Importing Bike?

[KARSTEN]

Hi all,
I am going in July to germany(home) for a few weeks,have not been in two decades,does anyone have any experience or factual info regarding bringing back that pristine airhead from the Vaterland?I had an experience taking a coupe de ville to germany in the late 70's.Not to be repeated.
Karsten

[DarrylRi]

I brought a much older bike back from Germany last year, to California. The only difficulty I had was that the DMV demanded I have an original, signed bill of sale. I had the original Fahrzeugbrief (German title), but a photocopy of the bill of sale. (The seller kept the original, and I didn't know I'd need it.)

I still don't understand why an original was needed. It's not like it's an official document, like the title. I think it might have been easier if I had just shown up with no paperwork at all, but... Anyway, all turned out well, the seller sent me the original.

As far as the Customs folks went, I spoke extremely briefly with a bored officer at SFO when the bike arrived, filled in a brief form and paid a small fee, and the bike was released to me.

If your bike falls under EPA regulations -- was not a concern for my 1928 R52 -- you may have some more paperwork to fill out.