Hello all,

Going to California in May and thinking of buying a bike out there to ride the trails and then bring back.

Anyone know of any decent classified forums over there? Or should I just buy new? I have a mate in San Fran who could take delivery of anything I bought via a web forum etc…

I believe you’re technically liable for import duty unless you’ve owned it for 6 months plus.

US bikes tend to have front and rear brake levers on the opposite sides to here in the UK.

Take an old BSO out with you and dump it so it doesn’t look like you’ve bought one. Buy new, treat yourself.
Otherwise check out pinkbike and MTBR classifieds.

Take an old BSO out with you and dump it so it doesn’t look like you’ve bought one

I’m sure they don’t take notice of what you take out

IME, you’ll be absolutely fine bringing a bike back in
I’ve come back into the UK from all over the place loads of times over the years and never once been questioned about it

I bought my Flux from a guy in Arizona on ebay. A nice mud free state.

He mailed it to Bend OR, I rode it for a couple of weeks and brought it back. No issues with customs, that year I brought two bikes back from the US to Scotland.

There were huge bargains to be found during their recession and with our strong pound.

try the mtbr.com classifieds, and most major cities have craigslist, but watch out for stolen stuff.
You should be fine bringing it back into the UK, definately if you leave with a bike too, just make sure it looks used when you come back!

Craigslist is a popular site; usually used to buy and sell locally in person as opposed to long distance through the mail. “Bikes for sale” gets its own page.

If you bring it back as excess baggage you should be fine, especially with some wear and tear on it but watch out if you courier it, the last time I bought a bike via Ebay from the States the import duty was around 15%.

I used ebay fine.

As above NO POINT WHATSOEVER in taking anything out with you.