Shipping to the US for Winter Riding | GTAMotorcycle.com

Shipping to the US for Winter Riding

shredder

Member
By the time March rolls around I am itching real bad to get riding. I am thinking of shipping my Suzuki VStrom 1000 down to a warm part of the US, thinking Texas to ride. Has anyone ever shipped a bike down to the US before for a temporary ride? Trying to learn what is involved and how to do it. What companies can arrange shipping? What companies can receive and de-crate it in the US, and re-crate and ship it back to Canada? Thinking alot needs to go right and a lot can go wrong, but surely this has been done before. I am pretty sure this is going to cost some serious coin but I figure once I get down there it will buy flexibility and savings on other things, compared to a prepacked tour. Hoping you will all share your experiences and feedback.


Shredder
2014 Suzuki VStrom
2009 Kawi Vulcan 1700
 
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Does your vehicle have a trailer hitch?

Have you considered just renting a trailer and trailering your own bike down? If your tow vehicle is big enough there's availability for enclosed trailers, but even if you only have a smaller vehicle the Uhaul motorcycle trailer will easily handle a vStrom and is easy to tow.
 
shredder, I live in Florida, and I visit Ontario during the summer. I have twice built a trailer, using parts purchased from Harbor Freight (there is one of those in Buffalo). The process was quick and cheap, and the trailer is durable and dependable. I have hauled my V-Strom and other motorcycles back and forth lots of times, and had very little trouble en route. Pulling a trailer behind a car or small truck is a simple skill, easily mastered. Even backing up is not particularly difficult. I expect I will next haul a bike north in June or July of 2017.

I am not offering to pull your bike, but if you want to build such a trailer, I can give you some tips.

Here are the first two tips.

1. If you buy the kit from Harbor Freight, tell the folks at Canada Customs that you are importing $199 (or whatever it is) worth of Trailer PARTS. Do not even suggest that you are importing an entire vehicle, just some of the parts needed to help you complete your trailer. This is true, because you need a deck or some rails to carry the bike, and the kit contains none of those. You do not need to fill in any forms at the border, nor acquire a form there to fill in later.

2. When you eventually complete the trailer, getting a license plate from Ontario DMV is a piece of cake; the license never expires.

More data if you want it.
 
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Thanks everybody for your suggestions and helping me think this through. In fact I have Ford F-150 pickup with tow package. I figure freight for what I am after is $1000, plus flight and extra hotels, I am at $2000 at least. That is about 1/3 of the cost of a covered trailer, that I would have for a very longtime and can store at my Dad's place for free. I think this is the better way to go.
 
If you have a pickup truck, you don't even need the trailer - just load the bike into the truck and tie it down. Done.
 
if you go the F150 in the back route, look for an incline/ditch/berm so your loading as level as you can. Its a tall lift into an F150 and you may want a helper/spotter for the in and out. CTC has ramps on sale all the time.
 
if you go the F150 in the back route, look for an incline/ditch/berm so your loading as level as you can. Its a tall lift into an F150 and you may want a helper/spotter for the in and out. CTC has ramps on sale all the time.

Lots of YouTube vids of how NOT to load a bike into the back of a truck.
 
Honestly, the easiest and most cost effective way to do this is to fly in, rent a bike for the week and fly home. Unless you have a tonne of vacation time, you don't want to be wasting a few days there and a few days back driving your F150 on vacation instead of a bike. My advice would be to drive to Buffalo and hop a plane to Texas. Domestic US flights are way cheaper than flying out of Toronto. Have your bike rental pre-booked and research where you want to ride and have some rides planned out so you don't waste time once you're there trying to figure out where to go. RoadRUNNER magazine (the best damn motorcycle touring magazine, period) often suggests picking a place to stay and doing "shamrock" tours. You do four 1 day loops from your hotel as the central point. Lots of options for bike rentals. Maybe try something different or something that will be light and easy so you're focused on the riding and not trying to wrestle some huge Harley land yacht.

Renting a bike isn't as cheap as renting a car, no doubts there, but nothing about riding motorcycles is cheap. Unless you have the extra time and buying a trailer will be a useful investment for you, flying and renting is the best way to do it. Why waste half your vacation driving your truck there and back?
 
Just in case you are still considering shipping your bike, here is one company I found: http://www.1aamotorcycles.com/ although you'd likely have to take your bike to Buffalo. From Buffalo to Dallas is $650. I've considered this option for one way trips.... i.e. ride my bike to the West Coast and have it shipped home, or vice versa... ship the bike, fly out to meet it, ride it home. That likely wouldn't work in March though... as you won't be able to ride in this area (most likely).

Likely best just to take Morrissey's advice... but instead of Texas, do Vegas. Get a discounted flight and 4 nights hotel package, rent from one of the multiple bike rental places in Vegas, and do a few day trips including the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Beverly Hills, etc etc...
 
Would be cheaper to rent something there. Wherever there is.

Edit: found this for you http://canadamotoguide.com/2015/03/03/air-canadas-new-motorcycle-cargo-options/
Its a couple years old but whatever.

This service only runs from about May to September, and they DON'T do US destinations; the hell the US puts them through for "dangerous goods" makes it impossible for them to discount those fares. They've done it for the past two years, but we won't know for another few months if they're going to continue it again this year.

That said, they're absolutely awesome to go places other than the US. I've used them twice for western Canada, and I'm hoping to use them this summer for a Europe vacation. If they run the program again, that is.
 

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