Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Please answer the question of Bike Transport.

Scenario:

A Bike Transport truck, leaves the North West every 2 weeks throughout the season, calling in at Solihull, Reading and Plymouth/Portmouth. Then takes the ferry to Santander, and has a drop off/collection point there, Madrid and Malaga.
You fly on your budget airline and collect your bike and luggage at the airport.

You save time, tyre and chain wear, hotels and tolls, fuel and ar5e muscles.

Question: How much is a bespoke service worth. ?????


(your answers may well be used as part of a business plan)

PS Route could well be UK > Alps.

Many thanks


PP

Saw loads of bikes on trailers going to Scotland this weekend, personally I dont understand it. I know the motorway is boring but to me it is part of the journey. For me it is the same going south in France it is part of the journey so to me your services would be of no use. But saying that I know loads who do the ferry to Spain instead of riding across so the idea may well have some merit. Good luck mate cheers Spud

This sort of service would be attractive to someone like me.
I have a limited amount of time off but would love to go to some of the far away places such as Morocco , Portugal.
I want that time to be spent 'on location' rather than getting there.

It is difficult to put a price on such a service but I think what you need to do is ask yourself the question What is the real cost of travelling down doing the same journey without it. Then work backwards to see if the business is viable.

As I have a maximum of a week home pass then I want to be spending 5 days in location. This has led me to NOT doing trips - eg Norway (£700 for a ferry with the bike or a long run through the tunnel) , Morocco - off road, Portugal and even Pyrinees

One problem with a business like this will be that 'traffic' to these destinations will be fluid through the year - lots of people wanting to get away on the bank holidays etc.
I do believe there are a couple of companies doing a similar service so google them.

You would need to workout how many bikes you could carry at one time.
Your expenses ie fuel, ferry costs
Your wage
and what you would do if you only have a few bookings instead of a full load.

cheers Spud

Billy Bike Truck used to run a similar service, when I looked a couple of years ago it was around the £500 area but not sure if it still runs.
If you're going to Morocco you need a small fortune to ride your own bike down there and a lot of time (it took us 4 days each way).
Far cheaper is to fly/hire and it's doable in a standard 2 week holiday period (that's what we've just done this time).
For Spain you might aswell get on the Santander ferry for 24 hrs and get off refreshed for a good ride.

ive just replaced my rear tyre because of 3000mi of motorway in the last month, going oop narth and back a few times loaded up. 5mm of tread everywhere except the flat spot so bad the bike could nearly stand up on its own! i'd rather do 2000mi around my holiday destination, not just getting there.
this is a good idea i think but not for me as it stands, i live next to portsmouth ferryport!
however if i could fly out and meet my bike in, say, hamburg, vienna or venice, that could open up eastern europe and the adriatic to people like me who cant afford more than a week off at a time. you'd have to mak it cheaper than hiring a bike though

Thanks guys this is a business plan in the making, so all input helps.

The vehicle in question can carry 10 bikes and there are some tour operators out there already interested in 6-8 bikes 5 times a year. Out of season the service would be offered for around the UK transfers between dealers etc.
Prices around £500 UK to Sth Spain. (Time and Wear being the main advantage).
Not forgetting the bikes can be transported weeks before and after to allow for your travel plans. En Route stop off points allow for storage for bikes and gear.
Considering a trip from Calais to Malaga is over 2000km plus UK to Dover mileage, hotel, fuel and tolls, time and wear, there is always going to be some die hard ABR;s that want to do that, but also many tourers and sport bikers that don't.

Thanks again

P

I think there is plenty of scope for that sort of service and it's all about finding the customers with the dollar to pay for it. In Morocco for the last couple of weeks we met a Belgian couple who do guided tours of most European Countries (road and offroad) aswell as Morocco by both 2 and 4 wheels. We also saw a group of 10 french enduro bikes waiting to be collected to return to France after a weeks playing, 2 French sand buggies kept at Merzouga for 6 months of the year and a VW Toureg rally with about 20 vehicles and a 4x4 support truck.
It's all about getting a network of bread and butter trade customers en route and then top it off with private ones.

I can you it coming together

There are plenty of ABR'rs that would want to do the whole run and I would love to be one of them but I do think there are plenty that cannot or don't want to do the motorway run.

I am sure this sort of service isn't quite as price sensitive as you may think.
£500 for a return trip to south Spain doesn't sound bad to me and would be interested in this.

I am sure with the right type of marketing through sites such GS sites , ktm forums it would work
Good luck with it

I know Broadleaze Transport in Wilts used to do this, but I think it was on behalf of a motorcycle club...taking track bikes down to circuits in southern Spain in the winter. They were using 40 tonne artics.

You would need to make sure you had proper documentation for each bike...otherwise it just looks like you are exporting stolen motorcycles.

What size/type truck are you planning on using? Will you need an international O licence?