Baltics to Balkans

I heard something similar about the difficulty (impossibility?) of buying a car in Italy--and that was from a couple who had gone through the process of obtaining long-stay visas. I think they employed some sort of (not-legal) workaround.

yes I am American. With all my research I haven't come across problems with purchasing vehicles, I am more concerned about obtaining a cheap green card and being as close to legally on the road as possible.

I am not a motorcyclist, but have traveled to all the countries that you listed, except for Romania.

Also, I lived in Germany from 87-91 working for the US Army. I have driven in Europe, but not in any of these countries.

The infrastructure has improved considerably since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liberation of the enslaved eastern European countries.

Ukraine would be the one country that you might find challenging traveling over its highways.

I know Americans that purchased used German cars and they managed to ship them back to the USA, however, I don't know how easy it would be to purchase a vehicle and acquire a proper license tag, etc. My insurance from the USA was USAA and I was able to purchase insurance for my car in Germany, but my tag was a tag for the US forces in Germany.

You have selected many countries and to visit them all in some depth could take months.

Also, Turkey is a special case, since there are State Department travel advisories for Turkey.

There may be another issue that you have not addressed here: what do you plan to do with the motorcycle after you've reached your destination?

If you plan to sell it, you may have to pay some non-trivial import duties/fees/taxes/tariffs. If you do not sell it, what then? I'd imagine the cost to ship it home to the US would be prohibitive, and if you just "dispose" of it (give it away, abandon it, sell for cash under the table) you could be liable for other fees/penalties (as might the next owner).

I have not done this myself, but I'd suggest you do some research on the potential pitfalls of what happens when you are done with your cycle at the end of the trip (which admittedly does sound like a grand adventure). Some countries are pretty strict about such things (which they may consider "importing a vehicle"), others probably less so. Good luck.

In the EU, you need a permanent address in that particular country to register the vehicle. There are going to be issues with importing/ exporting in and out of the EU which you need to research, so selling in Turkey could be an issue.

David, I plan to do basically what you described. In turkey, I plan to find a buyer and just off load it but, entering turkey may become an issue so I might divert elsewhere. thanks for the info!

I have absolutely nothing to add that would answer your questions, much less help you, but you might get a chuckle out of it. I recently read a book by a guy who rode a bicycle on same basic route, but started in Finland, IN THE WINTER!! :)