Shipping a Sidecar Rig to Europe

Its a nice new toy for sure Miles and you will be happily ticking off items on your fully itemized list. Then adding things i forgot to a new list =)

This is going to be fun to follow along with.  I'm very much looking forward to spending a good amount of time in southern EU in the future.  Never to early to learn about "opportunities".  

I have lots of questions. I'll try to keep them pertinent to each specific post you make along the way.  If you've already answered these in another thread(s), feel free to direct me there.  Thanks for your insights!  Also please don't let me get ahead of your posting process.  If I ask something you plan to cover, just tell me to hold-my-horses.  lol

Of the rig:

* Why this rig over the one you just sold?

* Why Ship a Rig instead of buying a rig there that has already been through the EU inspection process for road-worthiness?  Is that still even a "thing"?

* Will you be traveling the EU with your Washington license plate?  If so, any safety concerns with that?

* Since this rig is U.S. spec'd are parts specific to this U.S. rig easy enough to procure if something were to break? 

* Is there a difference insuring a U.S. spec'd rig, versus a EU spec'd rig?

* Is there room in the trunk for a stow-away? (i'm very low maintenance).

Of this specific shipper:

* How did you source this company?

* Is the same process available for mere mortals?

* What was the impetis for using this specific company?

* If you were to change your mind, is there a "drop dead date", or a sliding scale of reimbursement for deposit?

This would make a pretty awesome article for the Sidecarist.  Either as a synopsis of the completed process, or as a multipart "contributor" column as it goes along.  😎 

Scott, all question are pertinent, and I welcome every question, so feel free to ask, and do not hesitate. I shall answer your questions within your quoted post, with my answers in BOLD print.

Posted by: @scott-h

↑

This is going to be fun to follow along with.  I'm very much looking forward to spending a good amount of time in southern EU in the future.  Never to early to learn about "opportunities".  

I have lots of questions. I'll try to keep them pertinent to each specific post you make along the way.  If you've already answered these in another thread(s), feel free to direct me there.  Thanks for your insights!  Also please don't let me get ahead of your posting process.  If I ask something you plan to cover, just tell me to hold-my-horses.  lol

 

Of the rig:

* Why this rig over the one you just sold?

I vacillated back and forth 100 times as to whether or not to send my '06 Wing w/Champion Daytona 2+2, or....buy a completed sidecar rig that was already in Europe. Bought my '06 Wing rig back from Ned (DRONE) with the idea of shipping it to Europe, and then changed my mind...99 more times. The idea of buying one already there had merits, and there is an excellent Goldwing dealer (not a Honda dealership, but a GOLDWING dealer in Germany, that builds trikes and "used to" build sidecar rigs, and actually order containers full of Hannigan sidecars, most recently the Hannigan GTL sidecars, and install them to the Goldwings they would buy in Germany, then resell the completed sidecar rig.

Buying one of their completed rigs is what caused me to offer up my '06 Wing w/Daytona 2+2....found a buyer within our USCA family, and in fact he will be flying out to pick up that sidecar rig next week.

Once I made the offer to sell my '06 Wing sidecar rig, and had a friend within this community agree to buy it, I was NOT going to go back on my word to him. It's as simple as that. It is going to cost me close to $ 25,000.00 USD "extra" doing it this way, versus shipping the '06 Wing rig over there, but my word to this friend in our sidecar community is worth it to me to spend that kind of money.

THEN....I found that the Goldwing dealer in Germany was no longer building sidecar rigs, they are concentrating on trikes...(big error on their part)....and for what they had left to sell....which was an '03 Wing w/Hannigan GTL for $ 38,000.00 Euro, or a '04 Wing w/Hannigan GTL for $ 34,000.00 Euro...I could put together a newer bike and Hannigan GTL, and have it shipped to Germany, for less money, and have one that I got my own hands on, did my own work to it, so that I knew the bike intimately, and had the confidence that it would not have mechanical issues while driving it around Europe.

* Why Ship a Rig instead of buying a rig there that has already been through the EU inspection process for road-worthiness?  Is that still even a "thing"?

Any sidecar rig I have shipped to Europe does NOT need to go through any EU inspection process. It does NOT need to meet EU specs, etc, as it will be my own personal vehicle, and as far as they know, I will "someday" be shipping it back to the USA.

* Will you be traveling the EU with your Washington license plate?  If so, any safety concerns with that?

Yes, traveling all of Europe with my Washington State license plate on, and yes....there are some safety concerns, but....I will deal with that.

* Since this rig is U.S. spec'd are parts specific to this U.S. rig easy enough to procure if something were to break? 

Every Honda part on this 2015 Honda Goldwing 1800 is available at the shops I will be dealing with in Germany. There is little, or no difference in parts, other than the speedo. So, 99.314159 % of the parts on this bike are the same in the USA as they are in the EU....and readily available in the EU.

* Is there a difference insuring a U.S. spec'd rig, versus a EU spec'd rig?

My US insurance will NOT cover this bike or sidecar in the EU, or anywhere outside North America. I will have the Green Card Insurance in the EU, and that will be provided by the guy that is taking care of ALL the items regarding shipping.

* Is there room in the trunk for a stow-away? (i'm very low maintenance).

NO ! My wife, the Boss Monkey, has unbelievably good hearing, so if you make a sound inside that trunk (yes it is large enough), then she will hear you, and hit the ejection button.

Of this specific shipper:

* How did you source this company?

This guy, Stefan Knopf, has been doing this for more than 30 years. His wife and son are partners in the biz, and they have it 100% figured out, from arranging every finite detail of the shipping from several different countries to Germany, and from Germany to several different countries, a few times every year. He personally oversees every detail of the actual shipping, then receives the containers of bikes when it arrives in Antwerp, has the containers trucked down to his property in Heidleberg, he has relationships with all the customs agents, takes care of all the paperwork, the Green Card Insurance, the duties, etc. You pay him...and he takes care of all the little costs here and there, and when you fly into Frankfurt, Germany, his people are there to meet you at the airport, and shuttle you down to Heidelberg, where you bike is waiting for you.

His warehouse can store around 400 motorcycles inside, all plugged in to Battery tenders, he has a full service shop there that you can use, tire changes, oil changes, repair work, etc, along with several cute little B&B cottages to stay in, laundry facilities...it is all there.

www.knopftours.com

* Is the same process available for mere mortals?

Mere mortals, and even owners of Screaming Yellow Zonkers.....YES...it is the same for everyone. I am getting NO special attention in doing this shipping with him.

* What was the impetis for using this specific company?

He's the BEST....period. His location in Heidelberg, Germany is close to being in central Europe, easy access to everything. His storage rates are very good, and in fact...he has even agreed to store a car for us, my wife's 2024 Subaru Crosstrek. It will be stored outside in his fenced in parking lot, but it will be secure.

Stefan Knopf has earned a reputation as being honest, and forthright in the motorcycle world. He cares about motorcycles, and the owners of these bikes.

* If you were to change your mind, is there a "drop dead date", or a sliding scale of reimbursement for deposit?

If I understand your question correctly, I haven't paid him a dime yet. I won't be paying him a dime until I actually deliver the sidecar rig to him in Tucson, AZ next February. By then, it will be loaded into a container, and on its' way to Florida, then on its' way to Belgium. I won't be asking for my money back.

This would make a pretty awesome article for the Sidecarist.  Either as a synopsis of the completed process, or as a multipart "contributor" column as it goes along.  😎 

Some of the guys here have shipped vintage bikes etc to the UK.

Then riden them all over the country.

Done the Isle of Mann and shipped them back to Oz.

Hope your plans work out well Miles.

Thanks for taking the time to expound with clear and detailed answers to the barrage of questions Miles.  Sincerely appreciated Sir! 👍  Every answer fit the thoughts behind the question. 

To me this is every bit part of the "adventure".  Along with the great education, there is an excitement to the read.  Looking forward to your next update. 😎 

Pretty cool of you to stick to "the deal".  The '06 rig is awesome.  Looking forward to seeing it in person at the rally next year, with it's new owner(s). 

eta:  Okay, no "stowing away" in the trunk,  But when I finally do get to southern Europe, I sure hope we can get together and catch up!

Posted by: @scott-h

↑

But when I finally do get to southern Europe, I sure hope we can get together and catch up!

Scott, a few points of note, and added info:

I should have posted the link for that Goldwing dealer in Germany, as they are very big, and offer a lot of services.

www.goldwing.de

And the page easily translates to English.

Secondly, on the www.knopftours.com website, once the website has loaded up, you will see a banner of links on the home page, a row of links, across the page, and to the right side of that row of links you will see a link for...Buy/Sell/Trade. Once you open that link, you will see that he offers up 5 to 10 used motorcycles for sale, that are owned by the customers that have stored their bikes at his facilities in Heidelberg, and are now wanting to sell them, rather than ship them back home. A wide variety of bikes for sale, from V-Stroms to Harley Electra Glides, to BMW GS's, to Honda VFR....all for very reasonable prices, and still plated at the state where the owner was living in the US.

Lastly, in direct response to your idea of getting to Europe yourself....THIS sidecar rig that I will be shipping to Germany early next year will only be utilized by myself, and my Boss Monkey for approximately half of every year, which means it will be sitting in a warehouse for the other 6 +/- months of every year.

Therefore, and Ergo....I will most likely be offering it available to "known entities" for use....to rent, per se, if someone wanted to fly over to Europe and have a sidecar rig available to them. I am NOT doing this to make a few shekels of coin. Don't need to make a few shekels of coin, but would be doing this to offer the opportunity for fellow sidecarists to drive a well built rig around Europe, if they wanted to.

A lot goes into that, as you can imagine, but the idea is there, and I will see if we can make that happen. 

I had heard a little about buying/reselling.  Very cool to see that option is available through a professional source.  I did something similar, but in a very rudimentary way, when serving overseas in the military. 

I like the idea of a "known entity".  When everything around is new, it provides a grounding point.  Neat idea.    

Checked out the the www.knopftours.com website...Buy/Sell/Trade. Yet not one sidecar rig for sale, or for rent.  

FM, ship several rigs over there and start a sidecar rental business with Knopf Tours.

Update: August 13, 2024......the Euro-Wing is now completely finished, and ready to be shipped to Heidelberg, Germany....six (6) months from now.

Yes, I finished it too early, or....this is what lack of patience looks like. I knew it wouldn't take me too long, as I have done these same mechanical and maintenance items on other bikes, and sidecar rigs repeatedly over the last 50+ years, so most of it was routine for me.

And given that I have my own shop at my ranch, I would rather do anything and everything possible to make certain that nothing breaks down or needs maintenance earlier than expected, as an example:

I found that both the Hannigan Wheel bearings, and the Hannigan swing arm bearings had very little bearing grease on them, or in them. I will acknowledge and admit that I have a tendency to OVER grease items, yet I have never had an item (like a bearing) fail on me due to over greasing. I found that my current grease gun was low on grease, and I found a brand new tube of Timken RED bearing grease, so refilled my grease gun, and proceeded to really grease up the wheel bearings and swing arm bearing on this relatively new Hannigan GTL sidecar.

Now, when I picked up this completed sidecar rig from Hannigan, it has all of 800 miles on the GTL sidecar, and 800 added miles on the 2015 Honda Goldwing, as Hannigan had been using this rig as a showroom model, and to allow prospective customers to test drive it. After driving it home 2,500 miles, I believe that the sidecar wheel bearings and swing arm bearings have possibly 3,300 miles on them....3,300 miles of use.

But in greasing up both of thsoe bearing sets today, it took half a tube of Timken RED bearing grease to fill both bearing sets...NOT over-fill....just to fill each bearing set so that I could tell (using a flashlight and mirror) that I finally filled the bearing sets enough that a very small amount of the new grease was visible, the small amount that escapes the races and voids, and shows that you have indeed filled the bearing to a reasonable level.

What is the POINT to all this diatribe...one would ask?

My experience is that the vast majority of modern day "so-called" mechanics, what are really only parts replacers, do only what the boss or owner tells them to do, uses only that amount of bearing grease to whet the bearing races, and nothing more. That is a recipe for early bearing failure, and that is not going to happen on my watch, or on my bikes or sidecar rigs.

Also encapsulated some wiring that went from the bottom of the sidecar trunk, over to the ECC electric motor. Most of you would NOT call it exposed wiring....as it still had the external sheath on the wiring, so it wasn't bare copper wiring, but...wires like this that can be snagged, pulled, or rubbed against when movement on the road, or debris on the roadway, can be a recipe for disaster, and cause an ECC to fail, in the middle of some small town in Spain, or Andorra, or Poland.  Not on my watch...said the Flying Monkey.

So I encapsulated that wiring inside the black plastic wire wrap, all the way, with tie-wraps at each end, and in the middle, to secure the black plastic wire wrap to the internal wiring....and additional tie-wraps to secure that all to the solid mounted part of the sidecar frame. Then added a large dollop of Shoe Goo to the opening in the bottom of the sidecar trunk, where the wires had been fed into the trunk.

There's a maintenance tip for you....Shoe Goo....Black liquid rubber, in a tube. It is great for sealing things, like....wires being fed into the bottom of a fiberglass body sidecar. In what world is it acceptable to drill a hole into the very bottom of a fiberglass body, in this case a sidecar body, and feed wiring through that hole, and allow the wires to chafe against the drilled fiberglass hole ? Answer:  NOT acceptable !

Rather than carry on with a 10,000 word diatribe of all that I have done to this rig, and bike, I will say that if any of you have a Honda Goldwing 1800 and want specific information related to maintenance or mechanical repair, hit me up, as I have owned many of these bikes, and know 99% of the insider tips on what to do, and what NOT to do.

My next update will be when I am actually leaving my ranch and heading down to Tucson, AZ to deliver this sidecar rig to Stefan Knopf, so that he can transport it to Orlando, FL, then ship all the bikes and sidecars to Antwerp, Belgium, where the containers will be off-loaded, and brought down to his facilities in Heidelberg, Germany, and each container will then be unloaded, and the bikes/sidecar rigs will be waiting for their respective owners to come to Germany to claim them.

My wife and I will be arriving in Germany next  April 3rd, receiving our new-to-us Subaru car, driving it around for 3 weeks, whilst we await the arrival of this sidecar rig, at which point we will park the Subaru, and begin driving this sidecar rig around Germany and The Netherlands for a couple weeks, before coming back to the USA.

Nice work! 👍 What do you use for navigation?  If electronic do you already have the European maps loaded?

Just starting to read a bit on the Zumo XT, and it seems like there is a difference between the U.S. spec and EU spec that is more than just maps.  Haven't seriously looked into it yet, because it will be a few more years before I head to southern EU. 

Scott, for navigation, my wife has already purchased a Garmin for her use inside the sidecar, and she can use the same Garmin for us inside the new-to-us Subaru. For my needs, I will be buying a new Garmin Zumo XT, with European maps loaded on it, that will be handlebar mounted on the bike.

I have used a Garmin Zumo 550 previously for 10+ years, and even got a new one via the insurance company due to the Lightning Strike of '13.

FM,  glad to hear you are making progress on prepping that rig for the EU challenges that await it. 👍 

Are you using the ShowChrome or the Pathfinder accessory wiring controller?

Posted by: @jan-2

↑

Are you using the ShowChrome or the Pathfinder accessory wiring controller? 

Jan, I am using neither of those. Unlike more modern BMW bikes, these modern Honda Goldwings are not tripped up by the addition of smaller electrical  accessories, and keep things relatively simple. The addition of the Hannigan sidecar is a light electrical load for these Goldwings, given that this particular one has a 1200 watt, or 100 amp alternator on it. (Both your and mine 2018+ Goldwings have a 1560 watt, or 130 amp alternator on them).

These Goldwings come from the factory with wiring and controllers already in place, already installed, for things like accessory driving lights in the front lower cowling....just install the actual lights themselves, and the on/off button, and all the "under the fairing" wiring is already there, so the bikes are prepared for these electrical loads. The Hannigan GTL sidecar doesn't draw that much wattage or amperage from the bike to use any or all of its' lights and power outlets, and "IF" wired into the bike correctly (as I had my '19 Wing prepped for the Hannigan Dream sidecar installation), and I carefully inspected as to what Hannigan did to this '15 Wing that they did the full installation on...there is no need at all for an accessory wiring controller.

This bike is also..pre-CANbus, unlike our 2018+ Wings.

I don't PIMP my bikes out with all kinds of %$#& to entertain myself whilst riding a 2 wheeled motorcycle, or driving a sidecar rig down the road, so no need for laptops sitting on the center console, no need for an "alleged" smartphone to make calls, or answer calls whilst riding/driving...no need for a tablet showing me reruns of the Jetsons, or Casablana......even in this 21st century, I am adamant that the most important tool to have when riding a motorcycle is to keep the riders brain in full and complete contact with the motorcycle's throttle, and brakes, not using the "cruise control" as a method of...getting down the road.

The short answer to your question, El Presidente', is....NO accessory wiring controller...needed or used.

Edit: Satellite images have just shown a small power surge in brain energy in the western Houston, TX power grid, which leads me to presume that El Presidente' (of the USCA) has an additional question. In anticipation of this 2nd question, here is the answer:

Every electrical item that I connect/add/install onto any motorcycle of mine, is connected via a "switched electrical power source" meaning that nothing can be turned on or switched on, until the bike's ignition switch is turned ON. The sole exception to this rule...BTW that is rule # 3.14, is the lead from the battery to a Battery Tender, so that the bike can periodically be plugged in and kept the battery topped up. In preparation of shipping this bike to Germany, I removed the 2 year old battery that Hannigan had installed...June 2022, and I installed the highest CCA battery available from Shorai, a Lithium Iron battery. To give you a perfect example of how well these Shorai Lithium Iron batteries do, and hold up in a Honda Goldwing, the sidecar rig that I just sold to Thane (the Shrek man), has a Shorai Lithium Iron battery that is now 11 years old.....11 YEARS OLDE....and still functions perfectly. I also gave him that 2 year old battery that Hannigan had installed in this '15 Wing, as a back-up..."just-in-case". But Thane and I agree, it might be a "fun" experiment to see just how long that 11 year old Shorai battery can actually last.

All Honda Goldwings produced in the last 40 years also have an "accessory" terminal on the OEM fuse block, with both a + and a - terminal, and when employed correctly, they can handle the electrical load of most things an intelligent rider would need to install on their bike.

Now, where did I leave that bag of donut holes ?  

Bag?  The discerning donut devourer knows that boxes are the best means of transport!