[Closed] Taking a bike to Oz

My best friend left today with his. All he's doing is cleaning his bike up to get it through Customs. I don't think there's any import duty involved. However, the excess baggage charges get insane if you're not careful.

Will see how he gets on and report back.

Nice one!!

I've taken bikes into Australia half a dozen times now (in-laws live there). Only once had the box opened, and that was just a cursory glance to check it was actually a bike.

Generally they are looking for mud. Get it nice and clean and you *should* be ok.

Make sure your shoes - if you take some - are mud free also...

Took mountain bike to Adelaide with Quantas/British Airways. They let me take it free as sporting equipment was/is free.

Got to Sydney and they checked it. I had dry mud on my tyres/wheels and the guy took them away and washed them for me!

I had dry mud on my tyres/wheels and the guy took them away and washed them for me!

Sweet! Might not be a bad idea to just let them wash it for me then! 😆 😉

If you put new tyres on it makes them very happy.

Sweet! Might not be a bad idea to just let them wash it for me then!

To be fair, I think I got lucky. He was fantastic and he could have made the end of a very long journey very difficult for me. My bikeless journey through Sydney this year was not so friendly.

Mandatory helmet laws out there too, by the way

Yep mandatory helmet laws - no need for a debate people just get on with it.

As for importing...
Clean it, it's for good reasons of bio security and taken seriously. Wash the tyres properly or put new ones on, came back from NZ last week and they only checked the rubber but that might be due to NZ being fairly clean too.
Weight is getting to be an issue with less and less doing free sporting goods. Unless your business class or have enough FF status to get extra luggage it might be expensive my light bike in an evoc bag is 23kg with a few tools lobbed in for reassembly, advantage of the EVOC is they might only look at the wheels (but again that was trans tasman). I air freighted 7 bikes when we emigrated. Each box was up to 32kg so I stuffed them full with everything else. Cost about £200 1 way UPS through a broker (transglobal express).

Where are you heading and what do you plan to ride? STW has outposts in WA, TAS, VIC and a few more

a single bike as baggage is not a problem - loads of bikes if moving out here can be a big hassle you get charged for any cleaning considered required and people end up paying good money to have their bearing pressure washed - bikes are one of they things they will apparently will always take out of a container to check

no mud ( includes under saddle fork stanchion BB) if you can make tyres whiff a bit with very dilute disinfectant (some people say strong rots them) or fit new tyres no problem you'll get a 10 second inspection and a warm welcome

Where are you heading and what do you plan to ride? STW has outposts in WA, TAS, VIC and a few more

There's at least four of us in SA too

loads of bikes if moving out here can be a big hassle you get charged for any cleaning considered required and people end up paying good money to have their bearing pressure washed - bikes are one of they things they will apparently will always take out of a container to check

Yeah, I made sure all mine were spotless and apparently our container cleared pretty quickly as a result. The shippers had just equated 'bikes' with 'big delays'.

But, if you're just visiting (and have therefore passed go and collected your two hundred pounds), just make it look like a new bike. Same goes for your bike gear (shoes, bag, etc). Mike - you may have been lucky coming back from NZ, they were pretty hot on things in Melb last time I came back from chch.

SA thats the other one... keep forgetting about the quiet state

Flying this Friday with bike to Oz and its quite a new bike but definitely used.
I have to declare it as I am on a one way ticket but should I say how old it is or not?
All our other bikes are on the boat.

I have to declare it as I am on a one way ticket but should I say how old it is or not?

You will find that all your goods are at least six months old 😉

[quote=repatriot ]Flying this Friday with bike to Oz and its quite a new bike but definitely used.
I have to declare it as I am on a one way ticket but should I say how old it is or not?
All our other bikes are on the boat.

12 months old... not a question I've been asked though the guys in Auckland asked how much I would be selling my bike for when I got there 🙂
Where are you heading repatriot?

Heading to Tathra, far south coast NSW.

don't think you'll get asked how old bike is - just part of yr baggage - lots of people travelling with bikes think would be pretty unlucky to get a full customs interrogation about it unless you sniff a bit odd to the dogs

When I moved out here, any box listed on the inventory as being outdoor-related (camping stuff, shoes, bike bits etc) got a pink sticker from customs to say it had been checked. those boxes had been opened, but the contents were fairly undisturbed, so only a cursory check I think.

Best advice was from a mate: apparently you only get charged if you haven't made any attempt at all to clean your stuff. As long as you've had a good go at getting it clean, they probably won't charge you.

I stripped my bike down completely - but then I like spannering 😀

Im in Perth and I fly in an out of oz with the bikes a couple of times a year. I now just have a set of tyres in the UK which I take off and leave there and another set I leave in OZ rather than try and clean them sufficiently.

I have come in with tyres before but always makes sure I have fresh rubber on. I think I've only had my bag opened once or twice. As long as its decently clean I've never had any bother.

I usually put my slightly uncleanable 5:10's in a sealed plastic bag somewhere else in my luggage.

Going in to NZ is a whole different kettle of fish - flown in to Queenstown a couple of times and they are pretty militant on how clean everything has to be.

From a flying point of view - Qatar are pretty damn good when it comes to flying with bikes - get a free 10kg of sports equipment on top of normal luggage allowance and the per kg charges over and above are pretty reasonable. If you are on the frequent flyer program - two returns london - perth gets you to Bronze membership and another 10kg of additional luggage. Plus the service is excellent.

I imported 2-4 bikes to australia as a less than container load. I wiped them down but I wasn't scrubbing anything with Dettol so they were grimy but not muddy. Quarantine guys had ripped open (and taped up again) the placcy bags they were in, possibly had given a quick spray of something, but it must have just been a quick glance - but they did look at all of them. I didn't pay for cleaning.

I suspect some of the scare stories are overegged. I have no experience or idea about New Zealand.

I think it also depends on the time of night that you arrive at.

I arrived at midnight and all they asked was "road or mountain bike", it was the latter so they didn't look. I had even wanted to show her how clean it was as I had spent 4 hours cleaning it.....that's 4 hours I'm not getting back!

I suspect some of the scare stories are overegged. I have no experience or idea about New Zealand.

NZ was happy with wheels inspected and X-Ray of all the bags.

We have got seven bikes and two tents in the sea container all been cleaned to death and sprayed with Jeyes fluid if they get pulled I will be very pissed off.
Second time out for us first time we lived in Fremantle for 7 years before but this time wanted to live near to mountains and still be on the coast 🙂
Never taken a bike into Oz by plane before but on one trip I did take a pair of Linn amps and they didn't even look at them and were more interested in our shoes but it was at the foot and mouth time!

Where are you heading and what do you plan to ride?

I'll be based in Wollongong, for a year or maybe more, so flying into Sydney. I'm not sure what the riding's like around there but I'm pretty sure that there is some anyway.

Some good replys so far chaps thanks, by the sounds of it it shouldn't be as much hassle as I had originally thought.

Do you have to say how much you're bike is worth or anything?

Anyone ever used a courier service to take their bike over?

Not heading to the Uni are you? Not sure of the riding but will end up exploring it if I'm up that way for work.

from earlier post by mikewsmith

air freighted 7 bikes when we emigrated. Each box was up to 32kg so I stuffed them full with everything else. Cost about £200 1 way UPS through a broker (transglobal express).

I used Transglobal on mikes previous recommendation to ship mrs antigees and daughters essential BMX - great service

edit yes you have to declare value but from memory so check think describe as "used and over 12months old- importing for personal use only" or somesuch and all will be ok

glad it worked out for you!!

Landed in Sydney this morning, no problem with bike just looked at the nice clean as new wheel and waved it through. No questions asked 😀
Aren't Evoc bike bags the best too.

I will have one on order shortly, certainly if the work trips keep stacking up light they are this month.

Really nice bags, very well made. The only issue really is they are quite long so a big car or van would be handy. Hertz upgraded us to a Toyota Kluger which swallowed everything, pity it handles like a boat!

Brought 2 bikes. Forensically cleaned. Didn't get inspected. Luck of the draw. But good luck moving eh?