More on my boxer motor - Page 3

 


When I brought my racing sidecar rig up to Mosport I shared space in a
trailer with a few friends. There were three sidecars and at least a
half dozen solo bikes, along with spare engines, tires, etc.  Never
showed any paperwork going either way across the border.  The only
question going into Canada was "How much gas in the cans?"

 

On Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:53:35 -0800 (PST), Bruce Richmond


the

Unless you were a Canadian citizen bringing a US bike into the country
it was not the same situation.

I might ask if that was pre or post 911? Times have changed.

I have crossed into the US with my bike in the back of my PU truck. On
the way down the customs guys ran the plates for the bike and the
truck and asked me if I was leaving the bike in the US. On the way
back the Canadian customs ran both plates. I was Canadian and owned
the bike. No problem.

So it's no big deal to bring bikes across the border. Importing them
is a different situation entirely.

I am sure there are a dozen ways you could import a bike illegally and
probably get away with it. But are you willing to take the risk? Is it
worth the risk?

For those of us who live near the border, we might want to cross it a
dozen times a year. I have crossed it a few times a day on several
occasions. All you have to do is fuck up once and you will lose that
privilege. It is a privilege I enjoy and would like to keep. YMMV.

 


I was a US citizen bringing a US bike and parts in.  There was no
record of what I brought in, so there was no knowing if it all went
back with me when I left.  It's nice that you guys trust us more than
your own citizens ;)


This was post 911.

 

On Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:10:20 -0800 (PST), Bruce Richmond


I would think the customs guards in this case could see you were a
racing team. I suspect they asked you where you were going and the
purpose of your trip into Canada. Given that it doesn't surprise me
they would give you an easy ride across the border. If I were intent
on smuggling a whole bike across the border, I am not sure I'd place
much faith in receiving similar treatment.

Nor would I make a generalization Customs trust you more than us. What
I am seeing is they exercised good judgement in your case, which is
pretty much what I would expect from them.

 


Depends.

I once bought a Norton 500 single from a Brit who'd brought it over
here with him and had toured it all over the US, then decided to sell
it rather than ship it all the way back home from California.

Turned out that the engine had been swapped out at some point, and
despite the fact that the bike was titled to it's frame # the engine's
serial # no longer matched the one on the original British paperwork,
so the California DMV refused to issue a pink slip on the grounds that
the engine might have been stolen. In England.

I eventually sold it to a guy who wanted to restore it to pristine
original condition for his Brit bike collection, and *he* eventually
got a pink slip and plates for it by buying a new Norton crankcase
that came with DMV-approved documentation and using the engine it had
in it when I bought it as a transplant parts donor: I.E. everything
but the crankcase.

Gotta cross all those tees and dot all those eyes.