I was wondering if anyone here has or knew of a person who has gone through the process of registering and titling a grey market motorcycle in California. If so, can you describe to me the process? I'm looking into buying a Japanese FZR400 but so far, the people I've talked to (DMV, CHP, Import company, and a couple of riders who've registered 49 state model bikes in CA) have no idea of the exact process.

So I have only bits and pieces. What I've learned so far is this, I would take the bike to the DMV and get some paper work and they would send me over to the CHP for a VIN # verification and then I would go back to the DMV and get it registered. One of them also told me I needed a certificate of some sort that says the bike meets Federal Emissions Standards.

I'm looking for information on some of the things that the DMV will be doing, describe the process with more detail? And also what I have to do to the bike to meet DMV requirements. I know that it may also depend on the office, how they do things, and mostly luck. But it seems that there are a number of people who have successfully registered their grey bikes in CA, which leads me to believe that I'm missing some information.

Also, the bike does not have a title, the import company was not able to obtain a title from the seller in Japan. From what I know so far, a bill of sale from the Import Company would be sufficient to prove that I own the bike. It also has 10k km, but if DMV requires 7500mi or more then that won't be too much of a problem to bump up the mileage, it'll just take some time. I haven't purchased the bike yet, I'd like to get more decent info before taking that step. Please help!

Thanks
Henry

 

I talked to a guy a few days ago (while looking at his Ducati 888) who had registered a Yamaha RZV-500 a couple of years ago. The bike is probably a 1985, but it's a 2-stroke with no catalyst, so it doesn't come close to meeting any emission requirements.

He stated that it was a major pain in the butt to get the bike registered in California.

You can find out how to get in touch with him by going to www.clubdesmo.com and doing a topic search on the Bulletin Board for "888SPO". The guy's name is kenny.

 

Thanks Scott, I emailed him.