is there a ferry that goes from the United States to ireland

eamoc

I am considering purchasing an expensive mountain bike from this boutique company in the Mid West United States. However the customs and excise and VAT etc would push the cost out of the 'zone of plausibility'

So I'm thinking if I went on a long wild camping adventure, I could make my way to the east coast and put the bike on the ferry. Then when it docks in Ireland, I could just cycle off as if the bike was mine all along.

Has anybody any advice or insight into my cunning plan?
Or am I being too much of a cute hoor?

prunudo

eamoc wrote: »

I am considering purchasing an expensive mountain bike from this boutique company in the Mid West United States. However the customs and excise and VAT etc would push the cost out of the 'zone of plausibility'

So I'm thinking if I went on a long wild camping adventure, I could make my way to the east coast and put the bike on the ferry. Then when it docks in Ireland, I could just cycle off as if the bike was mine all along.

Has anybody any advice or insight into my cunning plan?
Or am I being too much of a cute hoor?

To add a layer to your cute hoorism, you could also fly out to the states for a biking holiday with 'any old bike' and buy new bike over there, ride a few trails, muddy it up and return home with it. 'Honest Mr. Customs offical, I always had this bike'.
A lot of effort and not even sure if you'd get away with it.

Wishbone Ash

There's no 'ferry' from the US to Ireland. Even if there was, it would probably take a couple of weeks and cost way more than any saving you'd make.

Wailin

What's the bike, out of interest, ya cute hoor? :pac:

athlone573

When you do this don't forget to swap the brake levers so you don't faceplant.

8valve

Don't some cargo ships still have a couple of spaces for passengers, who can work as deckhands/dishwashers during journeys?

Buddy of mine is thinking of returning home from California this way, in some kind of Hemingway-esque adventure.

https://www.ncl.com/fr/en/cruises/13-day-transatlantic-from-new-york-to-london-france-and-ireland-GETAWAY13NYCHALBFSDUBLEHZEESOU?destinations=4294960639&embarkationport=4294940533&numberOfGuests=4294953449&sortBy=price&autoPopulate=f&from=resultpage&itineraryCode=GETAWAY13NYCHALBFSDUBLEHZEESOU
Sure ships still cross the Atlantic. It is a cruise rather than a ferry though and would take a week.

Eur 2k for a single studio room 10 sq metres.

Jim2007

eamoc wrote: »

Has anybody any advice or insight into my cunning plan?
Or am I being too much of a cute hoor?

Right because the customs officers are real amateurs and you are the professional.... so obviously it would never enter their heads what you might be up to.

It is your responsibility to prove the bike is not new and that you took it out with you, not their responsibility to prove it is new.

eamoc

8valve wrote: »

Don't some cargo ships still have a couple of spaces for passengers, who can work as deckhands/dishwashers during journeys?

Buddy of mine is thinking of returning home from California this way, in some kind of Hemingway-esque adventure.

That's what I was thinking

eamoc

Wailin wrote: »

What's the bike, out of interest, ya cute hoor? :pac:

This bad boy!
https://bearclawbicycleco.com/beaux-jaxon-titanium-gravel-plus-bike/

eamoc

athlone573 wrote: »

When you do this don't forget to swap the brake levers so you don't faceplant.

I didn't know that American brakes were the 'wrong way around'

eamoc

Jim2007 wrote: »

Right because the customs officers are real amateurs and you are the professional.... so obviously it would never enter their heads what you might be up to.

It is your responsibility to prove the bike is not new and that you took it out with you, not their responsibility to prove it is new.

Well that's alright then. I'll just ship a 50 euro job that I bought on donedeal and show the customs people the receipt

eamoc

I think the best bet would be see if I can buy the frameset, and build the rest myself.

SomethingElse

You could strap an ibc each side of it and pedal across. Just be careful of icebergs in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

athlone573

You could swim/cycle across the Bering Strait with it and evade the Russian border guards all the way to Finland

Lemming

eamoc wrote: »

This bad boy!
https://bearclawbicycleco.com/beaux-jaxon-titanium-gravel-plus-bike/

If it's titanium you want, more than a few frame manufacturers on this side of the Atlantic to pick from.

eamoc

SomethingElse wrote: »

You could strap an ibc each side of it and pedal across. Just be careful of icebergs in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

I'd still have to talk my way round once I landed back in Ireland though. And what with the news coverage, fame and notoriety it might be a bit difficult to slink away quietly once I landed. I also have a funny feeling that I might have a serious pain in my botty

eamoc

athlone573 wrote: »

You could swim/cycle across the Bering Strait with it and evade the Russian border guards all the way to Finland

I was thinking of this. I could sneak some poteen into the frame of the bike and do some sort of twee paddywack ****e on the border

vicwatson

eamoc wrote: »

Well that's alright then. I'll just ship a 50 euro job that I bought on donedeal and show the customs people the receipt

Would it not have to go on a carnet note and therefore serial number etc would be noted on the document?

eamoc

vicwatson wrote: »

Would it not have to go on a carnet note and therefore serial number etc would be noted on the document?

I don't know anything about it. That's why I posted

eamoc

Lemming wrote: »

If it's titanium you want, more than a few frame manufacturers on this side of the Atlantic to pick from.

True, but none that I could find that also do titanium forks

domrush

I think you’re talking more than a week to get from America to the Uk, and then a separate ferry to dublin. There’s no way this would cost less than just paying the customs cost.

Find it hard to believe no company in Europe is doing titanium forks!

rizzodun

Are you sure that comes with a Ti fork?

Googling the fork all it mentions is Carbon...

EDIT: Ahh I see they indeed have a Ti fork, just the bike build you link comes with a Carbon one.

Lemming

eamoc wrote: »

True, but none that I could find that also do titanium forks

Just buy a Ti hardtail XC MTB. No anguishing over what material your forks are because you'll just slap suspension forks on it and be done with this weird CX craze . We all know it's just roadies wanting to embrace their inner mountain-biker but unwilling to upset the balance of the peloton by admitting that they really want to go tubeless, ride fat(ter) tyres and get muddy :pac:

fat bloke

People bring motorcycles home from the states. Fly out, buy the bike, spend a few weeks out there on a riding holiday and one you rack up a certain mileage (so many 1000km) you avoid or minimise some of the import charges - might be vat. I'm not sure if the details.
But anyway yeah, there are slow boat to China shipping companies that will crate up your bike and bring it over. Not sure it's worth the hassle or saving unless it was special or significant.
The other option as said is to bring a bike box over with you, either empty or containing a bike dragged out of a skip, ditch that and bring your new bike home. Like you'd buy a laptop.
A buddy of mine did this years ago. Bought a very nice Trek with Dura ace from R&A Cycles New York

Icyseanfitz

ye cuuute hooors

SCOL

I used to do Triathlons and used to put my bike onto the plane in a bike box. traveled throughout Europe never a problem
got swabbed for coke lots of times in the Airport you could fly over with a bike spend a few days over there as a
holiday, put the new bike in a box come home and just say it's your bike.

CramCycle

There is a crowd in Lithuania that Doozerie and myself got a look at one of their beautiful Titanium bikes first hand a few weeks ago. I'll get the brand name off the owner this week, he claims they are big over there and way more reasonably priced than anything this side of Europe.

Jonesy101

Jim2007 wrote: »

Right because the customs officers are real amateurs and you are the professional.... so obviously it would never enter their heads what you might be up to.

It is your responsibility to prove the bike is not new and that you took it out with you, not their responsibility to prove it is new.

You could either fly there and fly back with sports equipment or get a friend to bring it over when visiting. only cost you extra 70€ for sports equipment in a carboard bike box (the ones the come in). its been done a million times before, its not that novel.

If you dont know anyone and would rather not spend 1000s on flights and ferry journey and 2 weeks off work you could find someone on www.craigslist."townwherebikeisboughtfrom" that is already flying to ireland and give them an extra 500 as sweetner.

eamoc

fat bloke wrote: »

People bring motorcycles home from the states. Fly out, buy the bike, spend a few weeks out there on a riding holiday and one you rack up a certain mileage (so many 1000km) you avoid or minimise some of the import charges - might be vat. I'm not sure if the details.
But anyway yeah, there are slow boat to China shipping companies that will crate up your bike and bring it over. Not sure it's worth the hassle or saving unless it was special or significant.
The other option as said is to bring a bike box over with you, either empty or containing a bike dragged out of a skip, ditch that and bring your new bike home. Like you'd buy a laptop.
A buddy of mine did this years ago. Bought a very nice Trek with Dura ace from R&A Cycles New York

Cool,
It's actually cheaper for me to buy the frameset from them and then build the bike myself here in Ireland

Martinet76

Cheaper to ship road and ferry be to expensive

ednwireland

know someone with a medical condition that can't fly. they come over on cargo ships as passenger.

https://www.cargoshipvoyages.com/

although the flight option is probably easier.