general_piffle Posted June 6 Posted June 6 I've just bought this and am in the process of shipping it over from South Africa to the UK. Such a rare beast, am very excited. My plan is to do a refresh/refurb but not turn it into a garage queen (I have one of those already and hardly ride it as it's so pretty...). So, things like put the original indicators back, original mirrors, original bar-ends, get the clocks/switchgear restored, engine case decals, get rid of stickers and sort any paint if they're hiding scrapes etc. Update the exhaust with a black K-FAC one from Japan. And that's probably about it, so it's tidy but I won't be worrying about scratching it when I ride it! Mileage is 42k kilometres so about 26k miles, which I think is pretty low for these engines. Have been in touch with Alexandre of Katana France who's been brilliant in giving me some great info. I'll update this thread as I go along. 5 Quote
Swiss Toni Posted June 7 Posted June 7 SA??? That’s gonna cost! Nice find, by the way. I see it’s suffering from the old Katana malady … broken needles! I think they can be got from the Katana Owners Club, or there’s a guy in Germany making them. @johnrshould be able to let you know more. Quote
general_piffle Posted June 7 Author Posted June 7 4 hours ago, Swiss Toni said: SA??? That’s gonna cost! Nice find, by the way. I see it’s suffering from the old Katana malady … broken needles! I think they can be got from the Katana Owners Club, or there’s a guy in Germany making them. @johnrshould be able to let you know more. What makes you think it was expensive? Thanks for the tip about the needles! Quote
gorbys Posted June 7 Posted June 7 I had a broken tach needle in my datsun. Had a new one 3d printed after drawing a new one. Got to love todays technology 1 Quote
Swiss Toni Posted June 7 Posted June 7 3 hours ago, general_piffle said: What makes you think it was expensive? Thanks for the tip about the needles! The shipping and import dooty! Quote
general_piffle Posted June 7 Author Posted June 7 1 hour ago, Swiss Toni said: The shipping and import dooty! Good point but more reasonable than you might think! Because of the bikes age (over 30 years old) you pay 5% VAT and no duty. Plus, shipping from SA to the UK is a smidge over £1200. 1 Quote
Swiss Toni Posted June 7 Posted June 7 Still puts a fair lump on the total, though. How we suffer for our art! Quote
general_piffle Posted June 9 Author Posted June 9 On 6/7/2024 at 9:47 PM, Swiss Toni said: Still puts a fair lump on the total, though. How we suffer for our art! Very true Toni! Ours is an expensive hobby for sure. But then I don't spend money on football (no interest in the game) or golf and other male money-pits. So, at least it's my only expensive hobby! The grand total, for what's an incredibly rare Kat, with everything included is going to be a little over 6k. I'm happy with that, considering I've seen the lesser US 1000s up for sale at anything from 8 to 11k. Quote
Swiss Toni Posted June 9 Posted June 9 Sounds like a happy man, then! Keep us posted on its progress. Quote
DaveV65 Posted June 9 Posted June 9 general_piffle, I recently looked at buying an EFE in Ireland and importing it to the UK, one was even an ex UK bikr. There were so many layers of bureaucracy that I canned it in the end, even down to having to go into a bank branch to transfer the money, not ordinarily an issue but when your bank has closed all of it's rural branches and then there's the fee to transfer, I gave up and bought a UK bike. I sincerely hope your transaction is smoother and would love to here of it going successfully for you. Quote
general_piffle Posted June 11 Author Posted June 11 On 6/9/2024 at 6:28 PM, DaveV65 said: general_piffle, I recently looked at buying an EFE in Ireland and importing it to the UK, one was even an ex UK bikr. There were so many layers of bureaucracy that I canned it in the end, even down to having to go into a bank branch to transfer the money, not ordinarily an issue but when your bank has closed all of it's rural branches and then there's the fee to transfer, I gave up and bought a UK bike. I sincerely hope your transaction is smoother and would love to here of it going successfully for you. Dave, the red tape is a royal PIA. However, I've done it a few times over the years with cars and bikes. Each country is different. For example, with SA because vehicle theft is so rife you need a police clearance document for any car/bike being exported to show it's not stolen. But things like money transfers I've always done online, but mostly I've done it through my business. At the moment I've gathered a few quotes from people for shipping costs. Have checked out all of their reviews and ended up going with someone I've used before, not because they were the cheapest but I've worked with them and know they'll get the job done properly. For peace of mind I'm happy to pay an extra £100 or so! Have opted for air freight rather than sea, which is only £300 more but the difference is once the paperwork is all sorted the bike should be here within about 2 weeks or so as oppose to 3 months if it were going by sea. A few years ago I shipped a car over from Japan and you can track the ship its on from port to port, which was fun Quote
DaveV65 Posted June 12 Posted June 12 11 hours ago, general_piffle said: Dave, the red tape is a royal PIA. However, I've done it a few times over the years with cars and bikes. Each country is different. For example, with SA because vehicle theft is so rife you need a police clearance document for any car/bike being exported to show it's not stolen. But things like money transfers I've always done online, but mostly I've done it through my business. At the moment I've gathered a few quotes from people for shipping costs. Have checked out all of their reviews and ended up going with someone I've used before, not because they were the cheapest but I've worked with them and know they'll get the job done properly. For peace of mind I'm happy to pay an extra £100 or so! Have opted for air freight rather than sea, which is only £300 more but the difference is once the paperwork is all sorted the bike should be here within about 2 weeks or so as oppose to 3 months if it were going by sea. A few years ago I shipped a car over from Japan and you can track the ship its on from port to port, which was fun You sound like a seasoned professional, look forward to hearing of its arrival. Quote
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