Somebody help a Kiwi-to-be

[lewis_walker]

I'm moving to New Zealand with my family in a few months or so. My wife and I are doing the UK Direct Access motorcycle training, which means that after 5 days of instructer-led riding 6-hours a day on a CB500, we'll be straight onto the BIG bikes. Wahoo!

I've been looking at the Yamaha TDM900, with a view to buying one here and bringing it over, but...

When I look on the web to find out more about biking in New Zealand, I'm a bit worried because I can only find a handful of bike dealers / servicing companies etc, and most of the bikes I see advertised are off-roaders like 250 singles and such.

I don't want to go bringing something over that turns into a real headache to keep serviced, and sell when the time comes.

Can anyone give me a real heads-up on the state of biking in NZ, the second-hand market, servicing, etc...?

Also - why are second-hand bikes so incredibly expensive?!!

[jazbug5]

Welcome in advance!

Where will you be coming to?
Look at the trading section here: also, other people here are waaaaay more knowledgable (I'm a newbie here- also from the UK) but I'd imagine you'd be better getting your bike here.

Jaz

PS if you're coming to Wellington, let me know!

[bluninja]

Welcome to the forum....costs about £600 to ship a bike to NZ from UK. But be aware that if you've owned it less than 12 months you will have to pay GST (equivalent to VAT) on the value of the bike AND shipping and insurance when you bring it in. Getting it registered and on the road is easy as.

Running a bike in NZ is far cheaper than the UK...and servicing is the same ...in that there's good places and not so good places.

Best of luck with the direct access and the move.

[aff-man]

if you looking for bikes in nz fron a dealer go to www.bikepoint.co.nz it lists a lot of bikes for sale from dealers and such. If you looking at a private sale either www.tradem.co.nz (auction site with some buy now prices on bikes) or www.te.co.nz (classified sales online paper but the psots are like 2 weeks old but you should be able to get an idea of the market) . Good luck

[FROSTY:Me]

Good onya mate for coming over--It might pay you to check on the price of bikes here. For example you can buy a gsx1200 suzuki brand new for only $10000. which is like 3333. quid.
A good quality second hand 900 you could have for 6-9000 again thats like
2000-3000 quid.
Depending on where you are going to in Godzone you'll find plenty of good sized bikes for sale.

[lewis_walker]

I can pick up a brand new V-Strom 1000 here in the UK for £6,349. When I look on BikePoint NZ, I see it for $18,995.

Second-hand (2yrs old, 30,000 miles) in the UK: £2995
In NZ, I've found a comparable 2yr old bike, selling for $14,995!!

This is what I can't make sense of - I see it again and again for all sorts of bikes. In NZ the new price is pretty much the same as the UK new price after currency conversion. But the 2nd hand prices seem to exhibit ludicrously low depreciation. I've seen 10yr old bikes selling for 75% of the new price!!

Can anyone point me in the right direction?!

[ching_ching]

Ullo Guv, gonna ge a nu mo~ah en? Good onya, I sey go~onya. Don orget ta bring ya bangas un mushy peas en? Good onya.

I guess it's like a lot of people, putting up a price that they think they should get for something they're flicking off. Some people can be unrealistic sometimes. Then again you probably think the whole of bloody NZ is full of unrealistic people? Can't blame ya guv! Good onya

ching

PS sorry for taking the piss... I'm on a Plastic Pommy high at the mo (no offence to the pom brothers and sistas) :

[LB]

.
Hi Lewis, welcome to KiwiBiker.

Lots of friendly biker types here in NZ.

Can't help re the bike prices sorry, figures just aren't my thing (but darling, I can't be overdrawn - I still have some cheques left in the cheque book!)

Good luck with deciding what bike to get. TDM900's seem good bikes - not many of them over here as far as I know.

Have you decided where to live in NZ? Pick Wellington!! Pick Wellington!! (see ProX's thread for some info on cities etc)
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=5535

.

[Ms Piggy]

Welcome Lewis, :spudwave:
Another import - brillant What brings you and your family to our loverly land? You've come to the right place for info anyway. So you & your wife both ride? Where are you settling? Wellington we hope.

[DEATH_INC.]

Yep,us kiwi's are a tight bunch,we don't like losing too much on stuff.
Generally though,it's not too bad,and there are still some cheapies about....
As far as service goes,there's plenty of bike shops in all the major city's and you'll find a few others dotted around the countryside too.
there's always a city(prolly look like towns to you)within a couple of hours drive from most places(unless yer moving to the south island high country....)

[lewis_walker]

Hi Sea lily,
What's bringing us to NZ? What's to keep us away??!! As for me and my wife both riding - hopefully, if we pass the test (just the two of us on a five-day intensive course, test at the end). Neither of us has owned a bike yet (I have ridden, kind of 'unofficially'...),
As for where we're settling - I've no idea, yet! We'll go where my job takes us, then take some time to get to know Godzone land and decide where we want to end up.
Probably get a business going somewhere..

I hope you guys are as welcoming in real life as you are in cyberspace..!

[James Deuce]

Hiya Lewis. Looking forward to meeting you one day!! From my experience in the UK a pound is a dollar is a pound if you know what I mean, in terms of what you can buy with it. Except housing. It is MUCH cheaper in NZ. Once you get here and start earning NZ dollars stop doing mental currency conversions unless you want to drive yourself mental.

Bike prices in NZ reflect the MUCH smaller market for new purchases, and don't forget that they have to be shipped a fair distance to get here, and in small quantities. Residuals are higher because once again the market is smaller. Don't forget we have the population of Hampshire living in a slighly greater land area than the UK. Having said that Suzuki always manage to snap up other countries brand new unsaleable stuff as the model years roll over and then sell them here at about 75% of what brand new was about 6 months ago.

You will not be able to believe how uncongested our roads are - unless you move to Auckland in which case the motorway system is pretty much like the M25 between 7am and 10am. But once you get out of town the traffic quietens down pretty rapidly.

You'll have no trouble with servicing, and I would say that a TDM900 would be just about perfect for NZ conditions, as would a V-Strom - which is why no one who lives in NZ actually buys them! Each town with more than 10,000 people usually has a couple of multi-franchise dealers, and any city will have at least 5 dealers, some exclusive to a particular brand.

[ching_ching]

Gidday again LW,

As for deciding where you would like to settle, allow me to whet your appetites with my neck of the woods (feels like I'm submitting a proposal to the IOC for where to hold the next Olympic Games).

Right, here we go. I live in a small town called Turangi in the North Island, population approx 4 thou give or take. It's on the south side of Lake Taupo, the largest lake in NZ. We don't have traffic lights, parking meters, traffic wardens, we got a pub, 2 X bowsers, a shopping centre and some good roads and some better ones out west that seem to be more plodless but I digress.
If you're into trout fishing then we have the Tongariro River with some big rainbows lurking. If you're into hunting there is both pigs and deer (mainly reds) but word is there are some japs lurking somewhere.
Into your snow skiing? No probs, when the seasons right, mountains are about half an hour away (pic attached taken from Taupo end). If you're into your tramping then there's heaps of tracks and mountain walks, moreso since your on the National Park's doorstep. Into your boating, kayaking, lake fishing, jetskiing, etc? Lake Taupo is totally fresh water, a boon when it's hot az. (pic attached of Motutaiko Island, supposed to be an old Maori burial site). Don't get me wrong, we aren't exactly Peyton Place cause just like a lot of towns we have the usual young, riff raff getting up to no good but tis pretty nuisance shit more than anything else.

So what dya reckon guv? If you're more into the bigger town genre than there is the town of Taupo just 54km north on the other side of the Lake. More shops, more things to do but more people.

Don't go to Auckland or Wellington either no what other people tell ya... Jaffas on one end and Windies on the other! You have been warned bro!

ching

[toads]

Hi Sea lily,
What's bringing us to NZ? What's to keep us away??!! As for me and my wife both riding - hopefully, if we pass the test (just the two of us on a five-day intensive course, test at the end). Neither of us has owned a bike yet (I have ridden, kind of 'unofficially'...),
As for where we're settling - I've no idea, yet! We'll go where my job takes us, then take some time to get to know Godzone land and decide where we want to end up.
Probably get a business going somewhere..

I hope you guys are as welcoming in real life as you are in cyberspace..!

Hi Lewis and welcome, Come to Gisborne, we desperately need new blood, we are all interbred to hell ( just kidding), it's a smallish city on the east coast of the north island, the housing here is really cheap compared to the larger cities and we have the most interesting biking roads, lovely beaches and year round fruit, citrus grows ramapant here and often is seen rotting in piles on the ground because people can't be bothered to pick it up off their lawns, our family moved from the UK when I was a littl'n' but I remember my mother's horror at the fruit just "wasting". she went preserving mad for quite a few years. The cost of living is very affordable and the Gisborne district is very supportive of local business too. ( Oh hell now I sound like a tourist brochure), Anyhow, come on in the water's lovely!!

[El Dopa]

I can pick up a brand new V-Strom 1000 here in the UK for £6,349. When I look on BikePoint NZ, I see it for $18,995.

Second-hand (2yrs old, 30,000 miles) in the UK: £2995
In NZ, I've found a comparable 2yr old bike, selling for $14,995!!

This is what I can't make sense of - I see it again and again for all sorts of bikes. In NZ the new price is pretty much the same as the UK new price after currency conversion. But the 2nd hand prices seem to exhibit ludicrously low depreciation. I've seen 10yr old bikes selling for 75% of the new price!!

Can anyone point me in the right direction?!

Welcome fellow Pomgolian.

There is a very strong second-hand market for cars in NZ. Most of the population here don't seem to buy new cars because the new list prices are the same as abroad (if the currency was converted direct), but the average salary is lower if directly compared to the UK, for example.

Except in the car market, this doesn't really matter too much as the cost of living is generally lower, but it does mean that 'second'-hand cars go through a lot of owners before ending up at the scrapyard.

There also isn't the mentaility here that you 'need' to get a new car/fridge/telly every year. If it ain't broke, dont replace it.

Strong second-hand market = higher prices generally. I assume the bike market is the same.