imports,yes or no?
Discussion
I posted earlier about choosing between Aprilia or Gsx,ive decided im getting the Aprilia,or the general concensus being im goign to kill myself with the Aprilia:-)Problem is my local dealer is asking about £7200 for 2001 rsvr(4000 miles),and ive seen brand new 2003 ones for sale down in Wigan(im from Scotland),any colour i want for £6595!But i think they are imports.Anyone had any experience with buying imports?Mileage kph to mph not a problem as its digital,any down sides to buying an import,ive never thought about it before,thanks in advance,Lee.P.S for those wondering about insurance quotes, £380 tpft for 03 Aprilia which stunned me,im quite happy with that,having no ncb as such,but company takes my car ncb into account:-)
My last 5 bikes have all been imports, and never had a days problem with any of them, and all sold with well over 100K on the clock.
My last 2 Blackbirds came from Italy, the headlight on the BB is set straight ahead so there is no need to realign it, and the speedo cost me £90 from David Silver (trade) which I fitted during the PDI.
My GSXR1100WP before that started life in the USA, and that was stolen at 158,000 miles and it never missed a beat.
If the bike originated within Europe, the UK importers must honour the warranty. It is only bikes from outside the EEC you may have problems with, but I always worked on the basis that with the money I was saving it would cover any major work that might be required anyway.
Have you thought about importing yourself? My last Blackbird I imported direct from Italy, and even with transportation costs, VAT and the like, I put the bike on the road for £3750 brand new, I sold it 100K later for £2,500. Value for money I would say.
For something like an Aprilia, you could go to Italy, buy the bike, ride it home (gives you a holiday as well) and you will probably save a mint, and if memory serves you will also avoid import duty because it becomes in effect second hand. All you have to do is re-register and tax it as soon as practicable after you arrive in the UK and the factory will provide all the paperwork for import.
My last 2 Blackbirds came from Italy, the headlight on the BB is set straight ahead so there is no need to realign it, and the speedo cost me £90 from David Silver (trade) which I fitted during the PDI.
My GSXR1100WP before that started life in the USA, and that was stolen at 158,000 miles and it never missed a beat.
If the bike originated within Europe, the UK importers must honour the warranty. It is only bikes from outside the EEC you may have problems with, but I always worked on the basis that with the money I was saving it would cover any major work that might be required anyway.
Have you thought about importing yourself? My last Blackbird I imported direct from Italy, and even with transportation costs, VAT and the like, I put the bike on the road for £3750 brand new, I sold it 100K later for £2,500. Value for money I would say.
For something like an Aprilia, you could go to Italy, buy the bike, ride it home (gives you a holiday as well) and you will probably save a mint, and if memory serves you will also avoid import duty because it becomes in effect second hand. All you have to do is re-register and tax it as soon as practicable after you arrive in the UK and the factory will provide all the paperwork for import.
I bought my Ducati (916) as an import, it had a full(insurance backed) warranty which I know was good as I had a claim and was even provided with a courtesy bike (VTR 1000, not a scooter) whilst parts were sourced.
I've always had the servicing done by an authorised dealer, who were more than happy for the business and even 'registered' it with Ducati UK at the first service so that I received any safety recalls etc. (2 were done F.O.C.) just as if it were a UK model.
The speedo is in KPH, but who cares? - It was supplied with a transparent overlay 'sticker' in MPH which looked naff (so I took it off) but was legal (local dealer quoted me about £160 for a new clock), the dipped beam dipped the wrong way, this is easily rectified by swapping the light unit or (if you don't want to spend much) there is a small reflector plate in the dipped beam, which is removable and can be replaced with a 'mirror image' shape - don't know how much would cost to buy but easily fabricated from Stainless steel.
People try to tell you the imports are inferior (like the Italians are going to sell inferior bikes in their own market!) only thing I can think to look out for might be that some markets have a 100 bhp limit imposed - although this is probably easily removed by a new 'chip'.
If it has switchable speedo then that's sorted & I'm sure the Headlight can be easily converted (fitting the 'tape' converters conforms to the law) & a new unit is probably not too expensive (with the Duke it's a 'reflector' type that fits inside the Headlight assembly so no new lenses and easy to replace etc).
Regarding Speedo, Lights etc at M.O.T. time a 'good'
M.O.T. garage won't worry about it (or the cans) and anyway I don't think the speedo is actually tested as it doesn't involve a road test.
All this may sound like a lot of hassle to some but it really didn't bother me, particularly because at the time a new (UK) 916 cost £11,750 otr and I paid £9,500 including fitted Datatag and a set of Carbon Termignoni's with 'Chip' (at the time the cans/chip were £800).
Weigh up the pros & cons, in my case the pros a £2,250 cash saving plus about £900 of 'extras' and the fact that it was ex-stock whilst most Ducati dealers were quoting 2 - 3 weeks delivery (have you ever waited an 'Italian' 2- 3 weeks?
) certainly outweighed the cons and I could have replaced Speedo & Headlight with new for about £200 - £300 and still been quids in.
But the biggest benefit was I could afford to buy it, if I'd had to pay near on £12,000 I wouldn't have had one and would have missed out on the best bike I've ever owned.
>> Edited by cazzo on Monday 19th January 22:28
I've always had the servicing done by an authorised dealer, who were more than happy for the business and even 'registered' it with Ducati UK at the first service so that I received any safety recalls etc. (2 were done F.O.C.) just as if it were a UK model.
The speedo is in KPH, but who cares? - It was supplied with a transparent overlay 'sticker' in MPH which looked naff (so I took it off) but was legal (local dealer quoted me about £160 for a new clock), the dipped beam dipped the wrong way, this is easily rectified by swapping the light unit or (if you don't want to spend much) there is a small reflector plate in the dipped beam, which is removable and can be replaced with a 'mirror image' shape - don't know how much would cost to buy but easily fabricated from Stainless steel.
People try to tell you the imports are inferior (like the Italians are going to sell inferior bikes in their own market!) only thing I can think to look out for might be that some markets have a 100 bhp limit imposed - although this is probably easily removed by a new 'chip'.
If it has switchable speedo then that's sorted & I'm sure the Headlight can be easily converted (fitting the 'tape' converters conforms to the law) & a new unit is probably not too expensive (with the Duke it's a 'reflector' type that fits inside the Headlight assembly so no new lenses and easy to replace etc).
Regarding Speedo, Lights etc at M.O.T. time a 'good'
M.O.T. garage won't worry about it (or the cans) and anyway I don't think the speedo is actually tested as it doesn't involve a road test. All this may sound like a lot of hassle to some but it really didn't bother me, particularly because at the time a new (UK) 916 cost £11,750 otr and I paid £9,500 including fitted Datatag and a set of Carbon Termignoni's with 'Chip' (at the time the cans/chip were £800).
Weigh up the pros & cons, in my case the pros a £2,250 cash saving plus about £900 of 'extras' and the fact that it was ex-stock whilst most Ducati dealers were quoting 2 - 3 weeks delivery (have you ever waited an 'Italian' 2- 3 weeks?
) certainly outweighed the cons and I could have replaced Speedo & Headlight with new for about £200 - £300 and still been quids in. But the biggest benefit was I could afford to buy it, if I'd had to pay near on £12,000 I wouldn't have had one and would have missed out on the best bike I've ever owned.
>> Edited by cazzo on Monday 19th January 22:28
Try Kawasaki Newcastle, reasonable close to home, they've got a few Milles in. I've just had a look at Cupar motorcycles site, they're taking the piss abit with those prices.
http://kawasaki-newcastle.co.uk/index.html
http://kawasaki-newcastle.co.uk/index.html
I've got an import R6 and i've not had any trouble with it at all. I've had UK spec bikes before but now have seen the light (and the savings)!
I had the digital speedo changed so that it can read MPH and KPH, as standard on UK R6's. It cost £70 to change. The headlight points forward so no problems there.
Sounds like good advice to import yourself, i may try that one when i look to replace mine.
I had the digital speedo changed so that it can read MPH and KPH, as standard on UK R6's. It cost £70 to change. The headlight points forward so no problems there.
Sounds like good advice to import yourself, i may try that one when i look to replace mine.
I looked into buying an import SV650S last year but found that they didn't have carb heaters and only one headlight was used on dipped beam but both are used for UK spec, otherwise nothing else apart from the speedo.
Its worth just checking that there's nothing odd like this that might affect you. (as the carb heaters would me!)
Mags
Its worth just checking that there's nothing odd like this that might affect you. (as the carb heaters would me!)
Mags
www.dkmotorcycles.co.uk/usedbikes/search.php?startat=0&cc=900:1199&manufacturer=Aprilia
DK above have some good bargains.
the only issues Ive heard on imports, is other countries have stricter emissions and power constraints, so its possible high powered bikes are down on BHP by engine management, which can be removed usually.
a quick dyno run might confirm things.
theres a aprilia forum which may know more.. www.rsvr.net
DK above have some good bargains.
the only issues Ive heard on imports, is other countries have stricter emissions and power constraints, so its possible high powered bikes are down on BHP by engine management, which can be removed usually.
a quick dyno run might confirm things.
theres a aprilia forum which may know more.. www.rsvr.net
Dick Dastardly said:
for those wondering about insurance quotes, £380 tpft for 03 Aprilia which stunned me,im quite happy with that,having no ncb as such,but company takes my car ncb into account:-)
Wow, what insurcance company was that?
My RSV with 1 years no claims (not been a biker long)only cost around £350.
I was thinking of getting a Falco until I discovered they were the same insurance group, as is the Daytona. Apparantly only mature sensible people ride these bikes!
Mine is an import. Ive had no problems at all. The Speedo is electronic and switches between Kms & Miles at the push of a button - or 3 buttons & a pause.
I do belive the current Aprilia insurance group has rocketed though.
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