Chromer I bought mine from the dealer that was from Japan. No difference in the bike and warranty for me. The only difference with the bike compared to Aust is no exhaust flapper.. they also run a smaller 66 toothed rear sprocket as well, I think the Aust model run a 72 tooth but don't quote me on that. The bike has a ADR compliance plate attached under the seat. All imports have to have that compliance plate.

My guess is it's the dealer at Ballarat??? Someone told me to go there, but I wasn't interested on an import...
Check with insurance companies how insurance is going to go with it, imported cars very hard and expensive to insure, also parts compatibility, what's different to O'S models and Aussie released models???

Hattown, there is no dealer in Ballarat. Let me guess. Does the dealer have multiple outlets, and is this one base in geelong?

I don't know rowie, I was told to see Harley shop in Ballarat about 5 or 6 weeks ago as he just got big stock up of imports, prob a private shop or something???
Does that make sense???

Squid in Ballarats been importing fo rprobably 20+ years, bought a few parts off him, always good honest service and fair prices. If i were looking to replace my bike it would be the first place i`d go. The shops now called American Made Cycles.

Just another thought on the import bike, is the Aussie fuel going to be ok in them compared to the fuels the bike has been run on in another country??? I belive fuels in different countries have different levels of what ever is in fuel??? I'm no expert but might be worth checking out...

Yep the bike was used but stock, new tires and 12mths warranty on the bike as well. I haven't had a problem with it since. Done a lot of mods to the bike and you wouldn't know it was an import. The Jap models don't have the exhaust flapper valve and a couple of other things that the Aust bikes have. Other than that they are HD from the factory. Made for export.

just on the dealer in ballarat subject i was in harley heaven in melbourn today the 30.12.2010  at 115 beckett st  and the bloke behind the spair parts counter told me that he hears ther will be a harley dealer ship shop in ballarat soon.

 

sorry double post

Is this anything to do with the emisions policies they have in japan..... EG the same reasons there are so many thousands of pocket rocket imports (or grey models as they name them) spread accross our great country, especially after companies like sumoto in melbourne base their business around this loophole.

As far as I understood it, you can only keep a vehicle for a certain number of years before it has to be traded in (to meet Japan carbon emision requirments). Australia's policies being more lax (per population) we can except these bikes as bargains when they HAVE to get rid of them before they become worthless?

SJ

I imported my 1996 FLSTN from Singapore to Oz in 2006 after owning it for 6 years and riding over there. I applied through DOTARS for approval and it was granted without a single question or hiccup, and when the crate arrived customs opened the lid, looked in and called it good to go-- not even a steam clean required on our end.

I took great care in cleaning and packing the bike in Singers and had shipping exporters on both ends to handle the export and import. The DOTARS paperwork was a lot of effort but worth it. The most important thing is to ensure it is import compliant with Aussie ADR rules BEFORE it leaves from O/S. In my case the ADR's here matched the factory bike set up for Singapore rules being KMH speedo, left side headlight, indicators, etc.

A mate of mine was trying to tell me that you can buy a bike from a US dealer and get it registered in your home state. Then you take a holiday in the US for a couple of weeks, starting about a week after you buy the bike.

Go riding around on your bike while on holiday then you are free to bring it back getting it complied to Aus standards I assume.

Sounded like a bit of a tall tale to me but, I really don't know the ins and outs of it all.

Mate bought a Jap imported 2006 Low Rider.
Had to get numerous mods done to bring it up too Aussie specs.
One notable differance was that it had no alarm as standard (apparently the japs don't know how to steel)
The wiring harness is also suppose to be different.
For what he saved initially which was fuck-all, his had to put a lot more coin into it. Could of bought a new bike here in Aus and saved in the long term.

Let the buyer beware....

When I brought my bike over from the US all I had to change was the headlight and indicators.

I still have my MPH speedo and didn't have to change anything else.

No Harley dealer coming to Ballarat,but i heard there is a truck dealership in Bendigo trying to buy out Shepparton Harley then shift it to Bendigo,Phils Garage on the market as well.

Well I have been given the green light (yes, by the trouble & strife) to look for a new bike, not brand new but close to, and am curious about the whole import thing but it sounds like a bit too much of a fuck around. Might have a chat ZAG and MF on the next ride.

Re the speedo thing, what if you got the dealer in the states to fit a KPH one prior to it landing here? Wouldn't that avoid the $2.5K BS charge?

Personaly , i think if your at the new bike stage or new car stage stay there , but given that you want a seconhand bike , Harley would be one of the few bikes i would buy seconhand , simply because theres thousands of low mileage only used on a sunny sunday afternoon harleys out there, and i don't think there holding the price has much has they used too .

Dunno for me to pay for one in japan or the states , i've either got to take someones word , or go for a holiday to see the bike , and for that amount of money I would'nt take there word , so add the holiday money to check your getting a good one , all sounds too hard for me ,

Bloke I know is picking up a Sporster Custom today from Peter Stevens, Adelaide, that is a USA import. Showed him this forum, so maybe he is a new member. Will be interested to see how the bike performs. I think he fell in love with it when he saw it in the dealership. As said before, they are all imports, and if it's the bike you want you will pay.

As far as i know...............for the last few years Harley has only made 2 different specs on models........

I domestic spec (with a spec for california)
and a universal spec for the rest of the world...........

All aimed at cost cutting by the company, so if there is
any differences between an import and a local it was done on arrival at destination......
Not by the factory in america.  All seems pretty logical to me.

By the way, my bike was an import, but being an 86, no compliance nessary, just

took paperwork to rta, and walked out 20 mins later with plate.

TB