How hard is it to transport bike from Canada

Now hard is it to bring a bike from Scarborough ON to buffalo NY.
Would anyone be willing to bring it and meet me in buffalo.
It is a small bike.

 

Over 25 years old, easy
Under 25 years old and dead stock, moderately hard
Under 25 years old and modified, especially exhaust, no way

 

Why is that? When I brought a bike into the USA earlier this year, they had no interest in inspecting the bike in the back of my pickup. They only wanted to see some paperwork. Same thing when I brought another bike in about 6 years ago.

 

i never had any isues taking my bike over before. i did it 2x. imported it the first time, just travelled home with it to race the second

 

depends on the boarder agent, and the scenario...

Are you just bringing it here, or bringing it here to sell? A friend and I rode Calabogie a few years ago, and my bike wasn't titled or registered in my name. I held the physical title, but it wasn't titled in my name. We also had both bikes on a (borrowed) open trailer, so the boarder agent was fully aware of what we were hauling, and that neither bike was plated, or in street-legal trim.

They asked if we intended to sell them, or have any work done on them.
"Nope, just ride them, sir. There's a race track up in (wherever the fuck Calabogie is...)"
"This trailer isn't registered to the same owner as the vehicle. Who owns the trailer?"
"Our friend, Todd."
"Does Mr. ______ know you're taking his trailer out of the country?"
"Yes, sir - we can get him on the phone, if you'd like."
"How long are you staying in Canada?"
"3 days."
"So if we stop you on the way back, you're going to have both bikes, and the trailer in 3 days?"
"Yes, sir."
"Alright. We'll see you in 3 days. You gentlemen have a safe time riding."

I don't know if they checked VINs on the bikes, but I'm sure they ran the trailer and tow vehicle. We were not asked to call Todd, but for all I know, the boarder agents did. He was well aware of the fact that we were taking it to Canada (and jealous he couldn't make the trip with us).

 

Where did you cross the border? I think the Thousand Island agents see a fair amount of Calabogie traffic

 

I don't recall... I wasn't driving. We were coming from Baldwinsville, NY. I can find out from Mike though. He made that trip a LOT without me.

 

Someone from the west coast will chime in shortly, but there are a ton of Canadians that live in BC and race in WA, OR and UT.

To make life easier, you can get a green card for your bike. I haven't done this, but my understanding is you head to the border with your title and paperwork, they go over the VIN, check it isn't stolen etc. then you get a certificate of some sort that makes it infinitely less hassle if crossing the border.

 

spent 30 years going back and forth across the border with race bikes in the van...even left a couple stateside.Only got asked for paperwork once.Im sure things have changed a bit with Homeland Security involved now though

 

Jordan Szoke anybody?

 

Need more info.

Are you buying a Canadian bike and importing it into the US?

I doubt you'll be able to find someone willing to smuggle a bike into the US for you. I've imported 5 bikes going the other way and its shit simple.

 

That would've been most likely spot from Syracuse.

 

If you have a truck or trailer probably easy.

Honda Civic or Mini-Cooper might be more difficult.

 

Yes buying a bike in Canada brining it to US . problem is there will not be any paper work it is a GP bike so no vin number.
And I'm not sure how that would work.

 

Best bet is to make a phone call. Call customs and see what they say.

 

He outright lied about why he was going to the states and no bikes were involved

 

I'm in Shannonville for the weekend, want me to bring it back ?

 

I don't think it's any harder than driving to the track. A pickup truck or trailer should be able to make it from Canada to the US. Good tiedowns or a Pitbull TRS FTW

 

That might complicate things but there are a few possible workarounds.

- disassemble the bike and import it as parts only.

- import it as competition use only to avoid the complete import process associated with street bikes (or race bikes based on street bikes). If call the USBP/Customs folks to get more info on this. You may need some documentation from the OEM declaring it as competition use only.

 

If you have no intent of registering which means meeting US EPA compliance regs then I'm not sure how this transaction is any different than buying a piece of farm equipment
As others have said give them a call. I had a similar situation last year and they were fairly easy to get in touch with (for a gov't agency)