Importing a motorcycle

[Cormanus]

If it were me, I'd start with these web sites and see where that took me:

https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle/...ion-faqs-0
https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle/...ion-faqs-7
https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle

From this page https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/mid/manufactu...tails/1154 it appears the CB1300 has not been registered for importation to the US.

In Australia, from this year, and much to the annoyance of dealers, it will be legal for a person to import a new vehicle from a country that has similar vehicle standards to Australia. I know Japan is on the list, and I suspect that, for motorcycles which aren't affected by the position of the steering wheel, the range of countries may be larger.

But I've no idea how difficult it is to persuade regulatory authorities in the US that a vehicle complies with relevant standards. It looks from a brief scan of one of the pages above that NHTSA may leave it to manufacturers to certify that vehicles comply. So, if you could get Honda to certify that the CB1300 meets all regulatory requirements in the USA, it may not be too hard to import one. But I don't really know. However there's a lot of people in the US and lots of them love automobiles, so there must be people out there who know lots about importing models that aren't usually sold.

[Lord Popgun]

And here is one from Customs and Border protection. If you read it, it does say you can import a non conforming vehicle, but you must post a bond and have it modified to be conforming. It all looks like a pain to me.

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-e...orting-car

[Cormanus]

How non conforming would something like a CB1300 actually be? For example, I can't image the Japanese make large capacity motorcycles that don't conform to the highest emission standards. Other mods, like having front indicators on at all times as running lights, can't be too expensive or difficult, can they?

In the end, I'm speculating. I have no idea, really.

[Lord Popgun]

All I know is that the bike the customs agents found on the carrier I was on had Japenese instruments. They didn’t like that. I don’t know what else. Maybe like you said, turn sigs, reflectors. I really don’t know.

The only reason I know some is because the bike was hid in our squadron’s designated spot for staging our offload and I got put in charge of the area. So I was there when they looked at it. And as is (still) typical in the Navy, nobody had a clue what I was in charge of. I still don’t know either

[LongRanger_imp]

It's not a requirement in the U.S. for the front indicators to serve as running lights, nor is it a requirement for the headlight to act as a daytime running light.

[the Ferret]

Honda had a similar bike here in the US in 1994 Called the CB1000 " Big One". It didn't have the fairing on it though, it was a naked.

[LongRanger_imp]

Yes, but water-cooled if I recall.

[the Ferret]

So is the CB 1300 I believe

[Banned_imp]

Isn't the FJ-09 selling relatively well?

If so, why wouldn't the fairinged (?) CB1300? This is a market segment I know next to nothing about.

[the Ferret]

I think the FJ09 sells because it is so different from everything else. Light weight, high horsepower, triple cylinder.

The closest thing to the CB1300 sold recently in the U.S. I would think would be the Suzuki Bandit 1250S, would it not?