Buying Commando in US

Hi all. I am new member. I am trying to source a couple of 74 commandos in the US to bring to Australia for a project in my "old age". Over here the prices are around 12000 to 18000 for anything and it looks like sourcing from the US is a much better option. Any help on web sites to look at, price range etc would be great.

Trumpie said:

Hi all. I am new member. I am trying to source a couple of 74 commandos in the US to bring to Australia for a project in my "old age". Over here the prices are around 12000 to 18000 for anything and it looks like sourcing from the US is a much better option. Any help on web sites to look at, price range etc would be great.

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Hi, Welcome. Prices are all over the map. http://www.craigslist.org http://www.baxtercycle.com/ http://classicbikeexperience.com/

Thanks. I have a few emails flying around to sellers of bikes sourced via on line site Oodle market place USA. does anyone know of this site and whether to rely upon it? The bikes are in fact advertised on "Global free classified ad"s but from over here its a bit hard to assess. thanks for the links to the dealers Concours.

If you find one in my area and I can help just drop me a PM. Good luck.

Go down list and call every mc shop in OZ and the cycle clubs of all types and ask if they have a lead on a Commando, you may be surprised and meet new folks to boot. NZ has British Cycle Supply and lots of Norton club & dudes to quiz if ya can stand their accent and slang.

I just acquired a 1970 commando from Ebay in the US and shipped it to North Africa where I work.

Deal was smooth and price was right for a restored bike in excellent condition.



The seller was very helpful in arranging title, spare key, facilitating shipping. Without his assistance, I would have struggled to ship it overseas. Suggest you mention your intention upfront and ask for their help.

A good shipping company is important. You'll probably need two: one to transport the bike from the seller's location in the US to a port (or airport) and another to arrange export and international shipping.

Good luck.

I helped Murray at Cycle Craft in Western Australia buy three Commandos here in the US and export them last year. He bought them on eBay and had me store them for a while, and then haul them down to his shipper in Los Angeles. I picked up two of them from a California seller, and Murray arranged to have the third one transported to me from Oregon. It all went pretty well, except for one thing. We had no title for one of the bikes, and customs will not let you ship a bike without a title. We could probably have broken it down into parts, put it on a pallet, and shipped it as spares, but instead chose to have me go through the process of getting a California title in my name and signing it over to Murray. That's a bit of a pain to go through, and requires some "creative writing" on the DMV forms, but it can be done. I'd really recommend that you make sure any bikes you buy have titles. Two of the bikes were serious basket cases, and one was a lovely café bike done in the PR style. I think the basket cases were $3K - $4K each, and the café bike was somewhere around $8K. Murray said that compared to prices in Australia, they were all bargains, even after the cost of shipping and customs.

Ken

good advice thanks. On to Ebay I go. What is the deal with Title in the US? we don't have the same rules in OZ. nice version of the marque you have!

Thanks Ken for that info. Very useful. I am looking at a couple of bikes now but I reckon a few are scammers. They copy ebay ads and load them to b grade sites and then try to con a deal. Certainly over here prices are much higher so I will persist.

Trumpie

If you consider a bike on EBay it is very important the seller have a high positive Feedback rating (above 96%) and a decent number of relatively recent sales.
By clicking on sellers name you can look at actual transaction feedback and pay attention to their sales and not so much their buys.
However even a high feedback rating may be a little shakey if it is based on small valued transactions.
Using PayPal to handle actual money transaction is also highly recommended. Setting up a PayPal account is easy.

Good luck.

Glad to read Ken was able to waltz though the red tape & hope it worked out on the Australian side. Here's a case that hopefully will not apply to an antique motorcycle but should be aware of what some face.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umVj5XQYAi8

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I took all the advice... and found nice bike in Australia . Thanks to all for the help and advice. Now to spend some time on the restoration. The bike is running and has been shed bound for a few years. I am optimistic that I wont need to do the full rebuild...but I think that is what everyone says. I will be on the forum looking for guidance soon. thanks again men.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a reliable company to use for shipping a bike from US to Australia?

I need to check my records, I can tell you FOR SURE which shipper NOT to use!

Many thanks, knowing which shippers NOT to use would be more than useful

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Don't bikes shipped into Australia need approval FIRST from the Dept of Transport in Canberra.
Without that, they can't subsequently be registered in Australia. ?

Thats how the deal worked about 10 years ago.
That paperwork approval is vital, or its a showbike or track bike for the rest of its life.
Make sure they are clean too, or the Dept of Ag and Quarantine may insist they are steam cleaned/sterilized, which costs.

I've imported a number of bikes from the US into OZ and have had excellent service from the folk at Mainfreight. They advertise in Just Bikes and the Trader and have their head office in Brisbane (but all my bikes were delivered to Sydney as I'm in Canberra). They've also got an office and warehouse in LA. I found the Mainfreight folk in the US particularly good at liaising with the sellers. All in all a very smooth, stressfree process. Probably not the cheapest shipping company of the many offering the service, but I valued the worry free nature of it all above saving a few dollars.