j-rad
30-07-2009, 01:56 AM
A word for the wise. . . .
There are many well educated riders on this forum so I'm preaching to the converted I'm sure, but I'm going to post anyways to try and avert anyone else experiencing what happened to a group of guys I met on the weekend.....please be aware of what you're buying at auctions!
I have attended a few motorcycle auctions looking for stunt bikes for various people and have recently attended an auction of about 60+ bikes in search for an addition to the race team and for parts for a buddy that I went with. Some of the bikes were obviously completely ruined or were burnt out, but there was a far larger percentage of machines that were worthy looking at either for racers, road riders looking for a decent ride or wreckers looking for parts.
I digress for a moment. . . .
Unfortunately, auction houses aren't bound to disclose any details of the vehicles and I won't comment on the companies trading policies however when each person must sign a contract *read waiver* when applying for a bidding number, the onus is on the unsuspecting punter to properly inspect the machine.
Ok into the bulk of it. .. .
I had the misfortune of meeting a group of guys that had been bidding on a few Blades but that had eyes for a ARGH1 that was a few years old and they ended up wining it. Initial glance, looked perfect with very minor damage, so good in fact I made some queries very early on. The report said very little and I was curious as to why such a great looking bike was written off..... There's always a reason why they're there......... :(
It turns out it had no key, no C/Plate to begin with. For the groups looking at it thinking they could somehow register it, on top of a new frame/C/Plate it also would've needed fairings, new engine covers, bars, pegs, levers etc etc you'd be crazy to buy it as a road project but there wasn't just one group, there were several groups going crazy of it....
I digress once more. . . sorry
It also had a burnt out rear tyre where the thieves thought for some fleeting moment in time, that they were actually MOTORCYCLE riders and tried to do a burnout then promptly crashed the bike! By the way these thieves don't realise that a real rider could never steal someones ride but there appears to be ALOT of stolen bikes out there!
The worst of it was, there was no oil in the sump, the sump had a gaping big hole in it and possibly more damage to the engine block. It looked to me from all the rubber/crud under the rear tail that said thieves, in all likely hood had pinned the poor little Yammie to the rev limiter (the chain had excessive wear and some rollers were burnt colored) with their burnout, lost control and hit the bottom of the bike hard, maybe on a gutter, a tree or low flying plane, wish I'd seen it! All of a sudden you're up for, in addition to everything else a new engine!
Anyways, for a few parts it was ok so I kept an eye on it for a mate in Canberra that tracks them and was hoping for some rims and odds/sods. He was prepared to pay around 2K but when bidding went above 5000 he's out and settle on waiting for something else. Having done some research prior I knew Key/ECU sets are around 1500, crash damage report and you're already looking at 2K - that's 6500 so far with a full list of parts and labour required to get it going AND a potentially seized/farked motor...did I mention no C/Plate!?
So knock me over with a feather when it went to 5500, 6000, 6200, 6400,6500 all the way to 7100. . . . :spank:
I really couldn't believe someone had bought it for that much. After the auction on my way to the car I noticed the group milling around their new purchase. I wandered over and asked how they were, which was well pleased and perhaps I just should've kept my mouth shut but I had to know why he'd bought it. Turns out he wanted a fully sick road bike, can't blame him for buying it then. . . .fair enough
I asked a few quick fire questions thinking they'd already checked it right out for the coin.....so it went
How much did ya pay mate? *7100 *+ 7.5 buyers premium*
Did you know it had no key? *Oh no I didn't, they didn't tell me that??*
Do you know how much they are? *No...No I don't, why didn't they tell me about the key*
Approx 1500 for key kit *Really, no way*
Yes way. Did you check the C/Plate? *No I didn't but I can just order a new one from the dealer?*
No I'm afraid it doesn't quite work like that. . . .
Did you check the oil? (a now somehwat nervous buyer) No, no I didn't...how do I do that?
Pointed out sight glass and the fact there was nothing in it. *there's meant to be something there?*
Yes. Oil. That's potentially a new engine or at least a rebuild... *how much is that?*
At this point I felt that sorry for him I told him he didn't want to know. I did say for a 3-4 yr old bike he could spend 8-10K and get a decent example, no crash, with keys ready to ride.......Uh Oh.
The group marched off to try and back out but it was too late! Once you win you must put down a 500 NON REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT. He cancelled it anyways but still a very expensive lesson and stormed off. I felt bad in some ways but better he lose 500 than walk out having to fork out 10K on building it for the road or selling it as is at a massive loss.
Funnily enough, some of the bikes that initially looked like absolute trash due to damaged cosmetics, had straight wheels/forks/swing arm/rear subframe, OIL IN THE GODDAMNED ENGINE, KEYS...you get my drift, and these were going for 3-4K total....all cause they looked bad. The 'good' looking bike was nearly the worse one in the lot, at least for a road going project!
Sorry for banging on for a bit but after seeing this guys pure disapointment I feel I must warn others. He was a genuine guy just looking for a bike but hadn't the foggiest idea...... He thought he could almost sort of buy it from the auction, get it rego'd and ride straight away, he also thought that a 2nd hand bike would've been 12-14K. Had a little research been done before and during the auction he could've saved himself at least the 500 and the heart ache...
I'm certainly not trying to disuade people from attending auctions but if you're looking for something on road, check every detail you can...make a list so that as you go over the yard of bikes you can tick the checkboxes for bikes with Compliance, keys, then list damage and so forth.
All the best! :ayyy:
There are many well educated riders on this forum so I'm preaching to the converted I'm sure, but I'm going to post anyways to try and avert anyone else experiencing what happened to a group of guys I met on the weekend.....please be aware of what you're buying at auctions!
I have attended a few motorcycle auctions looking for stunt bikes for various people and have recently attended an auction of about 60+ bikes in search for an addition to the race team and for parts for a buddy that I went with. Some of the bikes were obviously completely ruined or were burnt out, but there was a far larger percentage of machines that were worthy looking at either for racers, road riders looking for a decent ride or wreckers looking for parts.
I digress for a moment. . . .
Unfortunately, auction houses aren't bound to disclose any details of the vehicles and I won't comment on the companies trading policies however when each person must sign a contract *read waiver* when applying for a bidding number, the onus is on the unsuspecting punter to properly inspect the machine.
Ok into the bulk of it. .. .
I had the misfortune of meeting a group of guys that had been bidding on a few Blades but that had eyes for a ARGH1 that was a few years old and they ended up wining it. Initial glance, looked perfect with very minor damage, so good in fact I made some queries very early on. The report said very little and I was curious as to why such a great looking bike was written off..... There's always a reason why they're there......... :(
It turns out it had no key, no C/Plate to begin with. For the groups looking at it thinking they could somehow register it, on top of a new frame/C/Plate it also would've needed fairings, new engine covers, bars, pegs, levers etc etc you'd be crazy to buy it as a road project but there wasn't just one group, there were several groups going crazy of it....
I digress once more. . . sorry
It also had a burnt out rear tyre where the thieves thought for some fleeting moment in time, that they were actually MOTORCYCLE riders and tried to do a burnout then promptly crashed the bike! By the way these thieves don't realise that a real rider could never steal someones ride but there appears to be ALOT of stolen bikes out there!
The worst of it was, there was no oil in the sump, the sump had a gaping big hole in it and possibly more damage to the engine block. It looked to me from all the rubber/crud under the rear tail that said thieves, in all likely hood had pinned the poor little Yammie to the rev limiter (the chain had excessive wear and some rollers were burnt colored) with their burnout, lost control and hit the bottom of the bike hard, maybe on a gutter, a tree or low flying plane, wish I'd seen it! All of a sudden you're up for, in addition to everything else a new engine!
Anyways, for a few parts it was ok so I kept an eye on it for a mate in Canberra that tracks them and was hoping for some rims and odds/sods. He was prepared to pay around 2K but when bidding went above 5000 he's out and settle on waiting for something else. Having done some research prior I knew Key/ECU sets are around 1500, crash damage report and you're already looking at 2K - that's 6500 so far with a full list of parts and labour required to get it going AND a potentially seized/farked motor...did I mention no C/Plate!?
So knock me over with a feather when it went to 5500, 6000, 6200, 6400,6500 all the way to 7100. . . . :spank:
I really couldn't believe someone had bought it for that much. After the auction on my way to the car I noticed the group milling around their new purchase. I wandered over and asked how they were, which was well pleased and perhaps I just should've kept my mouth shut but I had to know why he'd bought it. Turns out he wanted a fully sick road bike, can't blame him for buying it then. . . .fair enough
I asked a few quick fire questions thinking they'd already checked it right out for the coin.....so it went
How much did ya pay mate? *7100 *+ 7.5 buyers premium*
Did you know it had no key? *Oh no I didn't, they didn't tell me that??*
Do you know how much they are? *No...No I don't, why didn't they tell me about the key*
Approx 1500 for key kit *Really, no way*
Yes way. Did you check the C/Plate? *No I didn't but I can just order a new one from the dealer?*
No I'm afraid it doesn't quite work like that. . . .
Did you check the oil? (a now somehwat nervous buyer) No, no I didn't...how do I do that?
Pointed out sight glass and the fact there was nothing in it. *there's meant to be something there?*
Yes. Oil. That's potentially a new engine or at least a rebuild... *how much is that?*
At this point I felt that sorry for him I told him he didn't want to know. I did say for a 3-4 yr old bike he could spend 8-10K and get a decent example, no crash, with keys ready to ride.......Uh Oh.
The group marched off to try and back out but it was too late! Once you win you must put down a 500 NON REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT. He cancelled it anyways but still a very expensive lesson and stormed off. I felt bad in some ways but better he lose 500 than walk out having to fork out 10K on building it for the road or selling it as is at a massive loss.
Funnily enough, some of the bikes that initially looked like absolute trash due to damaged cosmetics, had straight wheels/forks/swing arm/rear subframe, OIL IN THE GODDAMNED ENGINE, KEYS...you get my drift, and these were going for 3-4K total....all cause they looked bad. The 'good' looking bike was nearly the worse one in the lot, at least for a road going project!
Sorry for banging on for a bit but after seeing this guys pure disapointment I feel I must warn others. He was a genuine guy just looking for a bike but hadn't the foggiest idea...... He thought he could almost sort of buy it from the auction, get it rego'd and ride straight away, he also thought that a 2nd hand bike would've been 12-14K. Had a little research been done before and during the auction he could've saved himself at least the 500 and the heart ache...
I'm certainly not trying to disuade people from attending auctions but if you're looking for something on road, check every detail you can...make a list so that as you go over the yard of bikes you can tick the checkboxes for bikes with Compliance, keys, then list damage and so forth.
All the best! :ayyy: