Shipping a Sidecar Rig to Europe

Took the Boss Monkey  out for  her inaugural  journey in the  Euro-Wing, a short excursion of  50 miles, and she gave it a  two thumbs-up  grade. Very happy with the  entire  experience.  She has been a  Monkey in my  other  sidecar rigs, but this is the one that  she will be  seeing  Europe  in, so need to  make sure  it's  Boss Monkey  approved. 

I know how camera shy your boss monkey is so won't ask for pics of the thumbs up.  Happy trails!

Happy Wife = Happy Life! 

That may be an overused cliche, but it's a darned good one! 👍 

So will you ship all your riding gear with the rig?  Or does that travel separately? 

If you ship the gear with the rig, any special things you need to do (like bag up with desiccant)?

Posted by: @scott-h

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So will you ship all your riding gear with the rig?  Or does that travel separately? 

If you ship the gear with the rig, any special things you need to do (like bag up with desiccant)?

Scott, good questions, as usual.

Yes, we will be shipping both of our helmets, which already have Sena units in them, as well as our "usual" riding gear, which in my case is OLDE riding gear, as I recently bought newer gear, that was made in the 21st century, and will be keeping the newer gear here in the US. My OLDE riding gear...jacket and pants have much more than a million miles of riding on them, have been my staple through all 7 continents, and for more than 30+ years, so...they will see their last life (use) in Europe, and when we do finally sell this sidecar rig in Germany..hopefully 5 to 10 years from now, I will just throw the OLDE riding gear into the trash, or...donate to a museum that collects olde motorcycle riders' gear.

Anything you ship WITH the motorcycle or sidecar rig needs to appear USED, and NOT appear NEW, as you will pay import duty fees on anything that the agents consider to be NEW. So, no shipping of helmets in NEW boxes...as in new helmet boxes....just place the older helmet in the typical helmet "bag", with a taped on label on the outside of the helmet bag that says...His Helmet....and Her Helmet, etc.

No real need for dessicant  packages or bags, as this stuff will not be in storage very long. If anything....I may include some cache bags of CEDAR chips.

Each future trip over to Europe we will both be bringing additional riding clothes, or....travel clothes..and simply leave them with the sidecar rig, or our Subaru over there, so the return flight home will have very little luggage, basically a small carry-on bag. With the space available inside the Subaru, we can basically use it as our closet to store clothes for all travels around Europe. When on the sidecar rig, same things goes, as it has more than enough storage room to carry anything we need.

What you don't want to do...is ship a whole load of crap over with the bike or sidecar rig, as the custom's agents will "possibly" go through all your stuff, and nick a few things, charge fees for some stuff, and this causes problems. Keep it simple, make it motorcycle trip related, and do NOT ship your Garmin GPS, or Sena main control units, etc, with the bike....take them over in your hand carried luggage on your flight over, when you take possession of the sidecar rig next Spring. Leave the kitchen sink at home, and take what is essential.

At this moment, one of the trips next year is to look at, and possibly purchase a flat in the Highlands Club, at Fort Augustus, Scotland, a centuries olde Fort, that has been used as a Benedictine Abbey, and other uses over the past 300+ years, and use that as a home base for 6 months each year...blah, blah, blah. The former Fort/Abbey has been converted into 2bd/2Ba apartments/flats, and right now there are 9 of them for sale.

https://www.thehighlandclub.co.uk/history-fort-augustus-abbey

I asked Stefan Knopf the simple question....Would it be better for HIM if I delivered my sidecar rig to Tucson,AZ or to Orlando, Florida, and he gave me a direct answer.....so it appears I will now be driving this sidecar rig from Olympia, Washington to......Orlando, Florida...in the Winter time....next February, and to do that, and avoid any snow, worse weather, etc, that means taking a 3,636 mile trip down along the West Coast to the Los Angeles area, then along the southern states (yuck) across to Florida.

Once I drop it off in Orlando, I will fly back to Washington (man, my arms are going to be tired...flying...get it?)  

But if there is a ray of sunshine in all this, the cost of shipping this sidecar rig to Heidelberg, Germany is right on what I expected it to be, or slightly less. Not that I was concerned about the cost, but the additional miles, and time, and physical endurance to go 3,636 miles in the Winter vs the idea of only 1,500 miles to Tucson, AZ, is a big difference.

Costs for shipping a sidecar rig to Germany (thus far) will be $ 2,475.00 USD....and that covers shipment, full coverage shipping insurance             (based on a valuation of $ 40,000.00), all paperwork, fees, etc, to the point of it arriving in Heidelberg, Germany.

On top of that $ 2,475.00, there will be a small amount for the Green Card Insurance, and some others small fees, so...ALL-IN this should come to less than $ 3,000.00.............again...............ALL-IN....keys handed to me, and I drive away in Germany.

The Full Coverage Insurance is determined by 1.2% of the value of the motorcycle, or sidecar rig. $ 40,000.00 valuation = $ 480.00 for insurance

A 2 wheeled motorcycle would be only $ 1,495.00....plus 1.2% of the value of the bike, for shipping insurance, so you could ship a 2 wheeled bike to Germany for less than...$ 2,000.00...ALL -IN

We, the people of the 3rd wheel (sidecarists) have a connection (fellow sidecarist) that lives just north of Orlando, and it is a guy that I have met before, and REALLY like him, and his dog too...(Rusty The Dog), so I can get assistance from him, and a ride to the airport, etc.

Seems like a very reasonable price to me too. 

Any idea what it would cost to ship to Florida, versus ride to Florida? 

Posted by: @scott-h

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Seems like a very reasonable price to me too. 

Any idea what it would cost to ship to Florida, versus ride to Florida? 

Aah, but then he wouldn't get the thrill and joy of another long distance adventure during sketchy climactic conditions!  

@miles-ladue All you had to say is you have the best navigation system any married man could have, your wife, and all the married men would understand.

Posted by: @scott-h

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Any idea what it would cost to ship to Florida, versus ride to Florida? 

Scott, I have not bothered to check on pricing to have this very large sidecar rig shipped from Seattle to Orlando, but....

After a MAJOR edit of this post, and fortunately only Shrek from the Great Plains of America wasted his time reading the very long original post....

....I am now looking into having Haulbikes transport it from a commercial location that is close to me...to their business location in Ocala, Florida. For a charge of $ 1,290.00, and that charge includes higher rates for zero deductible insurance coverage, and for $ 40,000.00 insurance coverage, versus their standard $ 500.00 deductible insurance coverage, and $ 15,000.00 insurance coverage.....so for $ 1,290.00 I can get it delivered to Florida, with no wear and tear on the Sidecar rig, or on me.

Blame Scott for turning me into a wimpy olde man.

I will be glad to take all the credit not to see a National Evening News story about a 50 car and one sidecar pile-up due to a freak winter storm in Albuquerque.  👍 🍻 

Now the next big question is...

Will you fly down to Florida to get the rig from Haulbikes over to Stan? 

If so would that trip contain pictures sent to Mr.s Flying Monkeys of you sitting on a warm beach, with a big lemonade in your hand? 

Any such messaging and I'm moving to New Zealand, so i don't get shot! 😮 

Posted by: @scott-h

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Will you fly down to Florida to get the rig from Haulbikes over to Stan? 

Who is "Stan" ????

The main man in charge is.....Stefan......Stefan Knopf.

And yes, already have a  contractual  agreement with  Haulbikes....$ 1,290.00 delivered to  Florida,  and waiting for  me inside  their  warehouse  in Ocala,  FL.

I will  fly to Orlando,  pick my sidecar rig  up in Ocala,  drive it to the  overseas shipping company in Orlando,  then I fly from  Orlando.......to.......Frankfurt,  Germany....spend a few days  at the  Subaru  dealer in  Friedberg, buy a lightly used  Subaru XV,  turn it  over to  Marcus  at  CarTurf, for  him to  register it, insure it, get all inspections,  then new license plates, then deliver it to me when I  return to  Frankfurt  on April  3rd. Whilst back in Germany  on April 3rd, we drive  the Subaru XV  around  for 3 weeks,  awaiting the  arrival of our  sidecar rig.  Once it lands in Heidelberg,  then we drive  the  sidecar rig around for a  few weeks. 

Oh...if you move to  New Zealand,  go to the  South  Island.  It's  more like  Utah than the  North  Island  is. We used to have a  house just  outside  Dunedin,  NZ.

Stan is the sketchy looking character standing on the street corner in a valet uniform.  Best if you don't give him your keys.

(I meant Stefan, not Stan)

Well, dang it. I have vacillated  back and  forth 100 times during the  past 4 months  on whether  or not to get ANOTHER   Russell Day Long seat, this time specifically for  this 2015 Wing sidecar  rig that will be  shipped to  Germany  early  next year.  I finally  decided to  go ahead,  and booked a  Ride In appointment for  October  25th, but then this upcoming  trip to  Scotland  came up, and I  fly to Scotland  on October  26th, so....I  canceled my  Ride In appointment  that was scheduled for  October  25th.

Yes, Scott and  Thane and Tim, and others.....I  actually  could have  had the  new RDL seat built on October 25th, left there at 2:30 pm, and driven the  sidecar rig  500 miles back to  home in Washington State,  and still  made the  flight the next day, but...... decided  not to  push myself.

Today (more vacillation) I made the error  of calling  Russell Day Long seats,  and asking  about  a "mail in" build date, with the  idea of just shipping  my seat to them, they build it, then mail it back to  me, still in time to  ship the  rig to  Germany. 

Net result of  that phone  call.....Jay at RDL tells me  he has a last minute  cancelation for  this Friday,  3 days from  now,  and I  fell hook, line and sinker for the  offer to  take this Friday  as a Ride In appointment,  for what  will  now be  my 18th Russell Day Long seat.

Some days, I  hate my brain. 

Butt....(pun intended).....all days I love my RDL seats. 

So, another  grand spent on another  RDL seat, and almost  2 grand more spent on the Hannigan  electric lift chair  mechanism,  including  shipping,  buy hey, it's  only  money...eh ? What  good is the  money  if you  don't  spend  it on things that  make  life more enjoyable?

Three very cool purchase opportunities. 😎 

This is such an awesome time to ride the PNW.  Hope your trip is great, and you have time to smell the changing leaves.   Also very glad to read Hannigan has the seat lift as a kit you can install.  👍 

Yes, you "could have" made the original RDL appointment.  But what happens when on your way home you come across a 90 year old sweet grandma stuck on the side of the road.  Stop, and you don't make it home in time for your flight.  Don't stop and she gets eaten by a bear. 

This way, you'll never know if she gets eaten or not.  Kind of a Schrodinger's bear quandary.  

Sleep well my friend.  😉