A Thing of Beauty

OnkelB wrote:

Well, to give you an idea I made around $55,000 last year of which I paid some $19,000 in income tax - then there's the 25% sales tax (VAT) on everything I buy with what's left (rent excluded though).

There are upsides too like free school, free medical care and so on but still..

With taxes like that, I would not consider that free.

There are some real nice builds on that site...

For 37k I would probably buy an 1198 and a Speed Triple.

The last Cycle World has an article on the Monkeys. I like the CB. Well done.

OnkelB wrote:

As for the prices I agree it sounds a bit steep but you have to realize that vehicles are insanely expensive over here in Denmark. A 2009 Z1000 will set you back just about $40,000 and you'd have a hard time finding a new Harley for less than 70 grand.

So could you simply pay a U.S. dealer $25K for a Harley and pay say $2k shipping to import it? Even if you still had to pay 25% VAT (and I don't know if you do on imported stuff) you would still be at less than half of the $70k. Would your government then find some other way to steal the $35k you would have saved? Ed

Well, yes and no, wish I could, here's how it works:

I can buy a car or motorcycle in say Germany or Sweden where vehicles are cheap and import it to Denmark, no problem. The problems start when I want to register it and get a license plate on it.

Any new imported vehicle is met with a 180% (one hundred and eighty percent!!) registration tax - so a new vehicle imported for $10,000 would end up costing $28,000 registered in Denmark.

As for used imported vehicles they have to go through a "customs inspection" where their trading value in Denmark is assessed based on age, condition etc. - this assessed value is then taxed according to some customs formula I can't explain.

An example: A guy I know has this imported MKII below for sale. The untaxed price is $5,190 - if I want to register it however I have to pay $3193 in registration tax so it will end up costing me $8383.

Now all of the above assumes that the imported vehicle has a Danish type approval, which all vehicles need to have in order to pass inspection. If I'm importing a model that hasn't been previously imported to Denmark I have to pay for a type approval inspection which could easily cost another $10,000 or more.

Obviously we have found ways around this. The Danish registration tax follows the VIN, in case of a motorcycle that would be the frame. The trick is to find a Danish titled beater bike with a good frame, import a similar bike in good condition from Germany, Sweden or whereever and then swap the parts over into the frame that has already been taxed/registered. That's what we did with my 1100, it's an import from Germany swapped into a Danish frame.

thats crazy stuff mannn!!!
Here in the U.S ya can get lucky and pick up a bike like that 750 for 400 bucks and make it look just as good for no more then 1,500! if ya played your cards right.

Just takes a little skill and time, But its worth it!

Them are some rad bikes though reguardless.