taking it into the states?
Click to expand...

Again, my experience is that vehicle insurance for the US is valid in Canada and Vicky Verka.
If I was planning a North America trip I’d certainly by looking at the buy a bike in BC route….but I’m not. Walking and cycling this year all being well.
 
This is exactly right and as you say, the seafreight is unpredictable at best. It really isn't worth the risk and I've had to cancel a June container I had arranged for a big group of guys doing the TAT as we just cannot guarantee getting it there.

Another huge problem is a lot of shipping companies have lost staff due to redundancy and retirement in the pandemic and they have lost people who know what they are doing. The shippers I have used since 2010 and I've done 12 containers with, cannot find import agents on the East Coast who are prepared to handle a container of bikes!! Unbelievable....!!

I can get bikes back from SF for about £1000 a go but there is no guarantee of when it will be shipped.

Airfreight is great but as you say, expensive.That rate has come down in the last 12 months because last Feb they quoted nearly £9k to NYC!!

Long term rental is generally really expensive hence why I've always shipped. However, you can find small rental companies who may do a deal but you have to avoid Eaglerider and Motoquest who charge small fortunes.

I'm working with a couple of smaller rental companies at the moment to see if we can do deals on long term rentals whilst this shipping nightmare continues.

Hopefully, things will settle down through this year and get back to some sort of normality is 2023.



shakey said:
Advice is now Air freight out as sea freight shipping is now "unpredictable", ships that were regular weekly are being held off shore for up to six weeks due to port backlogs. Some ships are diverting to less busy ports and there are regular stories of 12 week crossings. This has also affected prices and sea freight is now only about £500 less than air.

Prices that i have been quoted this week are Air fright to New York at £2965 plus $80 handling fee stateside. You need to deliver your bike to Moto freight at Heathrow a week before your own flight and they will get the bike on closest available plane to yours. Their agents in New York collect the bike (in its crate) and take it to their own warehouse where you can collect it. They don't open the crate until you are there but they will help you open it (Six screws apparently) and the will dispose of the crate.

Getting it home, the best option, if you can live without your bike is by sea as Moto freight don't have agents that can provide air freight. Again, you may be waiting up to 12 weeks. Prices for sea freight quoted from San Francisco are £1146 plus £1100 for customs.
Click to expand...
 
You might want to check out https://www.riders-share.com/ for rentals as well. I haven't used them before, but I signed up for their mailing list, so I get stuff from them occassionally.

Also, Eaglerider runs off-season specials which seem like pretty good deals. Just saw a $99/day winter special for a bike out of their LA and SF locations. 70 deg F where I live near SF today. Not bad riding weather, for sure.
 
Here's an example from Riders Share - 2017 GS LC for a week costs USD550. In your pounds of sterling that's not much money.
 

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