Saturday 16 November 2013

Importing 2 strokes from Japan to Britain

I've been asked a few times over the years about if I can get hold of a VJ23 and how rare they are in Europe.  Well, they're pretty rare in Japan too.   
So I thought I'd import bikes direct from Japan in the Auctions.  
There's an element of risk.   The bike could've been raced for years and the standard fairings put back on the bike when it comes to sell it.  
I noticed a pristine faired NSR with only 4000km on the clock that had marks on the wheels from tyre changes and quite worn discs.  I'll steer well clear of this type bike.
The example below is a good honest bike though. It has 15000km on the clock and all the normal surface corrosion on aluminium.  It's just a matter of stripping the bike and scrubbing off the fluffy aluminium oxide with scotchbrite.  Maybe get some black painted parts powder coated.  Clean the carbs,  check for scoring in the barrels and change the piston rings.    

NSR250R-4SE

Maybe I'll win the bidding on this bike.  Hopefully a VJ23 comes up soon so I can bid on one of those.
After winning the auction on a bike it needs to be shipped in a crate to Britain.  27% in VAT and Import duty needs to be paid (ouch!)  and I'll collect the bike in person from Southampton.
Hopefully I can get the bike stripped, serviced and rebuilt for Spring 2014.
The paperwork may slow things up.  The bike will need an MOT, and taxed in order to get a registration plate, which means I insure myself on this bike, even though I'll probably never ride it.  

Anyway.  If I get a bike over here. I'll do a photo rebuild, with torque settings part numbers and show the process of the rebuild. 

TTFN   

No comments:

Post a Comment