Rider moving to NW UK from Charlotte, NC

I am South African and when I moved here and as long as I applied before a year was up, my licence was converted to a UK licence with full entitlement without having to be retested. This was done in Oct 2000.

The law may have changed so see the DVLA website on this.

This looks like the relevent page.
Scooby, the reason you just had to exchange yours was because you're from one of the 'designated' countries.
Canada is on the list, but not the US.

All, Thanks very much for all of your replies and suggestions. I really appreciate your help. And no, I am not trans-sexual! You must not have too many female riders over there..... All that said, it sounds like the drivers test should be lots of fun too. We should be on the south side of Manchester, so hopefully that will keep us out of too much city traffic. Hope to meet you next year on the roads. Gabby

See the section on foreign drivers for the exact requirements, but it wold appear that as a US license holder you'll have to sit a UK driving test withing 12 months of coming here.

I've sat a US driving test (in Florida) as well as over here and I can assure you that the test is much more rigourous over here, so you'll probably need to invest in some lessons to prepare you for the test.

You should also weigh up the pros & cons of bring a US spec bike over here. Firstly there's the cost which ain't going to be cheap. Secondly it'lll have to be fit for UK roads and to pass a UK MOT. I don't know what differences there are, but again this could involve cost.

Have you considered buying a bike over here? The depreciation over a few years will probably only amount to much more than the cost of transporting a bike from the US.

Originally Posted by Cloggsy

Is she transexual now

Oooh, sorry Gabby, I just typed it without thinking

It's fairly typical that folks think all riders are boys.

[timwilky]

Once you are here, check out the pennine massive section

Originally Posted by Scooby Drew

I am South African and when I moved here and as long as I applied before a year was up, my licence was converted to a UK licence with full entitlement without having to be retested. This was done in Oct 2000.

The law may have changed so see the DVLA website on this.

I think that is still the case. No need to do a retest unless you are a lorry driver.

A car and Bike licence can be exchanged here, no problem.

The lorry test requires another test immediately and that works both ways.

If I want to drive in the states, I have to do my CDL, so americans have to take our Class 1 or C + E test

Originally Posted by wheelnut

I think that is still the case. No need to do a retest unless you are a lorry driver.

It's true for a list of about 20 countries, America isn't one of them.

Originally Posted by timwilky

Might be advised to borrow a bike for test due to SV crap ability to turn in a slow tight circle

Not true. It can be done.