Importing a bike from usa to uk

[minesweeper]

Just after abit of advice.
considering purchasing a heavily modified fireblade 954 from a seller in the usa, i understand that i will have to pay for shipping, import duty and vat costing around 30% of the bikes value in total.
My question is concerning type approval? what would i have to provide to register the bike for uk road use? considering that the bike is of course available across europe?
kindest regards

sweep
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Rvf400, 955i daytona, 954 fireblade, cbr1000rr fireblade 06 Hm plant

[Kickstart]

Hi

Easy way would require a certificate of conformity. And suspect that being a US model that will not be available.

As such it probably needs to go through SVA. There are loads of things they can and will fail you for on this. Eg, heard of a US import GSXR that other than a double bubble screen was 100% standard and failed the SVA as the edge of the screen wasn't rounded off.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

+1 to Kickstart really. Seems it would need to go through an MSVA.
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[minesweeper]

Any online listing of what they check?
really want the bike but if im just gonna keep getting knocked back by the testers there isnt much point.
matty
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Rvf400, 955i daytona, 954 fireblade, cbr1000rr fireblade 06 Hm plant

[Kickstart]

Hi

Not found a list before. Think they will sell you a list though.

Suspect most standard things will be OK (as Honda won't want to have made different items for European and US models), while things like emissions will be close enough for the simple testing done.

Suspect what will cause issues will be things that are not standard and possibly sharper that they are allowed to be. Footrests, edge of screen, etc. Similarly for the speedo (ie, technically you need both mph and kmh on the speedo, but not sure they enforce that one).

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[minesweeper]

cheers gents, im tempted just to import the damn thing then worry about the testing later, got another fire-blade 954 thats almost standard.. could strip any non standard parts off the import before i send it to approval, dodgy but would work.
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Rvf400, 955i daytona, 954 fireblade, cbr1000rr fireblade 06 Hm plant

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Suspect that is what most people would do.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Gone]

I think you'd also need a new headlight as it will dip the wrong way, one of the reasons I bought my 954 here in Finland instead of the (much cheaper for me) UK. I have a friend here who imports American cars and gets them registered over here, each one takes quite a lot of time and money to prepare it to EU standards. Finns are crazy for yank tanks, though, so he makes a decent living out of it. Not sure it would be worth it for a Japanese bike.

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[Gone]

[Kickstart]

Hi

It sort of is enough here. It is for older stuff and once registered you are OK. However not sure for the SVA but suspect a replacement headlight would be the safest and easiest thing.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Hetzer]

Oh boy, you can garaun-https://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr356/Langnasen7/fcuking.jpg-tee that you will be https://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr356/Langnasen7/fcuk.jpged from pillar to post by every petty-minded jobsworth scumbag https://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr356/Langnasen7/cnut.jpg from HM Customs to DVLA over this one. This is the UK mate.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

I stand by buying the bike, putting the trick bits on your UK 954 and breaking the rest.
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[cb1rocket]

Are they definately SVA tested? How come Bat Motorcycles an importer of Japanese bikes (grey imports) cope?

I'm not sure they even go down that route, just as long as you have the export certificate ie the jap log book and all is fine?

No?

My CB1 and Bros were both Jap imports and nothing appears to been modified for UK road use. Still has KM clocks etc and a non pattern headlight beam

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[Kickstart]

Hi

If they are old enough then you can still get away with just MOTing them to register. I can't remember what the cutoff date for this is though (early 1990s I think).

Newer than that and you need to go through SVA.

SVA is probably not that difficult when you are doing them regularly and know what needs sorting. Also from speaking to people the testers can be fairly helpful on some things, such as giving people loads of attempts to get through the emissions tests (ie, Mitsubishi Evos struggled to get through, but would normally manage it if the cat was got hot with a few bits of hard acceleration).

Vincent Owners Club built a new bike from replacement parts a few years ago and managed to get that through SVA.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Polarbear]

[Gone]

[ZRX61]

[Damiano]

I Just moved from US to UK.
I feel there is a lotof confusion out there. Since i'm going through it right now, let me give you first hand experience.
I shipped my motorcycle (2007 fjr1300A) on ocean cargo.
This is the exact process (and prices) to follow.

Ship to uk. I used Shumacher Cargo. Professional and decently priced. I got a shared container for 500usd + 200usd insurance (optional)
At arrival paid another 200 Gbp custom clearance and fees-
Book MSVA early 80 Gbp(it can take a month), your bike will have to comply with msva regulations (https://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/MSVA%202010%20.pdf)
It can be a big pain u know where. I had to add position lights to headlight, and work on the electrical circuit to make the yellow position lights be normally off except for when u turn direction lights.. Also the emergency lights have some weird requirements.. Anyway read the link CARFULLY
I went to Teslayn Engineering in Oxford and got raped to have the job done. 24hr to put LEDs in my headlight and 650 Gbp later.. Shoot me please
Next week I have the test. Hopefully it will pass.
After that I need to get insurance. Make sure you get a 'letter of experience' from your insurance provider. Basically it's a piece of paper where they state how many years you have been insured and what claims your had. For me I had 6 years no claims so insurance when from 1100gbp to 450gbp.
After insurance, go to DVLA (our DMV) and show documents. Pay the MOT (road tax) around 100gbp and they'll give you a plate and off you go.
Moral of the story it's a big headache! Just shameful how picky the can be about two stupid lights.. And all the money it costed to have them fixed.
I'll update next week at process (hopefully) completed.

One important thing to remember is that you only have to pay VAT (20% of market value) if you buy used bike from US. If you have owned your vehicle for more than 6 months and lived in the US for more that 12 months (my case) you don't have to pay that - thank god!

Hope this helps,
Damiano

[Kickstart]