Shipments done by Travellers

For shipping the bike back to New Zealand I contacted three shippers, and asked for a quote on a crated motocycle given set dimensions of 2.2 x 1.45 x 1.5 metres from Vancouver to Lyttleton (Christchurch), New Zealand.

Motorcycle Express 1300 USD
Jas Canada 954 USD
ECU Line 650 USD

Having already used ECU line from Belgium to Argentina which successfully avoided the heavy local charges in Buenos Aires, and considering the cheaper quote, I opted for ECU line. The actual dimensions of my crate were smaller than above as I dropped the front wheel off, reducing the dimensions to 3.851 Cubic Metres.

The end price was 462 USD, not including local charges in New Zealand. The only risk element I see is the change of containers in Hong Kong, as it introduces another handling stage, but I built the crate as strong as a proverbial s..t house. Transit time is expected to be 38 Days.

Very bad service all together. You have to arrange a customs inspection of your bike a couple of days in advance. Despite that our bikes arrived 1 week too late in Auckland.
Better try: gene...@jasaustralia.com

Lemuir express seems to have a lot of experience in shipping bikes, apparently they handled a shipment of Nick Saunders a couple of years ago.

I brought the bike in the morning and the crating was done the same day. Crate dimensions were 85x47x34 inches, weight was 310 kg, but volumetric charge was 372 kg. The next day in the Indian customs the weight suddenly increased to 384 kg, so I had to pay additional amount, total 18500 rupees (1 USD=45 to 49RS).

The crate was finished on Friday, custom formalities on Saturday, my flight to Bangkok was on Sunday, the bike arrived on Monday and on Tuesday by 2 PM it was cleared from Thai customs.

The cost of the flight ticket for myself was 7100 RS, By Indian Airlines.

On Thai side I had to pay 2955 Bath for different expenses, handling, documentation and opening the crate. The whole procedure took three hours withou any help of "the agents". All was done by myself with a friendly help of customs officers.

We managed to get the bike onto a train in Chita. We saw the Zilov Gap. So here is a brain-dump......

First the road from Ulan Ude is good, and took us about 10 hours riding - 2 easy days.

Next the Zilov Gap. As the aussie in Ulaan Bataar said, the road right across russia is now complete. We saw loads of imported Japanese cars coming through from Chita to Ulan Ude - all covered in dust with mud splashed up their sides - testiment to the state of the new road. We met a travel agent in Vladivostok who said that the road had been completed (in gravel form) last month and he had already arranged for a guide to take a group of swiss guys on bikes through. The road is complete but can be difficult to find - you have to know where it is. Having said that, we saw sections of it from the train and it looked doable at about 20-35mph.

But...... from the train the countryside looked dead boring and the 1000 to 1200 miles from Chita to Khabarovsk looked as dull as ditchwater - we were glad to avoid 6 days of shit and mosquitoes by doing 2 days on the train.

Next - getting on the train at Chita / Ulan Ude. As we told you in the last mail, the people in Ulan Ude were pretty clueless about putting the bike on the train. But when we got to Chita, the same procedure seemed to apply. That is - the bike goes on a separate baggage train while the people go on the normal passenger train. We got the number 002 train - Rossiya - the Transiberian!. The bikes had to go in the special 904 train. We travelled to Chita because we believed that we'd go on the same train as the bike - but as it turned out we could have saved ourselves 2 days ride and got on at Ulan Ude. There are several pitfalls in the procedure. The first is that tickets for both trains are only avalable on the day - and they don't tell you that the baggage train leaves at 3.30 whereas the passenger train leaves at 21.30 (both local time in Chita)- so you have to get to the station and do all the bike-baggage bit around lunchtime, and then hang around until the evening to get a train yourself. Then there is some miserable bitch who get shouting about draining the benzine from the bikes - I gave her 100roubles and she shut up. Then theres no ramp to get the bike on or off the train so all the porters have to lift the bike onto the train, and then want a tip, and get affronted if you only offer them 100roubles - the main guy wanted 400, (and the bike cost 800 to ship - so he ended up with nothing!!). At the chita end we managed to befriend a bloke collecting a load of pallets from the train so he craned the bike off for nowt!

But it was worth it - 1,300roubles for each person and 800 for the bike. Get into Khabarovsk at 5pm or 8pm if delayed like us. The baggage train rolls in just after the passenger train. Khabarovsk is pretty cool modern place - nice people and ok hotels.

Get the bike on the plane to Quito via Bogota is easy. Just go to the airport. I probably paid $75 too much but I arrived at 1:00 and was on a plane to Quito at 6:00 the flight for me cost about $265 one way.

To get to the cargo airport in Panama City head the opposite direction from the passenger terminal. You'll see the air field just keep driving around the perimeter and you'll eventually come to the entrance.