Down under

[the jock]

Thinking of going to either New Zealand or Australia in April and I guess either buy or rent a bike for a couple of weeks touring.
Anyone "been there, done that".
Any web sites for bike sales or rentals would be very useful.
Come to think of it, any tips of where to go what to see would be good too.

[Si Click]

Have a look at the ads in the back of RiDE or Bike, there are always bike hire companies there, especially for NZ. There is even one that specialises in VFRs.

http://www.vfrnewzealand.com/master.html

Failing that Muppet, Wiz or Wosser should have plenty of good gen as I think those lucky gits are planning something down under too. <we need a green jealous smilie>

[the jock]

Dave
Thanks for the info, I`ve checked out the site and looks like its £100 per day to hire a VFR. So two weeks is a cool £1400!!!
My guess is that it will be cheaper to buy a bike and then sell it at the end of the tour. Probably lose very little on the deal.
But then again I`ve never done this before so maybe its easier to think about and more difficult to achieve!!

[Bug U]

So its your Viffer I've seen chained up outside the main entrance to Cardiff airport?
Did you find a small card with the club details some months ago left on your tank? If so it was me.
Another for a future south Wales rideout? :)

[Red Mick]

There are a few site members in Aus. sooner or later one of them will see this and hopefully help you out.

Red Mick :) :) :)

[VFRian]

I have crossed Aus and found that it was excellent. :D :D :D

If you go for buying out there I can say that prices are cheaper for the new stuff, so I would expect that the second-hand market is also lower. I'm not sure if there is an equivalent to MCN bikemart, but I have little doubt you will find something.

Have a great trip. :cool:

If you were going next year I might have some information for you. Looking at possibly going to live in Aus. next year 2004! Yeah - enjoyed my visit this year, plus I'm pissed off with all the rain and the rat-race in this part of the world.....:mad:

Happy travels....:}

[aussiebiker]

Jock,

My name is Glenn Page and we have a VFR list in Australia.

http://ausvfr.ampersand.asn.au/

Join the list (it runs as an email list) and the guys will be more than helpful in any info you need and you will even find people that will put you up and you can join our rides and see the sites.

[the jock]

Originally posted by Bug U
So its your Viffer I've seen chained up outside the main entrance to Cardiff airport?
Did you find a small card with the club details some months ago left on your tank? If so it was me.
Another for a future south Wales rideout? :)

Mike
Yeh, that was my VFR at the airport, if it was a silver one. One of the other guys picked up the card, thanks and yes I`m on for any ride outs.

Aussie Rider, thanks for the info its nice to have somewhere to start looking.
Much appreciated.

[Tom]

Jock,

I've been to New Zealand and it has some of the best roads I've ever seen. 100's miles of unspoilt warm tarmac. And the secenery... ! :D

Pity I was in a car at the time :(

I'm not sure what the weather will be like in April though. This was in December.

Tom.

[Muppet]

Originally posted by Tom


I'm not sure what the weather will be like in April though. This was in December.

Tom.

It's their autumn....so it should be nice and warm. I certainly hope it will be...........:D :D :D

[Tom]

And it is one fookin' long flight. 29 hours in all..... :eek:

Tom.

[parker]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by the jock
[B]Thinking of going to either New Zealand or Australia in April and I guess either buy or rent a bike for a couple of weeks touring.
Anyone "been there, done that".
Any web sites for bike sales or rentals would be very useful.


Jock - try this:
http://www.bikescape.com.au/rentals/rentals.htm

they even had a VFR750 at one point, but it's either (a) not available any more or (b) shagged by now :(

Try typing in something like "motorcycle hire Australia" on Google and you'll come up with more than you can handle.

Other than that, subscribe to aus_vfr at:
http://ausvfr.ampersand.asn.au/

...and send us a post once your plans are a bit more concrete. If you're really really unlucky, some of us might even manage a ride or two with you :D

As for where to go, well, the place is a few thousand miles across by a couple of thousand miles up and down. Reckon you ought to be able to find a road or two in that lot, but the middle bits are...errr.. dry. And hot. And there's not many roads there either.

That help?

[parker]

Originally posted by Muppet
It's their autumn....so it should be nice and warm. I certainly hope it will be...........:D :D :D

Errm... it's actually summer. Warm? 30-35 deg in Sydney suit you sir?

(That's Centigrade chaps...:D :D )

[parker]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by aussiebiker
[B]Jock,

My name is Glenn Page and we have a VFR list in Australia.

http://ausvfr.ampersand.asn.au/

Yeah. I know. I'm on it.:D

Wossup Pagey. Not enough traffic on aus_vfr?:beer:

[funkybill]

I went to NZ last Feb/March - just North Island though.

Roads are largely empty and fan-bloody-tastic even in a rented Toyota Corolla with 150k on the clock. BUT - despite its image as a very liberal country, the speeding enforcement is draconian. The police have in-car radar guns with which they can do you even while travelling in the opposite direction, and fines are really steep. However, once off the main arterial roads you won't see a copper for days.

A mate of mine moved there 8 years ago, complete with MGB and 750 Kawasaki - sold the B for a small fortune, ditched the Kwak for peanuts because he was using it to commute into Auckland and he kept being pulled, and was being looked upon as a social outcast. I saw very few big bikes over there and according to people we met, they do not have the social acceptability that we are used to. Not that that should put you off biking over there - Kiwis are lovely people and hospitable to a fault, but if you were looking to buy a bike there and sell it after the trip, you could be struggling because there really aren't that many about.

Also be aware that to get into the more remote areas you will be on unsurfaced roads, so a big tourer would limiting. The unsurfaced roads are beautifully made up though so something like a Beemer GS would be perfect. Or a Subaru WRC.......

[Tom]

Originally posted by parker
Errm... it's actually summer. Warm? 30-35 deg in Sydney suit you sir?

(That's Centigrade chaps...:D :D )


In April ?

[parker]

Originally posted by Tom
In April ?


Err....no:(

Sorry, misread the question:blush: :shooter:

But it will be mid-30s in places like Darwin, Cairns and so on.

(Am I off the hook yet?):confused:

[parker]

Originally posted by the jock
...My guess is that it will be cheaper to buy a bike and then sell it at the end of the tour. Probably lose very little on the deal.
But then again I`ve never done this before so maybe its easier to think about and more difficult to achieve!!

Jock - I'm not sure what MCN bikemart looks like, but there are a couple of mags (monthlies) with new and s/h bikes for sale, mostly in the bigger towns and cities. Not much online, but try:
http://bikepoint.ninemsn.com.au/amt/homepage.asp

Depends on how long you're planning being here, but you might be better off buying and then selling, though just like the UK, you never get what you want for a s/h bike:(

If you're looking to do some out-of-the-way stuff, a dual-purpose bike (say TDM850) would be worth looking at, since a fair number of busy roads are gravel surfaced. Be warned though that these sorts of do it all bikes are sought after, so you may be paying a little over the odds for one.

[the jock]

Thanks guys, and particularly "Parker". Loads of info to get me started and from the feed back I`m getting from you all it seems that although NZ may be better for the fantastic roads/scenery, OZ will probably be a better bet for a first trip down under if I want a better chance of buying/selling a bike.

Still very much up in the air just now, depends on the time off work and so on but if I can sort it out I`ll post the date and maybe meet up with some OZ riders.
Thanks

[bencm]

18 months ago I went to Sydney to pick up a booked bike at Bikescape. I was very disappointed when I got to the shop; the bikes were crap; old and poorly maintained. he thought of settling for a Yamaha Virago to cross the continent in Mid summer-the longest way- was almost too much, especially as the plate was OUT96....IN Australia for God's sake.

Anyway, inspite of much talk to the contrary, when the pannier frames collapsed in the Nullabor desert, no help was forthcoming. When the so called 'new tyre' was bald after 1500 miles, we were not happy. The outside temp was 48/50 degrees and a bald tyre is not a good idea. They lied to us and finally tried to keep our refundable deposit, even though the bike had been returned to their appointed agent in Perth and signed off as 'OK'. They kept this money until another hirer had ridden the thing back.....apparently to be absolutely sure that we had not damaged anything. So 3750 miles later, the other hirer arrives in Sydney having done God knows what to the thing. After much heavy handed talk, we got our deposit back-eventualy.

Their website certainly misleads as to the quality of the operation.

As for the bike trip, we had one hell of an experience. Bike hire is notoriously marginal in OZ and I would be wary whoever I signed up with. Another way is to buy a younger model and sell afterwards. This is generally the way people do it if the trip is long enough.

:shooter:

[Poseidon]

For those planning to buy and sell in Australia it may be of interest thatwe register motor vehicles by state. There is no problem riding a bike out of state but if registration falls due you will have extreme difficulty renewing the rego whilst out of state. Not all states require an inspection but New South Wales does and you will not find a certified inspector outside the state making it impossible to reregister.

You can change the rego to the state you are in but those states without an annual inspection requirement can be very harsh during the inspection required to change state.

There is also a requirement to reregister if you start living in a new state. (Three months I think) That will not be a problem if you are travelling but if you are doing the working holiday thing for a couple of years it may be relavent.

Check out .www.rta.nsw.gov.au (http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au) for more information on New South Wales rules. :bang:

In regard to selling price, if you are planning to buy on one side of the country and sell on the other it may effect the selling price

[mikeygasbag]

If you want to buy a bike the best State is probably South Australia. No Road Worthy Certificate required.
Best paper is the Trading Post, comes out on a Thursday. You can check the paper out beforehand at www.tradingpost.com.au.
The majority of main roads are good, perhaps a bit too straight for enjoyable biking.
Personally I would go for a big trailie, there are some really good dirt roads which take you out to the real Australia.
I purchased an off road 250 Suzuki which then went on a bike rack attached to the back of my camper. Bought the bike for A$750 and a mate in Adelaide has just sold it on my behalf for A$1000. I only lost A$2000 on the camper, which, bearing in mind how much money I saved on accommodation costs, turned out to be a great deal.
So I had my eating, sleeping, living and driving, plus my biking, all sorted out in one big package.
Be brave, just get out there and get the best deal you can. You will not regret it.
Mike.