Wow guys things did get a little out of control here.
I personally did not see anything terribly wrong or deceitful with Jimmy's post. The facts were clearly presented. If you want to take a chance as the buyer that would be your, the buyers, choice.
Indeed grey import bikes with / without proper documentation were extremely common place here for years under the "Thai system" that was tolerated.
Only the manufacture of big bikes inside Thailand saw these loopholes closed with pressure from both the big bike manufacturers & legal importers of assembled new bikes.
Jimmy re my bike, it was never on a temporary import document, being a grey import that was duty paid; & eventually I did manage to get the bike registered via "the system" that was operating at the time.
But yes in the good old days, before the computerization on the border you could, & I did many times, cross from Thailand to Laos & return, with an unregistered bike - such was the system operating in those days.
Was I doing anything illegal - probably technically yes, but the bike was cleared through customs both sides with proper temporary import / export documents. However you could not do that nowadays, as all he boxes have to be ticked once the data goes into the computer.
Only very recently at Chiang Khong, a Dutch rider from Phuket was at first refused permission to exit Thailand on his Thai registered bike because the bike rego had expired just a few weeks earlier & he had forgotten to renew the tax. It was a weekend & he would lose 3 days waiting for DMV to open in Thoeng to renew the tax on his bike. What did he do - smoothed the path with some grey notes in CK to be able to cross the border ok. All technically illegal & perhaps lacking "in higher moral standards" maybe, but that was the system he chose to operate under; & that was available.
Jimmy
Good luck selling your bike. I for one would not buy it, but maybe the price is right for someone else who wants to take a chance.
In July you were desperate for help to get crashed BMW GS from the China / Laos border into Chiang Mai.
Several guys offered to help, but you never came back to reply - what happened; how did you sort out the problem?
I'm sure there are people who would be interested to know, if you want to complete the story
https://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/showthread.php/38608-help-needed-getting-bike-from-China-Laos-border-to-Chiang-Mai
Happy New Year guys.
This thread is definitely closed.