Hey GeeSers, Do any of you have experience shipping a bike overseas? Air or Sea? Anyway to do this safely and reliably and UNDER $2000 USD?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

Well shoot for 2k I'd imagine you could leave your current one here or sell it and buy a used GS over there.   

I have never done that, but friend of mine did that few times. I think it costs $500 for motorcycle and $1000 for a car.
(he was shipping from New York to Poland)

good luck

I'd imagine crating it safely would be the tough part.

Be sure to look into licensing requirements in your destination country. Will it be hard to get it on the road, legally? Maybe it's cheaper / easier to put the current bike in storage or something, and buy another one "over there".  Is it a permanent move? I spent a year in New Zealand and we stored our car here and bought one there (cheap!). Sold it for the same amount a year later so all it cost us for the year was gas and licensing.

Something to think about, anyway,

Moving abroad?  Why?  Stay here a couple more years and the U.S. will be a foreign country!

+1 to sell it or store it and buy one where you're going, it'll save licensing and/or import costs and will be cheaper than shipping both ways even if you lose some money when you sell.
Where are you going and would you want to bring it back later on?

Quote from: bill14224 on March 20, 2009, 08:07:41 PM
Moving abroad?  Why?  Stay here a couple more years and the U.S. will be a foreign country!

He's trying to move out before it becomes a third-world country. 

Depending on how much stuff you have to ship, you might find it cheaper to get a whole 20' container to yourself.  Shipping rates have fallen off a cliff in the past few months.  If you were going from Japan to Port of L.A., you could move a 20' for about $175.

Getting the bike there is only half the problem. If you do get it there you may be liable for certain import taxes, the bike will have to be re-registered, the bikes lighting arrangement may have to be changed to meet the countrys requirements and you might face insurance problems because the bike would now be classed as an import.

The whole process is going to cost a lot of money and its probably not worth it for something with a relatively low value like a GS5, particularly if they are available in local spec in the country you move to.

^^^^
Yes, that's all true. But it all also depends on
i. where overseas the OP is moving to
ii. how long is he going to stay there.

For long periods the best solution is selling his bike and getting one cheap where he's going.
But e.g. IIRC here in EU a foreigner can use his vehicle without any modifications and keep the original registration, up to one year of continuous stay. Other countries may be more stringent, don't know.

Sell GS get Ducati

Thanks for the comments! I'm not sure there are GS500s where I am going, and I REALLY have grown to love this bike

I understand it may cost some bucks, but its in top shape and it always costs more to "start over" with another used bike.

I LOVE the Ducati idea.  Make mine a MOSTER