The DawgHouse Motorcycle Radio…News Rants & Racing
This week on the DawgHouse Motorcycle News Rants & Racing… http://tinyurl.com/zpzc58l
Norton to deliver V4-based Superbike to market.
HD & Marvel team up to build Super Hero bikes.
Block the road, lose your bike.…
The last 911 ride.
MotoGP/Moto2 from Brno.
AMA Pro Motocross from Budds Creek.
I can’t agree more with the “Ghosts” thoughts!!!!
(This is the 2nd post by Jason. Check out his other post Motorcycle Riding in Paradise!)
You can chose to ship your motorcycle overseas. This can be an excellent choice if you do it right.
Before you get your bike crated and ready to ship (the photo is an example of a typical shipping crate) there are some steps you must first take. You must determine where and how you will ship your bike. Additionally, you must go through a process to ready your bike for its boat its trip. In the sections below, we’ll go over some of the details of what you need to know before shipping your bike overseas.
Having your bike transported by boat is more cost effective than air freight, though both are relatively affordable. Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when having your bike shipped to another country are the laws and regulations of that region.
Depending on where you’re shipping to, prepping your motorcycle to ship overseas can be tricky. In certain Latin American Countries like Brazil, Bolivia and Chile you can expect steep import taxes and tariffs, while shipping your bike to Nepal will require an import license.
To learn more about these laws and taxes, and how they will affect vehicle imports in particular countries, this PDF has some helpful information.
Crating & Insurance | Overseas Shipping Considerations
After you determine the specifics for where you would like to ship your bike, you have some options as to how you ship your bike. The most cost effective method is to have it crated and shipped in the cargo area of the ship. Some transport carriers are equipped with a special docking area for bikes that keeps them secure during shipping, but crating is the most typical method.
You are encouraged to consider purchasing marine insurance to assure that any damages to your motorcycle are covered. Insurance does come included as part of any transport agreement, but if you have a high-value or vintage bike, it’s a consideration worth making. It should be noted that your current insurance may also offer some coverage during shipment–check with them to see.
Now that you’ve determined where and how, you must start getting your bike ready.
Check with your international shipping company for any company specific requirements. Once you’ve crated and strapped down your bike, take a picture of it before leaving it in the care of the shipping company to prove that you in fact did deliver the motorcycle should damage or theft take place.
Jason Mueller is an entrepreneur living in Costa Rica with family from Canada. After graduating from high school and getting his pilot’s licence he lived to travel the world looking for adventure. He is currently working with A-1 Auto and is the owner of Jaco Ropes.
One of our goals of this motorcycle vacation was to ride the entire length of the Natchez Trace Parkway. For those that may not be familiar with the Natchez Trace it is a National Parkway similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway or Skyline Drive. But as it runs 444 miles between Natchez, MS and just south of Nashville, TN there are few mountainous sections or twisties involved. Yet this parkway is a SPECTATULAR substitute for any interstate trip if you are headed in the general direction of those two cities.
What you miss in twists and turns is made up in miles of wonderful cruising with no large trucks (prohibited) or traffic snarls around metro areas. If you are a history buff there are dozens and dozens of roadside stops to check out.
In our case we started at the southern end of the Trace, knowing we would not 
make the entire length in a single day (hey, we started south of New Orleans). We checked out the visitors center grabbed a quick bite and hit the trail. It did not take long to settle in; with next to no traffic we were free to enjoy the views and the ride. We stopped at the historical sites that were of interest to us and just had a lovely time.
In 2011 a series of tornados ran nearly parallel to the parkway for nearly eight miles. The amount a damage still remaining to the forest on both sides of the road is amazing.
As we were passing Tupelo, MS we decided to head off the Trace to have lunch at Johnnies Drive In. This is the little dinner that Elvis Presley frequented as a child and young adult. The food was excellent and if you have time the Elvis Presley childhood home park is nearby (we did not stop). Turns out we sat in the “Elvis” booth, the one he nearly always used. We did not know that until others were turning down seats in order to wait for use to leave. LOL, we did not take our time, but we did not rush either.
Back on the parkway we continued to make good time even though we stopped at multiple historic sites and a visitor’s center. Near the end of the parkway was the historic site called “She Boss”. The story behind this stop was that widow who owned a small lodge along the trace remarried a local Indian who spoke little English. As visitors approached he would point to his wife and say “She boss”!
We rolled of the Trace in the late afternoon and, thanks to friends we made on the HOG Rolling Rally, knew to stop at the Loveless Café for dinner. Wow, were they right about stopping for a meal at this restaurant. This was some awesome down home cooking.
There are a few things you need to know about the Trace 1) keep an eye on your fuel you have to leave the parkway to top off and 2) there are a lot of animals out and about (we saw squirrels, rabbits, turkey, deer and a mule).
I also recommended that you take a few minutes before you ride the trace to look at all the possible stops and pick out the ones that gain your interest. It would take four days of riding to stop and investigate each and every historic stop along the way.
If you can’t tell, I really enjoyed our ride on the Natchez Trace Parkway. If you are not pressed for time I highly recommend the Trace to the interstate highways.
After the HOG Rolling Rally: History in the Hills was complete the second half of our motorcycle vacation started. Debbie and I were going to go south of New Orleans to visit her sister for a few days and then head home via the Natchez Trace Parkway.
The intent was to “blast” our way south in order to maximize the amount of time we could visit with her sister. “Blasting south” meant interstate highways, hot concreate on hot days, drinking lots of water (which means lots of bio-breaks LOL).
The compensating sprocket under the front sprocket.
The first leg of the ride we stopped for the evening to visit in-laws in Alabama. The next morning back on the highway, but something was not quite right with the bike. We made it to Tuscaloosa and pulled into T-Town Harley Davison. The service tech took only seconds to state that the compensating sprocket was loose and the bike went straight into the shop.
I am not sure what it does but if your compensating sprocket does not compensate then your transmission is having issues.
I have to give the team at T-Town a lot of praise. Knowing we were on a long trip they took us to the head of the service line. Worked with us on the cost (gaskets & transmission fluid) and had us on the road in about three hours (a chunk of which was the bike cooling down so they could work on it). Debbie and I felt that they really cared about making sure we could get back on the road as soon as possible!
Can’t go to New Orleans without one of these pictures.
By the time we did get back on the road it was nearly 100F degrees and high 90s in humidity! Once on the interstate it was quickly apparent that that the concrete was hotter than the ambient temperature, it had to be well over 100F. This was where we figured out when it was time to call it a day. At a certain point in this heat we would begin to verbally snipe at each other. When we started to argue about where do you what to eat, where do you want to stop, where do you want to sleep it was time for a cool room and long shower!
The rest of the ride to New Orleans was really uneventful. We had a good time with Mark and Vicky, got to see a bunch of the local area including Alligators in the wild and a fishing trip/boat ride into the Gulf of Mexico. Mark is a fishing guide and runs Hunting Red Fishing Charters, if you are into fishing check out what he has to offer
Too soon it was time to begin the trip back to Virginia. My next post will be about our ride on the Natchez Trace Parkway.
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 