Syscrush

Hey gang. BD will now bill a Canadian CC, but still won't ship outside the US. No problem, I had it sent to a UPS store ($30 fee you pay at the store when you go to pick up) in Buffalo and made the short round trip from Toronto to get my bike - well worth the hassle to save $400-500 on each one of 2 bikes.

The thing is, I was not emailed a proper receipt, so I expected to find the necessary paperwork attached to the bikes when I went to pick them up. NO SUCH LUCK.

What I ended up doing was just going to a Kinko's, adding the same 2 bikes to an online shopping cart, and printing out that web page. So I had a piece of paper with the descriptions of the bikes and their value on it. It worked, but Jesus H. was I nervous.

So, if you're in Canada and ordering from BD, make sure you get them to email you a receipt with your name, serial # of the bike, and value of the bike and print it out before you go to pick it up. It will save you a lot of stress and the possibility of hassle at the border (I feel like I just got lucky).

BD, get your act together when it comes to processing these Canadian orders.

coldfeet

Just a question, was the customs agent male or female? My sister, who has crossed that border many times, says she cringes when she sees a female agent ahead. Don't know why at that particular crossing, but every.. time.. there is a female in the booth....

And thanks for the tip.

DX-MAN

Here's a better tip -- don't deal with BikesDirect.com.

DieselDan

I wonder if you had assembled the bike in NY and rode it across the border would they have said anything at customs?

achoo

Or have a bike rack on your car when you go to pick it up.

DataJunkie

My goodness. I was cross examined every way to Sunday by a female Canadian customs agent in Vancouver International Airport. I was wondering if all Canadian customs agents were downright scary or just the ladies.

wunderkind

So far I had very good experience crossing the border back from US. We usually load up our car on a day tripper to Washington State. Never had a problem. Female custom agents too. I even brought a new bike and a large children play kitchen set. No problem. Just looked at our papers and told me to move along.
Then again, I use the lesser known border crossing, so the border officers are usually more laid back.

Syscrush

I have crossed many times and always had a pretty painless and pleasant experience in both directions almost every single time. When I go on my motorcycle they usually don't care if I remove my helmet, and they've only asked to see inside my bags one time.

Everyone at the CDN border this time was really nice, but they weren't keeners - they didn't inspect the bikes or anything. Of course, there's a good chance that they're good at reading people and could see that I was being honest. If I was saying I had nothing to declare, or was lying about the value of the bikes, the whole scenario might have gone down very differently.