Shipping a Norton back from UK ?

Planning a trip to England, has anyone (in recent years) bought a Norton in the UK and had it shipped back to the states? Back in the 70's a buddy bought one, toured Europe then shipped it back. This may be my one last thing to remember...I'd really like some feedback. I have owned nothing but English bikes, what year did they all moved the gear shift to the left side. All the English bikes I had they were still on the right. I got into an accident when I went to down shift on a rice burner and haven't ridden since.
Thanks, Jersey

Jerseydevil said:

what year did they all moved the gear shift to the left side.

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1975.

Hi

I imported my 77 MK111 from the UK to Australia
Buying one while in the UK a great idea but here the rules are you need to live in the UK for at least 12 months before you cab bring it back tax free
Import approval for bikes classed as historic (over 30yo) is easy provided the bike has not been modified too much
I had to apply for approval which caused some anxiety as the dealer shipped it before I got approval and although transport took nearly six weeks approval was't received until 2 weeks before the bike arrived. The trip would be much shorter to the US and you don't want that stress believe me (if the same rules apply)

My advise (it took years to take the Plunge) is to buy from a reputable dealer but be prepared to become intimately acquainted with every moving part on the bike, otherwise something later (I also have a 2007 Bonneville and what you can do to those is endless) or back to the rice burner
Bill little motorcycles in the UK was great to deal with and when I saw the bike (pictured right) I had to have it and pestered him until he sold
The bike was a non runner and I am doing a complete rebuild which was my intention to begin with so no shattered expectation really except for a dodgy gearbox
The freight is usually much cheaper through a dealer then trying to arrange it privately

In my humble opinion though there does not seem to be any better place on the planet to buy a Norton or other british classic then the US.
Seems most of them ended up there.

So ride it while you are there and if you can't sell it for what you paid for it bring it back. If you do sell it buy another when you get back
Either way you win

Cheers

Jed


Cheers

Jed

Correct 1975.

But since things can get compicated with registration years the Commando model with the left hand gear shift is the Mk 111.

The most easily observed changes are the electric start, a disc on the rear wheel and front disc on the left hand side - and the left hand side gear shift. Plus other smaller details.

(My Mk 11 was first registered in Sept 1975 so years do not always give a complete picture)

John

If you want to ship a bike across the pond, there are shipping agents on both sides of the Atlantic who would do this for you. The problem is, that you have a solo m/c and you really need to get a custom made crate for it to prevent any damage. If you send by sea container, this is vital.

Suggest you contact Kenny Cummings at NYCNorton.com as Kenny has been doing this sort of stuff.

From your moniker, it sounds like you may be in his neck of the woods.

Not trying to be too discouraging but I've seen a number of posts on this and other Norton forums and in general people in the UK have noted that Commandos sell for quite a bit less in the US than they do there. That's both for unrestored and restored bikes. I also buy quite a few of the classic British bike journals and the bikes advertised for sale in them are priced much higher than an equivalent bike in States. May be due to the fact of the large number of bikes exported here at that time and the relatively fewer Brit bike enthusiasts. Also, rust is going to be more of an issue. If you could find a bike from a dry state in the US, its a big plus.

htown16 said:

Not trying to be too discouraging but I've seen a number of posts on this and other Norton forums and in general people in the UK have noted that Commandos sell for quite a bit less in the US than they do there. That's both for unrestored and restored bikes. I also buy quite a few of the classic British bike journals and the bikes advertised for sale in them are priced much higher than an equivalent bike in States. May be due to the fact of the large number of bikes exported here at that time and the relatively fewer Brit bike enthusiasts. Also, rust is going to be more of an issue. If you could find a bike from a dry state in the US, its a big plus.

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What he said... why would you want to buy one there while it's more expensive and pay shipping when you can get one at home pretty easily? Makes no sense

A silly move yes , only consider buying on this side of the pond ,then shipping to the U.K. The land of the free to the people who invented rules , forms ,excessive taxes ,reguations , proprieties , tea breaks. Hey maybe you could sell it and turn a profit or at least all the costs of shipping and newly calculated insurance -licensing -higher gas prices etc.

You'd probably do better buying one here, taking it to the UK and selling it. Everything I've heard is it's cheaper here. I'm pretty sure most of the original Nortons ended up in the USA it was such a big market. It still is. Just think, the population of OZ is about like Tejas. USA 311 million, UK 62 million, OZ 23 million, TX 26 million.

And we can't afford health care? We could have both single payer and private at the same time if the politicos would get off their bum.

Dave
69S

It's not about pop. They want it all back.

For all that has been said above I am not convinced that the US bikes are any cheaper. A lot I have seen on craiglist etc seem to spend have spent buckets of time and money turning them into customs lookalikes that most over here wouldn't urinate on if they were on fire. If I wanted a Harley I would buy one and probably get a celtic tattoo as well to be an individual...
The bikes over here seem to be less messed with in general and prices are depressed after the world credit crisis/banker fraud/call it what you will. It depends on the individual bike and the research you do to explore all the fees. I imported an Enfield Interceptor this year from Canada to the UK quite cheaply as we now have a 'historic code' to reduce taxes for what was made here in the 'golden years' when we made bikes. Good luck.

FastFred said:

The bikes over here seem to be less messed with in general and prices are depressed after the world credit crisis/banker fraud/call it what you will.

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I can't agree that prices are depressed here in the UK at the moment as the price of British bikes still continues to rise steadily in my opinion.

I lost out on a P11A last year about 80 miles from me. I was outbid by a few hundred bucks - winner paid about $5000. He then had it crated and shipped back to England. If he does a full resto on it, he'll have a good $15K in it.


Guy who sold it traded an R100 project bike for it!

I have considered often how much fun it would be to tour Europe by motorcycle. So it follows that I would enjoy doing it on a Commando. I have decided that if I ever have the opportunity it will be on a bike that I have already sorted out on this side of the pond. It has nothing to do with whether or not they are cheaper in the U.S., it has everything to do with the fact that I don't want to waste the opportunity of a lifetime because I am chasing faults in a bike. It would be better to do it in advance.

I have to admit, that if I win the lottery, I might consider one of Godet's Egli-Vincents as a substitute for my favorite Commando and then it would already be in Europe!

Russ

Agree to differ L.A.B.

An 850Mk2 Interstate just sat on evilbay for weeks but eventually sold at £6995, it was absolutely mint. You will struggle to build one for that without labour. There are a lot of silly higher priced bikes on there that won't sell for sure but I just don't think 'our' prices are increasing. Look in ClassicBerk magazine this month, they are giving away T140 Bonnevilles. then again I suppose that's fair enough !

Im looking for a good low mileage Triumph Daytona 955i, 02-06. For some reason they are almost free in the UK, too bad shipping is so expensive!
The prices on older classics in the Uk seems pretty high compared to the Us or Canada tho.

For shipping, I used a carrier that provided a small reusable aluminum shipping box (air freight) to bring my bike home from the UK in 07. It was big enough to hold the bike and a couple of large duffle bags full of our stuff. So no crating or crating cost was involved. Total cost was $900 cdn from Manchester to Vancouver BC.

I will only ever do air freight in the future, everything considered it was less expensive than sea freight. I had a very bad experience with sea freight, they lost the bike and it took four months to do the shipment.
With the air freighting the bike went on the same plane as we travelled on and got unloaded at Vancouver as we got off the plae.
So there is no need for insurance. The only insurance available was total loss, which would mean the aircraft would have to go down in order to collect. Since I was on the same aircraft, I didnt think that type of insurance would be useful!

Glen

FastFred said:

Agree to differ L.A.B.

An 850Mk2 Interstate just sat on evilbay for weeks but eventually sold at £6995, it was absolutely mint. You will struggle to build one for that without labour.

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That's more than it would have sold for a year ago.

FastFred said:

There are a lot of silly higher priced bikes on there that won't sell for sure but I just don't think 'our' prices are increasing. Look in ClassicBerk magazine this month, they are giving away T140 Bonnevilles. then again I suppose that's fair enough !

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I no longer subscribe to Classic Bike so can't comment on their ads, however it's my opinion that 750 Bonneville prices have continued to rise steadily.

Sorry complete tosh on both counts L.A.B. Suggest you buy Classic bike this month and perhaps consider that being an administrator doesn't necessarily imply you are always going to be right. If that is the case however just PM me when I am allowed to post on here; it will make things easier.

FastFred said:

Sorry complete tosh on both counts L.A.B.

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That's your opinion, which I happen to disagree with, but I have no problem with that. Seems you do with mine which is unfortunate.

FastFred said:

Suggest you buy Classic bike this month

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No thanks (I do buy other mags)

FastFred said:

and perhaps consider that being an administrator doesn't necessarily imply you are always going to be right.

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I don't always consider that I'm right, sorry you get that impression and I'm not an administrator.

FastFred said:

If that is the case however just PM me when I am allowed to post on here; it will make things easier.

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I just happen to disagree with your opinion so I don't know what your problem is?