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I left the beautiful but troubled land of South Africa in August 2004 for the less beautiful (sorry ) but less troubled land of the United Kingdom. I left behind my love at the time... a GSXR750 K3. I did not sell her as I fully expected to be back in SA after 2 years. As things have it im here 4 years now and despite my attempts to move to Spain... im staying. I have a skillset that is sought after and the UK has been good to me.

I need to act now... either sell or bring here. I can bring her here for £730 all in (including DVLA fees), or I can sell her in SA. She has not turned a wheel in 4 years... so much work would have to be done before she could be on the road. I could do that work myself here... but in SA it would mean either selling way below market value or paying Suzuki there to service her.

What do the Ridersite Massive think?

If you're sure the memories aren't rose tinted you should be reunited.

Think I'd tend to agree with that sentiment....
Heart says .....
Bring her over.

Not sure what the practicalities are though, import tax, VAT etc., etc..
and all the other stuff related to peparing and crating up in SA.
Need to check out fully, as could be hidden costs that make it silly.

I guess it's worth doing the sums .... what an equivalent bike costs here, what you'd get for it in SA etc.
Factor in the cost of shipping and refurbing here - plus the sentimental value.



...... or you could see whether Charlie and Ewan are up for another adventure .... recovering a Suzuki for a bloke who lives in the UK.

There's even a ready made title: The Road To Recovery.

There is no VAT and Customs etc - at least per my investigation... as its a personal item owned for longer than 6 months. I bought her in 2003 for personal use and I owned her for about 18 months before I moved here and have owned her the 4 years since. I need police clearance but that is included in the £730 which also covers all the documenation, the crating and the shipping. And she gets dropped in Croydon which is closeish to me. Will need to trailer it from there though.

The heart definatley says bring her over.. we survived so much together, including a truck dropping its cargo of fencing right in front of us on the highway... still the closest I have ever come to the hereafter (or lack of hereafter... who knows).

The sums just about stack up each way.... so the heart should decide

Ah... I will sleep on it. My Dad is threatening to call Suzuki to do what they like with the bike so I need to decide soon. Maybe I will see if I can get hold of Ewan and Charlie

Bring it over.

For that money it's a no brainer. That's a fraction of the price you would pay for the same thing in the UK.

I wouldn't expect that there will be much work needed to make her live and breathe again.

If you think you're going to spend too much on her, do it quick and dirty and flog on, make a nice profit and buy me some Oz wheels for my professional advice

I'd bring it over, if you need an extra pair of hands at any time I'll help.

Falcopops wrote:..................
If you think you're going to spend too much on her, do it quick and dirty and flog on, make a nice profit and buy me some Oz wheels for my professional advice

Thought everybody had Oz wheels down your way!

Go for it Syltiz !

Done!

The GSXR is in my garage after a long journey.... Johannesburg -> Cape Town -> Tilbury -> Croydon -> Walton-on-Thames. And she is undamaged except for a bent sidestand which is fair given the amount of hands that must have been on her for the last two months. Already bought a replacement which should be here by the weekend. So until then she is on wooden blocks.

Once I have finished working on my mate's 1990 CBR600 which is fast turning into a complete restoration project I can get down and dirty with the GSXR.

I have also found out that GSXR forums are nowhere near as good as this one!

Good news ..... Gixer sidestand .... half way to becoming a Falco

Question.. serious..

What clock does it have? KMH or MPH?

UK speedo/clocks for Gixxer 750s arent cheap. My mate recently got a German Gixxer 750 of a similar age UK registered and it cost him a fortune.

You could always race prep it... I suppose....

Kwackerz wrote:Question.. serious..

What clock does it have? KMH or MPH?

UK speedo/clocks for Gixxer 750s arent cheap. My mate recently got a German Gixxer 750 of a similar age UK registered and it cost him a fortune.

Don't they sell those "speedo healers" that sort this out?

No, it's got electronic (?) stuff involved inside the clocks (unless it's a different model, but i dont think it is) and you cant do the black box conversion for it.

Kwackerz wrote:No, it's got electronic (?) stuff involved inside the clocks (unless it's a different model, but i dont think it is) and you cant do the black box conversion for it.

That's a bit of a poo then