bigears

thanks for all replies

if as a french resident you retain your uk licence with a no longer valid home address and return to the uk on holiday, is it valid to use in the uk?

I've been sent an invoice to pay for the item.  I have a french paypal account, can I use this to pay in dollars, the money comes out of a credit agricole euro account.  SD are you saying I will definately be charged?

  thinking of purchasing a luggage box for my scooter from usa.  It is no more than 25 cm by 25 by 25 and costs 80$.  If its posted to france will the customs people stop it and want some import tax?  In the uk sometimes they do sometimes they don't.  

goldwings are too big, heavy and thirsty for me, I'll see how we go with the burgman.

hi you can probably in practice get away with it.  If you want to abide by the letter of the 183 day rule go to the uk/spain/germany half way through the 12 month period.  If you are not working don't worry about it just keep a low profile. 

went out today and ordered a suzuki burgman 400 with a top box.  Altogether it has 62 + 46 + 10 = 118 litres of storage, the wife can always carry a small rucksack.  We have light weight camping gears so we will see how it goes for touring, if it doesn't work out I'll buy something different.  I cannot be bothered to change gear nowadays.  The old bike I  was considering was   http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160137472002&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX&refitem=190130682565&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget    

Hdi engines can cause awful problems.  I prefere to buy older technology for my own transport.  I have a transit with the older duratorq diesel engine not the hdi version.  My previous diesel was a sharan 1.9 which did 185k with only a glowplug change and no problems.  The diesel you put into the tank has a lot to do with the problems as has been mentioned.  In the UK I prefere to buy from a shell garage rather than a supermarket.  Here in france I buy from a variety of supermarkets.  I use an additive quite regularily.  My philosophy is don't buy the latest technology.  If you really want quality buy japaneses, toyotas are about as good a make as you can get.

hi is there any chance of registering a motorbike here that is almost of classic status (24 years).  It was never sold as such on the continent,  it is a special edition for the domestic japanese market, speedo in km..  I gather when it is 25 years old (from manufacture or first registration?) it can be registered as a classic with limitations on how far afield you can travel.   I have not yet bought the bike, just thinking about it, I don't know if I could live with the geographic restrictions placed on classic bikes.  The alternative is to just buy a bike here in france.  I want a tourer that we can go camping with,  anyone know what deauvilles are like?  A maxi scooter might be the answer,  any advice would be appreciated.