Alta in Europe - 2019? Never?

[motron34]

Hi Alta owners,

I'm from Germany and found this forum accidentally. Since the Alta bikes are not available in Europe I'm searching the web for more than a year to get info about these bikes.
There is almost zero information about Alta in Europe. I hope you guys can help me:

1. Is Alta officially coming to Europe in 2019 with an international dealer/importer? Does anyone know anything about their international market strategy?
2. Is this bike worth to import by myself to Europe at a cost of approx. 17000-18000$ (MXR price + shipping + tax + fees)? Is this bike built the same quality like KTM or Japanese 350/450? I know the bike performance is great, but if I pull the trigger for almost 18000$ without any chance to get a hand on it... well. I just want to make sure I'm not going to do the biggest mistake of my rider life, haha.

Looking forward for some info from Alta owners.

Regards from Germany,
Morten

 

[Fog 25]

I would wait until there’s a dealer is fairly close by in case you need any service work done. All warranty work is done through a dealership.

 

[Philip]

Hi Morten,

I've heard a rumor somewhere that Alta wants to start selling the MXRs in Europe soon. How soon I do not know. The road legal bikes will take longer because of various homologation requirements, and may not happen at all without the ABS, but selling the off-road only version should be simpler and quite profitable in Europe.

Right now Alta does not seem any extra bikes to sell. Everything they make gers sold pretty quickly in the US market.

I hope someone from Alta pitches in to answer your question about their marketing strategy. I wouldn't expect any specific dates or details though. This is probably a corporate secret.

As far as the build quality, it is as good or better than the KTM and Japanese dirt bikes. The known issues are minor and will not stop you from riding or enjoying the bike. You can read the first-hand owners' reviews here: Reviews

Whether it is worth spending $17-18K I am not sure, it is up to you. But I am guessing that with all the taxes it will not cost any less when it makes there officially.

 

[motron34]

I would wait until there’s a dealer is fairly close by in case you need any service work done. All warranty work is done through a dealership.

Yep, if there's something wrong with the bike or I need any updates or spare parts it's going to be a huge problem. That's a whole different story and if you think about it, you should never buy an Alta in that case. That's why I dont take the warranty and spare parts into consideration. First of all, I just want to know if the bike is capable of going along with the Japanese and KTM/Huskys.
If I would buy one and then I realize I need to replace the rims and the forks for example, because they're just not good enough I won't buy one. But if you guys tell me you can with race it right out of the box without big issues, that's what I want to know about the bike. All Youtube reviews from the big magazines are way too friendly to the manufacturers.

Hi Morten,

I've heard a rumor somewhere that Alta wants to start selling the MXRs in Europe soon. How soon I do not know. The road legal bikes will take longer because of various homologation requirements, and may not happen at all without the ABS, but selling the off-road only version should be simpler and quite profitable in Europe.
Right now Alta does not seem any extra bikes to sell. Everything they make gers sold pretty quickly in the US market.
I hope someone from Alta pitches in to answer your question about their marketing strategy. I wouldn't expect any specific dates or details though. This is probably a corporate secret.
As far as the build quality, it is as good or better than the KTM and Japanese dirt bikes. The known issues are minor and will not stop you from riding or enjoying the bike. You can read the first-hand owners' reviews here: Reviews
Whether it is worth spending $17-18K I am not sure, it is up to you. But I am guessing that with all the taxes it will not cost any less when it makes there officially.

Vital MX replied on Youtube and said "early 2019" for a Alta to hit the European market. Sure, road legal EXR will take even longer and I dont think they will sell the EXR within the next half year. Selling the MXR would be a lot easier.
I almost had one shipped here from 2017 to 2018, but the official issue from the dealer was, that he could not find a company who wanted to ship the battery! They were afraid of the battery package to "explode" like the Samsung mobile batteries during shipment. I'm pretty happy I didnt buy one, because just a couple of days later the MXR was announced.

Anyway, I hoped for someone to tell me some possible dates for a release in Europe, because I think it's time for Alta to make the step across the pond. Even though, the dirtbike market in all countries of Europe combined is just as big as in California. I hope they release them in Europe, to wake up KTM and Japan. It's time for a "zero"-noise and "zero"-maintenance dirtbike. All tracks are getting closed because of noise issues and freeriding is strictly prohibited in Germany.