Have we ever UR'd a whole bike?

I'm tempted to bid on a bid in the grim North and I'm just trying to
figure out what the logistics of getting it back to Kent would be.

Trouble is that it'll take a day and half for the round trip (eight
hours up by train if yer lucky, 7 hours back by bike). I wouldn't mind
asking one of our recently unemployed but I'd be worried that he'd burn
the bike instead (yes, it's got BMW written on it).

Any suggestions how to get a bike (MOTd, registered and all that jazz)
from Cumbria to Kent?

 

I can only assume this is a SO Boxer you can take with you to the US?

 

Get Bonwick to take the train to his office

 

This is to take the the states, yes? I doubt you'd be able to import it
tax free, considering you won't have owned it for very long. Have you
checked how much it will be?

 

There are all those delivery bods who advertise on eBay. Cost about
£100.

 

Yes.

 

I'll have to check - the documents I read regarding the tax-free status
didn't state that you had to own said vehicle for a minimum amount of
time.

 

I've used one of them before but it wasn't the cheapest one. He did a
good job but for the sort of dosh he'd want I'd rent a tranny van or
get a tow bar fitted to the Mercedes. I believe there might be a
possiblity to borrow a trailer from a UKRMer if need be.

 

Certainly coming back this way the vehicle must have been owned and /in
use/ for the year preceding import - so check and double check and get
it in writing.

 

Is there a shortage of secondhand bikes in California, then -
sufficient that you have to take your own?

 

1) I'm planning to only go via California
2) The Morinis and the Laverda are already coming with me
3) There is a worldwide shortage of BMWs with these particular
aftermarket accessories and they don't make any of them anymore

 

If you don't mind it in stages, I could pick it up for you.

And and if yu want to wait until the French run, I could bring it dowwn
then (or before as will have soe time on my hands after next week.

 

We've got a bike trailer you're welcome to borrow - 10 miles east of M25 as
you come through the Dratford Crossing into Essex.

 

<fx: looks at sky; whistles nonchalantly>

 

It's that bloody RS, isn't it? I wanted that.

 

I'll keep that in mind. Your place is a lot easier to get to (St
Helens, right?) than the middle of nowhere in Cumbria.

Hmm. I'll be in the US by then so it'd really have to make it down here
earlier. But as mentioned, getting up to St Helens should be a lot
easier already.

 

It is. And you've still got a chance, I haven't even bid on it yet -
need to figure out the logistics first.

 

How unemployed do you have to be before you are able to swallow your
pride and offer your services? I don't smoke any more, so I shouldn't
be carrying anything that would enable me set fire to it.

FWIW, you can do that trip in a day. When I was working for Nitro, once
a month I used to drive up to Penrith in the morning, do a full day of
sales meeting and then drive back to Bedford in the evening.

 

I spent the night at the Porter's Lodge when I picked up a 400 Four,
coincidentally also in Cumbria, a few years ago.

Jean's breakfast bacon butties are to die for.

(That is not a euphemism, by the way)

 

Timo lives in Ashford, Kent. I'd guess that it's at least an hour and a
half from there to Bedford.