Shipping a Motorcycle from the Northern Ireland to Toronto | GTAMotorcycle.com

Shipping a Motorcycle from the Northern Ireland to Toronto

J

j2

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I just came back from 2 weeks in Ireland where we hired some bikes and toured around.

We went to the Armoy road races - which is a whole other thread :) - and stayed in a B&B where I came across 1981 Suzuki X7. I've always loved them so I bought it. For 75 pounds I thought it was a good deal.

It's a true barn find in a bit of a sorry state and non runner but its all there. The tank is a little rusty inside but it's solid and most parts are still available from Suzuki. The owner had it from new and has all the paperwork but parked it in 1988 and it has not turned a wheel since.

I have a conversation with the Ministry on Friday and conformed that it could be registered here. The next problem is getting it home.

Has anyone used services such as uship or shiply or is it better to look at regular shipping company? Is it better to try and ship it intact or break it down and put it in a packing crate? Sorry for all the dumb questions and suggestions are very welcome

I know there are some ex-pats on here from the UK/Ireland so hoping one of them went through a similar process.

TIA
 
j2 said:
I just came back from 2 weeks in Ireland where we hired some bikes and toured around.

We went to the Armoy road races - which is a whole other thread :) - and stayed in a B&B where I came across 1981 Suzuki X7. I've always loved them so I bought it. For 75 pounds I thought it was a good deal.

It's a true barn find in a bit of a sorry state and non runner but its all there. The tank is a little rusty inside but it's solid and most parts are still available from Suzuki. The owner had it from new and has all the paperwork but parked it in 1988 and it has not turned a wheel since.

I have a conversation with the Ministry on Friday and conformed that it could be registered here. The next problem is getting it home.

Has anyone used services such as uship or shiply or is it better to look at regular shipping company? Is it better to try and ship it intact or break it down and put it in a packing crate? Sorry for all the dumb questions and suggestions are very welcome

I know there are some ex-pats on here from the UK/Ireland so hoping one of them went through a similar process.

TIA
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for the price of shipping probably easier you go back, take it apart, put in those blue barrel shipping containers and send back in pieces.
the bike probably fit in 2 of them, lol

probably cost you $1k to ship it
 
jc100 said:
You'll have an issue with left hand vs right hand drive ��
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LOL :)

My friend was originally from Dublin and he shipped a Norton back.

Weight is your enemy. Get rid of everything you will not be using. For example, I don't think those 30 year old tires will be any good so take them off.

When Pat shipped his he stripped it down and got everything into a packing case that was around 4x2x3 that had a palette as a base . I remember going with him to pick it up as we used my truck. I think it cost him around $450ish but I'll email him and ask.

Even at around $500 for shipping I still think its a killer deal as a nice restoration goes for around £4k or more over there.

The other thing you could try is to advertise over there for someone that's shipping a container to Canada and is looking to fill the access space. There is a site in the UK that's a bit like Kijiji. I'll see if I can get the name.

Congrats. It was always one of my favourite late 70's early 80's bikes.
 
Heard back from Pat.

He used a company in the UK called DFS Worldwide. It cost him 260 Sterling which I guess is around $480 since the CDN $ tanked. I assume the X7 would be less as it weighs less than the Norton :) It took about 10 weeks in total but I assume you don't want to try and get it on the road this year.

He said don't expect too much from uSHIP. The best price he got on there was $2500 CDN. It was a waste of his time and they continue to spam him to this day.

You could always go to every Irish Road Race for the season and bring back a piece at a time in a big suit case :) Real Roadracing is just so cool.....

Didn't Johnny Cash have a song about that :)
 
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Thanks All.

$500 is fine. It's around what I was expecting. I'll reach out to them.

I would love to go to every Irish road race. Such a great experience. It's almost like the Northern Ireland National Sport. I need to go to England on September 7th so I'll just fly across and pack it up.
 
Again. Thanks to all.

I got a quote for £262.63 GBP for Door to Port service in Toronto. All in all it seems pretty reasonable.
 
j2 said:
Again. Thanks to all.

I got a quote for £262.63 GBP for Door to Port service in Toronto. All in all it seems pretty reasonable.
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knew a guy who actually flew with his bike. Apparently, Air Canada charges you a few hundred, as long as you are the flight, but you takeoff and land with your bike in the belly of the plane.
 
ferda said:
knew a guy who actually flew with his bike. Apparently, Air Canada charges you a few hundred, as long as you are the flight, but you takeoff and land with your bike in the belly of the plane.
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uhm that sounds like a hell of a fairy tale or maybe in the 1950's
 
ferda said:
knew a guy who actually flew with his bike. Apparently, Air Canada charges you a few hundred, as long as you are the flight, but you takeoff and land with your bike in the belly of the plane.
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Trust me, nobody is flying in the cargo area. I think your friend was telling you tales, or this was decades ago.

Delboy said:
Weight is your enemy. Get rid of everything you will not be using. For example, I don't think those 30 year old tires will be any good so take them off.

When Pat shipped his he stripped it down and got everything into a packing case that was around 4x2x3 that had a palette as a base . I remember going with him to pick it up as we used my truck. I think it cost him around $450ish but I'll email him and ask.
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Weight is important, but cubes matter more. In other words, don't ship air. Pack it as tight as is reasonably possible to minimize the size, while still ensuring nothing gets damaged.

CRATE IT. Build the crate like you expect a sherman tank to ride over it, because I guarantee you that if you use a freight forwarding company...when they see a crate, they WILL stack other freight on top of it. Trust me.

j2 said:
Has anyone used services such as uship
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If you were domestic I'd entertain Uship, but overseas? Don't waste your time...there's almost certainly little to no actual companies on Uship that handle overseas so you're just going to get someone who is going to take your crate and farm it out to a freight forwarding company that you could deal with directly in the end.
 
knew a guy who actually flew with his bike. Apparently, Air Canada charges you a few hundred, as long as you are the flight, but you takeoff and land with your bike in the belly of the plane.
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Bit of mis-interpretation from the responders. Yes the bike is on the same plane as you. You in seat, bike strapped down in cargo hold.
Been there, done that.

Not likely cost effective for the OP ...$850 for the bike from UK plus his ticket. Not bad for Toronto to Vancouver as we did.
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