Road to Romaniacs - Episode 3 : Logistics
How to get a bike to Europe. Plan B C D
As we jumped into this adventure, we knew that this would be the hardest part. Logistics. We’ve traveled coast to coast in the U.S. and have had the great fortune of riding in South America and Europe. But, always a fly and ride. I 100% recommend renting a bike if you can. But, in case you’re dead set on getting a bike to Sibiu Romania, here are your options:
By Boat
None of these options are cheap, but for just the transit over the Atlantic Ocean, this is the most economical. The problem is ships move through ports, so you’ll have to find yourself at a port to send it off and then pick it up at a port once it arrives in Europe. There are a handful of major commercial ports in Europe: Rotterdam Netherlands, Antwerp Belgium, Bremerhaven Germany and Constanta Romania. Great! Pick Constantza. Easy peasy and done, right? Wrong! So wrong. Constanta is on the Black Sea which for the past 2 years (I’m writing this in spring 2024), has seen inconsistent cargo traffic due to the war in Ukraine. There is one company, a Ukranian company, based out of New Jersey who is currently shipping to Romania, Dnipro LLC. These guys are clearly professionals, and they didn’t B.S. me. Routes are available to book today, but no one knows what things will look like in July. And, most shipments are going into Romania with very few going out, so the return shipment can not be guaranteed.
To ship to Constanta, it will take you 35-45 days out of New York.
Cost: $950 + customs, VAT tax, miscellaneous fees along the way
That leaves us with Bremerhaven being the next closest. Trying to find a european shipping company to take a motorcycle out of a container and as an LTL shipment from Bremerhaven to Sibiu Romania was impossible. I tried. But, if you are willing to ship out of New Jersey/New York and want to ride around Germany, perhaps time it to cruise through the Netherlands during tulip season, then you’re in luck. The folks over at CFR Classic have you covered with everything from receiving, loading, container drayage and port fees, ocean freight…. all the things I didn’t know I had to think about to ship a motorcycle. Only a handful of other shipping agents even got back to me, and of those Dnipro and CFR were the only that had the patience to walk through this project with me. CFR knows what they’re doing, and they care about your vehicle. Their entire specialty is shipping very cool, very expensive cars overseas. They even created a proprietary container to keep your vehicle safe.
It will take you 7-10 days to clear US Customs + approximately 20 days on the water via shared container + some shorter amount of time to clear German customs.
Cost: less than $1,500 USD.
By Plane
The guys at Dnipro were also the only ones that offered a realistic air freight option. As long as I could get the bike into a container to their hangar in New Jersey, they would be able to ship it to Bucharest. This requires disassembling your bike and putting it into the smallest volume crate possible. Air cargo is 100% dependent on the size and weight of your shipment, so if you choose this option, get creative.
Cost: a cool $4,000 one way not including customs or taxes
By Buy by
Air was definitely out. And, boat could be done, but then we would be out a bike for at least 2-3 months due to the shipping timeframes. You also run the risk of the bike not making it. We’ve all heard horror stories about packages being lost, entire shipping containers falling into the ocean, or contents being battered while at sea for a month. The whole thing makes one of us very nervous. So, why not buy a bike and either keep it in Europe or sell it at the end of the race? We didn’t just ponder this over dinner. We went all in and created a plan with the good folks at Carpathian Adventures. These guys are legit saints. They dove into this head first with us and created a plan:
Step 1: Carpathian Adventures would source the bike, a left over or gently used 2021-2022 Yamaha Tenere 700. They did this. They found a used bike, and we learned that there is a premium on Teneres across Europe, but some can be found in good condition for about $11,000-12,000 USD. Depending on the model you’re looking for, there might be a difference in what models manufacturers offered in the states versus the EU, and there may be a difference in model year. The US 2024 Teneres turned out to be released a year earlier in Europe. There is also the issue of the title. A US citizen can not purchase and register a bike for legal use in Europe.
Step 2: source your parts. We have some pretty phenomenal support from CamelADV, MX-Tech and Slavens Racing, and they were all in. We knew the suspension would fly with us, but every other part that went into this race bike would need to be shipped from Canada and the US or for fungible parts (brake pads, rotors, etc.) sourced locally in Romania. The parts that are shipped would need to clear customs in Romania and an additional import tax would need to be paid (19%). Before you begin this endeavor, ask yourself, “Do I want to know how much I’ve poured into this bike?” And, then, ask yourself, how long you can keep this from your partner, who will undoubtedly lose her sh*t when you complete the list. The list price for parts on a race-ready Tenere 700 and spare race parts? $17,400 USD. That’s before we add VAT. chhhyeaaahhh…that’s a solid no from me, dawg.
Step 3: pimp your husband out. If he finds a sugar momma, you both win.
Step 4: build. Carpathian Adventures can build you just about anything out of their shop in Sibiu and they know where to take you to test your build. They have an incredibly fair hourly labor rate and will source fungible parts for you at cost.
Step 5: race with the hopes that you don’t break yourself or the bike.
Step 6: sell. Once you figure out which bits are not broken, you have to figure out whether it’s worth selling the bike as is or putting it back to stock and parting out the race bits. It’s a time consuming process and you’re guaranteed only a fraction of your initial investment. How much is a gently crashed race Tenere worth in Sibiu? Your guess is as good as mine.
You guys, this was such a good idea. Was. The logistics of sourcing and shipping all those parts, building and testing in a limited time frame, and the financial impact was just not realistic. We didn’t choose this route, but I can not express how strongly I recommend Carpathian Adventures. Hour long conference calls, tapping their local resources, a willingness to be creative in solving our problem….they have been such great partners. And, they do ‘normal’ motorcycle stuff like providing support for dirt bike racers at Romaniacs and enduro tours through the Carpathian mountains.
Cost: $28,000 USD minus $8,000 (?) when the bike sells.
The Other Plane
This is perhaps, our last and final hope. We are still finalizing these logistics so I don’t want to jinx it, but we’ll include an itinerary and details in a later blog installment. Hint: there will either be pasta or feta involved.
TLDR: don’t race a custom bike overseas. And, don’t trust the guy in this video :)
