Many people like the idea of transporting their own motorcycles from continent to continent! During a round-the-world trip you are likely to form a bond or emotional attachment to your trusted travel partner. But when does transporting motorcycles make sense? And when might it be more advisable to consider buying and selling motorcycles as you go along? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of both methods!
Transporting your Motorcycle Around-The-World
Cost of Transporting Motorcycles
Have you considered the cost of shipping or flying your motorcycle from continent to continent? Transporting motorcycles is pretty expensive and can often outweigh the cost of the actual motorcycle itself! So please make sure to check costs and avoid any surprises if you are going down this route.
Benefits of Transporting Motorcycles
But let’s look at the benefits of it! If you have a heavily customised bike that you built for your round-the-world adventure and spent a lot of money in accessories for, you might be better off shipping it from continent to continent. It would be a nightmare to take all the add-ons off with the intention of installing it on your new bike each time! Getting a garage to do it for you is pretty expensive too depending on the amount of customisations you have. It would rarely make sense unless you did this yourself. And even then, it would be such a hassle! Likewise, finding a bike that would have all the exact customisations you want won’t be so easy. So you might end up having to add a few things on each time.
We bought our bike fully customised. Click here to check out all our customisations!
Riding on your own motorcycle allows you to get to know it inside out. It also increasing your confidence and many people feel attached to their own bike. Many ADV Riders even name their bikes! In fact it’s so common that I started wondering if I was doing something wrong as I had never thought to name my bike (yet). I’m not sure if it’s due to my personal attachment issues or perhaps, and more likely, that I did not customise our bike myself.
Is it worth Transporting Motorcycles?
The most important thing to bear in mind, costs asides, is that transporting motorcycles across continents will always require a little admin/paperwork headache. And you should expect that delays can be very possible! Personally, Fiona and I have chosen to buy & sell as we go. So let’s have a look at a few reasons why.
The only time we had to transport our motorcycle was when we sailed with it from Panama to Colombia. We don’t have experience shipping or flying our bikes. But if you want a detailed guide on International Motorbike Shipping then please click here.
Buying & Selling Motorcycles
No Shipping Costs but Bigger Headache compared to Transporting Motorcycles
Now the main benefit of this option is of course that you will be saving a pretty substantial chunk of money on shipping costs! You also don’t have to deal with all the paperwork when preparing to ship your bike. Though that’s not really an argument since you’ll have the extra headache with buying and selling too. Imagine having to find a buyer and seller at each new destination! In fact, that is also its biggest downside. It can be pretty stressful, especially if you don’t have much time.
Complications when selling your bike
Another important thing to remember is that in many countries it may only be legal to sell your motorcycle on to another foreigner! Sure there are tons of forums out there to connect with people but just be aware that you can’t sell it to just anyone.
During Covid-19 our bike was stuck in Colombia. Our T.I.P. (Temporary Import Permit) was only valid for 3 months. With monthly fines imposed for not exiting the bike on time this was a headache! I wanted to use this opportunity to sell my bike as I wanted to change so many things about it. However, there were were very little foreigners I could sell it to. And selling it to a local person was not allowed, leaving me pretty stuck.
So is it really worth it?
Well I’ve worked in sales all my life and I actually get a thrill out of getting a good deal. My plan was to buy the bike for a very good price, ideally under market value, and try to sell it at a premium. I was actually quite excited to see how much I could sell it for. My goal was to sell it for so much, that if we did the maths, owning the bike would have cost us something like 100 USD per month. Renting Adventure Bikes abroad is very expensive, sometimes more than 100 USD per day. So that would have been a pretty good deal for us!
If you don’t care about the make of your bike too much you can get your hands on some seriously cheap bikes! I met bikers in Vietnam who picked up 250cc bikes for 100 USD. One of them sold it on for 100 USD when he was done. The other for about half of that. And the third one simply gifted it to a local guy (loved hearing about that!). But they were pretty old, crappy bikes that were fun for a 3 weeks road trip. Obviously fine for their holiday but not very suitable for a round-the-world trip.
If you are planning on buying and selling bikes you need to be sure that you know what the real value of the bike is. You also need to consider that you might be selling a completely good bike just to find that the new bike you purchased has some issues you’ll end up having to fix. So it does come with its risks!
Conclusion
If you are a little risk taker like me and Fiona and like getting a good deal this might be the best solution for you!
But if the thought of having to buy and sell bikes in countries you don’t know stresses you out already, then it’s probably not.
If you are looking into transporting your motorcycle vs buying and selling you might also enjoy reading our guide on How to Prepare for a Round-The-World Motorcycle Trip
There is no wrong or right, just different preferences and priorities when figuring out what’s right for you. What is your preferred option and why? Leave a comment below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
