.png "Powered by vBulletin")
Copied from my for sale ad.
What would you do?
So I sold Red, my 82 1100E last Sunday to a guy locally that seems to be the guy that will finish up what I never got around to doing with Steve's bike. Polish the aluminum back up. I think it went to a good home, he's retired military, currently flies helicopter and just returned from Kuwait. That and he said his OCD will kick in on the bike. Sorry Norm, I know you were interested in it, but I really wanted to get that Bonneville, which I did. I would have rather sold the 1150, but that didn't happen.
So I had a potential buyer in Ft. Myers and tried to get him to meet me half way in Sarasota. It's actually closer to him than me, but I was already going the for the Bonneville any way. Well I guess he wasn't serious enough, because he didn't make the trip. So I contacted a guy in NC that said he was interested in it and told him the other guy flaked out on me. Well he had a buddy that lived near me and I agreed to take it to him on Monday to check it out. So my son and I rode it and my new Bonnie to where the guy works at. He looks it over asks questions and we go for a ride. He says it seems the carbs may need to be synced and I agree that they could be better. I mention that I just don't have time to work on my own bikes anymore except for regular maintenance. It's like anything, once you do something for a living, it seems as there is no time for your own, plus I really have too many bikes and projects. So he says he'll tell his buddy what he thought and the guy would contact me. Next thing I get is a text saying that he's on his way from NC and would like to check it out Wednesday.
So he came over tonight to look it over. Instantly I should have just called a halt to it. He starts mentioning that he was looking for something smaller, he already had a bike similar to this, blah blah blah. He's nit picking this and that and I told him that it wasn't a show bike, just a nice survivor. Yes it could use some attention here and there if you want a show piece, but it's nice enough that I always get comments on how nice a bike it is. Well he asks me to fire it up and it does like always and then want's to take it for a ride. It's getting really dark now and I say get your helmet and we'll take a ride like I did with your buddy. The bikes are warmed up, with me on the Bonnie and him on the 1150. I should have stopped right then and there. He can't even get the kick stand up. This guy is mid sixties, 250ish and 5'6".
I tell him to just follow my line and we'll make a 2-3 mile loop. Immediately he stalls it, second clue I should have acted on, but he fires it right back up and it's no big deal, his buddy did the same thing a couple of days earlier. So I pull out of my drive way and think I hear something over my exhaust. I look back and there is a headlight down at ground level. Crap, I whip around and there is the 1150 on it's right side at the end of my driveway. The kid he brought with him, the son of his buddy and him are trying to pick it up. I help while asking if he's alright. He says yeah and we look over the bike. The right front turn signal, the mirror, the ignition cover and a small area on the exhaust has scuffs. Great. He says he going to pass on it. It's not as nice as he expected.
What, are you kidding me? Mind you I'm an even keeled kind of guy, so underneath I'm ready to explode, but I don't. I say something about it would have been nice to have said that before you dropped my bike. He mentions that the damage isn't nothing anyone will notice. If it was day time, you might have been able to see steam coming out of my ears, but I hold it in and say I don't agree, but I'm done and going in, good bye.
So that's the last test ride unless I'm holding cash in hand, with the point made that if you drop it you bought it. I should have said that. That's what the guy with the Bonneville said when he let me test ride it. Now I'm still upset with the whole ordeal that I don't know what I should do. I guess look and see what parts I can get that's in better condition on eBay and replace them and just eat the cost or talk to his buddy to see if he'll put some pressure on his friend to step up to the plate. IDK.
What would you do?
So I sold Red, my 82 1100E last Sunday to a guy locally that seems to be the guy that will finish up what I never got around to doing with Steve's bike. Polish the aluminum back up. I think it went to a good home, he's retired military, currently flies helicopter and just returned from Kuwait. That and he said his OCD will kick in on the bike. Sorry Norm, I know you were interested in it, but I really wanted to get that Bonneville, which I did. I would have rather sold the 1150, but that didn't happen.
So I had a potential buyer in Ft. Myers and tried to get him to meet me half way in Sarasota. It's actually closer to him than me, but I was already going the for the Bonneville any way. Well I guess he wasn't serious enough, because he didn't make the trip. So I contacted a guy in NC that said he was interested in it and told him the other guy flaked out on me. Well he had a buddy that lived near me and I agreed to take it to him on Monday to check it out. So my son and I rode it and my new Bonnie to where the guy works at. He looks it over asks questions and we go for a ride. He says it seems the carbs may need to be synced and I agree that they could be better. I mention that I just don't have time to work on my own bikes anymore except for regular maintenance. It's like anything, once you do something for a living, it seems as there is no time for your own, plus I really have too many bikes and projects. So he says he'll tell his buddy what he thought and the guy would contact me. Next thing I get is a text saying that he's on his way from NC and would like to check it out Wednesday.
So he came over tonight to look it over. Instantly I should have just called a halt to it. He starts mentioning that he was looking for something smaller, he already had a bike similar to this, blah blah blah. He's nit picking this and that and I told him that it wasn't a show bike, just a nice survivor. Yes it could use some attention here and there if you want a show piece, but it's nice enough that I always get comments on how nice a bike it is. Well he asks me to fire it up and it does like always and then want's to take it for a ride. It's getting really dark now and I say get your helmet and we'll take a ride like I did with your buddy. The bikes are warmed up, with me on the Bonnie and him on the 1150. I should have stopped right then and there. He can't even get the kick stand up. This guy is mid sixties, 250ish and 5'6".
I tell him to just follow my line and we'll make a 2-3 mile loop. Immediately he stalls it, second clue I should have acted on, but he fires it right back up and it's no big deal, his buddy did the same thing a couple of days earlier. So I pull out of my drive way and think I hear something over my exhaust. I look back and there is a headlight down at ground level. Crap, I whip around and there is the 1150 on it's right side at the end of my driveway. The kid he brought with him, the son of his buddy and him are trying to pick it up. I help while asking if he's alright. He says yeah and we look over the bike. The right front turn signal, the mirror, the ignition cover and a small area on the exhaust has scuffs. Great. He says he going to pass on it. It's not as nice as he expected.
What, are you kidding me? Mind you I'm an even keeled kind of guy, so underneath I'm ready to explode, but I don't. I say something about it would have been nice to have said that before you dropped my bike. He mentions that the damage isn't nothing anyone will notice. If it was day time, you might have been able to see steam coming out of my ears, but I hold it in and say I don't agree, but I'm done and going in, good bye.
So that's the last test ride unless I'm holding cash in hand, with the point made that if you drop it you bought it. I should have said that. That's what the guy with the Bonneville said when he let me test ride it. Now I'm still upset with the whole ordeal that I don't know what I should do. I guess look and see what parts I can get that's in better condition on eBay and replace them and just eat the cost or talk to his buddy to see if he'll put some pressure on his friend to step up to the plate. IDK.
What really erks me is his attitude, not the lack of skill. I about lost it when he said casually, he was gonna pass on it. Which he should have said long before he even sat on it. I think most of his talk was his way of trying to set me up for a low ball offer. I've done it myself with non running project bikes, but with the Bonnie, I went there with full intention to buy it if it was what I was expecting. I understand if my pictures aren't close and may not give the best look at it, but his buddy took pics and gave him a verbal condition report before he even left NC. It must have been good enough to drive through four states.
Comment