I thought it was a good looker so I took the liberty of taking a quick photo



At Costa Coffee, Fonthill, Clondalkin

Here's one from the recent Tottenham rally. Note the custom seat, made in Oz.

I've been tempted by the 1200RS/GT in the past. What has always put me off is that one of the biggest plus points of the K75/100/1100, the accessibility and simplicity, is largely lost with the 1200 (I cannot help but think that the aluminium frame and telelever front end are solutions to problems that never existed).

Don't know of the accessibility issues on these K1200's, never owned one, but the mono shock front end on my R1100RT was just great on the Tottenham run. It was smooth as silk, I really prefer it to the normal fork business.

I dialed up the rear shock before I left and was dialing it down at every stop we made till it came good and even today riding out to a couple of jobs to use up the fuel before a strip down, with no luggage, it's set just right.

There's an awful lot to remove just to be able to see the alternator:



Getting it out is a major strip down.

So it's not 5 bolts to drop the motor on these like an old KBike I guess ...

I notice motorworks will ship a bike here for about 500 GBP. With the low mileage bikes I see over there that may well be another option. Just move everything bar the instruments into a local frame/vin and it'll be legal.

I'm stuck with 2 x RBikes at the moment, but we all need to plan ahead

There used to be a huge import duty on second-hand vehicles in Oz. Has that altered?

I haven't looked into it yet but I'd say yes. They introduced GST (VAT) and everything changed. Besides it's not a vehicle, it's spare parts  There is a mob in the USA importing bikes to here and doing all the paperwork for you but it seems to be based around harley's. Huge savings to be made there.

I'm not up with the latest but it used to be no duty on M/cycles, no local industry to protect unlike cars.

 With GST (like VAT) it could have all changed.

I looked it up, 5% duty on the price of the vehicle then total up that plus freight costs, forwarder fees, the cost for a crate made from a special import approved wood and delousing on arrival fees and add 10% GST on that amount to get a total. And you have to have approval to register it before any of this happens. It all gets a little impracticable and complicated.

I checked out bringing some K1100s and 1200s from US and it hardly worth the trouble.

They certainly make it difficult. You have to prove ownership before you can apply to import it and if you don't have import approval when it lands here, customs store it at your expense until import approval is obtained. And you can only import pre 1989 bikes. Sounds like catch 22 to me

In April, '07 I imported a 1977 R75/7 to OZ from the US. I had to prove I'd owned it for more than eighteen months. I bought it new so that was no drama. It cost me USD$600 to place it, uncrated, in a container from Long Beach, California, which took until early October to reach my brother's house just south of Brissy. Customs siezed it because it had 'grass seeds' in the tread of the tyres, then steam cleaned the entire bike for an additional AU$400, no option to me. Then the tax man took his cut of AU$700 based on the value of the bike to the authorities at the time, again, no option to me as they decide once they appraise the bike, what they're gunna charge you.
So, $1700 all to bring the old bomb in.The state of Queensland had me prove, through an independent agent, its roadworthiness, for $90, before I could rego it.

In late '08 I disassembled a 1991 R100 in the US, placed the bits into a crate, and brought it in as spare parts. It cost less than a grand in shipping and fees. I never rego'd that frame's VIN but the spares made a complete bike on an existing frame.

Imagine the expense if it was a bike worth ten grand or more Down Under!