Renewed her registration.......

[Firehawk068]

I don't know what's worse............Going to the DMV, or going to the dentist.......?

Anyway.........$58 later, I get to ride her for another year legally   

Actually, we get a 30 day grace period I'm told, so during the 13th month I get to ride her when she's "Barely legal" 

[Arnie]

58? Shit, for $58 annual rego,I wouldn't have any complaints.
My FJ rego is 8 x that.

Arnie

[fj11.5]

I would of replied earlier but was too busy :dash1 $320 for 6 months or 540 for 12 , bloody $58 ,who do we need to complain to so our prices get cheaper, , no maib in the states, thats the bulk of our price

[Anti-Dive Dave]

I don't know what's worse...Going to the DMV or going to the dentist? $58 later, I get to ride for another year

JUST $58 for A YEAR?

And you found that a kick in the teeth?   Jeezus!  That works out at £36.00 GBP/Sterling

I invite you over to the UK, where it costs £42.00 just for 6 MONTHS! Thats $67.00 in US currency (for just 6 months remember!)

You are getting to ride on fantastic roads, in brilliant weather most of the time, where gas is dirt cheap and the registration costs less to renew for a year, than it does for us for 6 months.

We get shitty weather (rains all the time), bad corrosion (sea salt eats everything), knackered and badly repaired roads (UK is famous for shit roads and pot-holes a plenty), SUPER taxed on the price of gas  (currently $2.17 dollars A LITRE, which is just over 10 bucks a gallon)

Spare parts for your FJs are all over the place, and shipping is cheap within the US.  If we need bits from the USA, the shipping usually works out the same (or more) than the actual item.

Anything over 56 dollars in value (not including shipping), we get taxed again for about 1/2 by Customs for "importing fees".

I'm jealous and angry at the same time.  Jealous of you, and angry at OUR country for screwing us in every way they can.

My suggestion to you is surrender your licence to the DMV....give up biking for ever....rent a MASSIVE shipping container....strap your bikes down inside (and all your riding gear...tools, etc and ship to the following address:

ME.
No. 37 Pissy wet and cold Aberdeenshire
The middle of nowhere,
United Kingdom.
ZIP: broken and only goes half way up.

And if the bikes don't arrive with full tanks of gas...I'll be forced to send the lot back to you on the next boat!

Harumph!!  

[rktmanfj]

I don't know what's worse...Going to the DMV or going to the dentist? $58 later, I get to ride for another year

JUST $58 for A YEAR?

And you found that a kick in the teeth?   Jeezus!  That works out at £36.00 GBP/Sterling

I invite you over to the UK, where it costs £42.00 just for 6 MONTHS! Thats $67.00 in US currency (for just 6 months remember!)

You are getting to ride on fantastic roads, in brilliant weather most of the time, where gas is dirt cheap and the registration costs less to renew for a year, than it does for us for 6 months.

We get shitty weather (rains all the time), bad corrosion (sea salt eats everything), knackered and badly repaired roads (UK is famous for shit roads and pot-holes a plenty), SUPER taxed on the price of gas  (currently $2.17 dollars A LITRE, which is just over 10 bucks a gallon)

Spare parts for your FJs are all over the place, and shipping is cheap within the US.  If we need bits from the USA, the shipping usually works out the same (or more) than the actual item.

Anything over 56 dollars in value (not including shipping), we get taxed again for about 1/2 by Customs for "importing fees".

I'm jealous and angry at the same time.  Jealous of you, and angry at OUR country for screwing us in every way they can.

My suggestion to you is surrender your licence to the DMV....give up biking for ever....rent a MASSIVE shipping container....strap your bikes down inside (and all your riding gear...tools, etc and ship to the following address:

ME.
No. 37 Pissy wet and cold Aberdeenshire
The middle of nowhere,
United Kingdom.
ZIP: broken and only goes half way up.

And if the bikes don't arrive with full tanks of gas...I'll be forced to send the lot back to you on the next boat!

Harumph!!  

Last I checked, there's still boats coming this way.   

C'mon over.

[aviationfred]

Reading past posts, about the UK's MOT disc and the tremendous taxes and registration fees in Australia. I knew this thread would get some traffic.

Here in the US, each state taxes vehicles differently. Some states impose a "Property Tax", similar to Real Estate taxes. The more the vehicle is worth, the more you are taxed. Here in Kansas there is not an annual inspection either. I own a 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 pick up truck and my 1989 Fj1200. My registration/taxes for the year is $106.00 for the two. That includes $4.00 for the optional military veteran license plates.

It does shock me when I see the posts of the cost of the MOT discs in the UK and what is paid in Australia. Motorcycles here in the US are not really considered necessary vehicles like a car or truck, thus are taxes less and except for California, exempt from all emissions controls and testing.

On the gas/petrol costs. I know the US has some of the least expensive prices. I spent some time in southern Europe in 1989. I saw the price per litre was what we were paying for a gallon. Currently price of a gallon is $3.11

Fred

[Anti-Dive Dave]

Last I checked, there's still boats coming this way...C'mon over.

Tempting.  VERY tempting!  Especially as winter up here is another projected -20C (which is minus 4 F over with you). 

You try riding a bike with all that ooomph on roads that never see a snowplough for a week.    It pays to check you have plenty changes of underwear in the drawers at home to last you through winter riding in Scotland - you're gonna need every single pair changed at least twice a day. 

Y'know, one year I tried to fit snow chains to a road bike. (not the FJ, but a Suzuki GS550E).  Removed the mudguards, raised the back end, took off the road tyres and replaced with semi-knobblies, and then tried chains on top of that.  Excellent in the actual snow, but handles like crap if you hit a clear patch of tarmac! 

People look at you funny as if to say "you mean...your going out on yer bike...IN THIS?  ARE YOU F****MAD?"

Erm...yes, I am.  Oh, and yes, I am. 

FJ's in the snow and sheet ice are a bitch to handle and keep upright.  But, take things slow, and you get there.  Eventually.  Sad thing is that the bike rarely gets out of 3rd gear.  Pull away in 2nd to reduce the spin, straight into 3rd and NEVER hit 4th, or yer off quicker than a quart of milk in the Arizona desert.

But it doesn't overheat, due to the extreme cold. 

If I could afford to ship everything over and pay for the dog quarantine fees, I'd be over in a flash.

Only thing is, YOU would have to make room in your garage for my bike....and the dog MUST have his own couch to sleep on.

Well, where else did you think I was gonna stay?

SHEESH!?   

[Anti-Dive Dave]

Currently price of a gallon is $3.11

3.1100 USD = 1.9465 GBP

You can get a gallon of Go-Go-Juice cheaper than it is for me to buy a pint of milk and a loaf of bread.   

This is one reason why only the "rich" can afford to go motorcycle touring in the UK and europe.

If we had the same gas costs as you guys, we could drive round the world twice on 3 tank-fulls. 

A tour to the "everyday bike man" in the UK is either to the local shops....or maybe a rally at the bottom end of the british map - about 800/900 miles. (1600/1700 mile round trip).

Excuse me whilst I go tie my rope to the rafters.  I feel more depressed than a dead cat in the middle lane of the freeway.........

[DoD#663]

Even $1 is too much. Registration? Why, it's my bike, not the state's. The money paid is just more pointless revenue to the state to pay for bureaucrats to run the registration office. Abolish it.

The entirety of the registration and licensing system is nothing but a money making scam.

Gas taxes pay for the roads, and the roads are not all that fantastic.

I think if you look, gasoline by itself is not all that more expensive than what it is in North America. The difference is that there are horrible taxes piled on top of them.

[rktmanfj]

Last I checked, there's still boats coming this way...C'mon over.

If I could afford to ship everything over and pay for the dog quarantine fees, I'd be over in a flash.

Only thing is, YOU would have to make room in your garage for my bike....and the dog MUST have his own couch to sleep on.

Well, where else did you think I was gonna stay?

SHEESH!?   

Nope, not gonna happen.   

I'm in the middle of moving, and have to figure out how to squeeze in the 2nd FJ I've bought.

Also trying to figure out how to explain to my fiancee how it's perfectly reasonable to have five bikes.

Of course, you're welcome to visit anytime you like.   

I'd recommend not before May, as it's 43F here, and not likely to be a lot warmer before then.

[SlowOldGuy]

If I recall, there was a small uprising a few hundred years ago over excessive taxes. 

I guess it worked.  :-)

DavidR.

[Anti-Dive Dave]

it's 43F here...........

FORTY THREE DEGREES!!??  That's bloody TROPICAL man.  That's 6 degrees Celcius doncha-no.

You're moving?  We'll find you, don't worry about that!

If you hear a knock at the door at 3am, and a dog barking, you'll know who it is.

I may have already thrown one of your 5 bikes out the new garage, to make way for mine.

5 bikes is perfectly feasible.  One for each day of the week.  So.....2 more to go.

I did have a wife, but have been divorced now many years.  She HATED bikes. The only person I feel guilty about leaving now when I ride me bike....is the dog.

I considered a sidecar outfit for the FJ, but the dog is 7 years old and would never adapt to it.  It'd be like we had our own siren as we belt down the road.  Him screaming like a banshee as all the cars get out of the way, thinking theres an actual 4 wheel ambulance coming through, not a 2 wheel one.

Waaaaa waaaaaa waaaaa waaaa waaaa.....coming through! 

One of the ways to convince the lady-to-be, is to suggest she learns to ride.  NOT any of the FJs though.  Bike number SIX will be her choosing.  Then, she will understand the need to collect.

Why the hell can't I write 3 lines like everyone else?  JEEZ, sorry.     It's nothing but waffle, waffle, waffle.

And talking of waffles...I must go get something to eat.

[tmkaos]

Over here in NZ we are similiar to Australia in what we pay.

Our actual licensing fees are not exorbitant but the difference is - and correct me if I understand the US health system incorrectly - that here in NZ if you are injured through an accident, workplace or otherwise, the government provides free treatment (and by free I actually mean paid for by everybody that registers their vehicles and works for a living). It's called ACC, Accident Compensation Corporation. and it extends to visitors to NZ - if you guys were to come over here and managed to tangle with a errant sheep on a back road and by tangle I mean run into, hit, crash.. Not 'tangle' as some of my Aussie brethren might have you believe.. you will be carted off to hospital and sorted out, gratis.

My belief, and again, I might be wrong, is that in the US you need to have medical insurance, or the treatment is very expensive indeed..

I believe this could be one reason as to the differences between Stateside rego costs and NZ/Australia.

I'm not saying any one system is better.. Each to their own, but I'm comfortable knowing if I get injured someone else picks up the tab, and right smartly too..

Hey, and the bright side is that we all live in locations where we CAN ride, and enjoy it too.
Bring on the Kookaloo..

James

[big r]

Here in Canada we have regular reg and insurance, which would cost me about 1100 dollars a year. If your bike is over 25 yrs. you can get a collector plate which is what I have and my ins. and reg is only 225 per year with no limit on how many miles I want to put on. Gas up here is 1.15 a litre. That works out to around 5 bucks a gallon. Also the collector includes full coverage ins. The only thing is we can only ride about 6 months a year and when you work 15 hrs. a day like I do that really cuts into the ridding time. Big R

[Dan Filetti]

PA, USA registration is $30.00 per year.  The state also mandates a safety inspection that costs about the same to get done, assuming that the inspecting mechanic does not find anything that needs fixing to pass, in which case, the cost of fixing it gets piled on. Insurance is not exactly cheap, but not as bad as I've heard elsewhere.

Net net, it's fairly cheap to own and ride a bike in PA, USA.

Dan