Help w/ buying private party bikes online.

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by ponch

The vise scene was striking.

...you made me pop your eye outta your freaking head to protect that piece of sh*t?

That, Goodfellas, and The Departed are 3 of my favorite movies. Hey, they are all Scorsese flicks. Might as well throw Taxi Driver and Gangs of New York in there.

[1600bluekaw]

Our first bike was a 1995 Honda Pacific Coast 800. We decided to sell & upgrade the very first place I posted it on was craigslist. I got a hit within a week. A gentleman emailed me & we communicated several times via email. He requested a picture I emailed it to him. I then asked for a phone number & he called me we spoke on numerous occassions. He was very interested in the bike & liked the pics that I had sent. During our convesation I found out that he was located in Sarasota, FL That is a long ways from Columbus, IN He & his wife jumped in their truck & made their way north. We had already talked about the price but nothing by any means was firm & on paper. I spoke to him the night he was in Louisville, KY spending the night. I took the next morniing off, never seeing the man I just drove to the closest gas station to the interstate I knew he would be exiting from to get to our house. I just used my instincts & a little detective work. I noticed a truck with Florida plates on it & started a converstaion by asking if his name was the man that came to purchase a motorcycle. My detectice work panned out, yes he was the man. I did not feel comfortable directing a stranger to my house. All that being said, he followed me back to the house and test rode the bike & said it was not what he wanted. WOW I was shocked. He then got in the truck talked to his wife & came back with an offer, bike sold. He was truly going to leave without a motorcycle. After driving 2 days & one nite in a motel he was going to go back empty handed. I did not come off the price enough for him to change his own mind, his wife told him how silly he was to go home empty handed.

There are sellers out there everywhere, they just have to be matched up to the right buyer.

The craigslist & all the other online selling/buying services work. It take patience & more patience.

I hope you find a Nomad that fits your needs.

[ponch]

Originally Posted by cactusjack

...you made me pop your eye outta your freaking head to protect that piece of sh*t?

That, Goodfellas, and The Departed are 3 of my favorite movies. Hey, they are all Scorsese flicks. Might as well throw Taxi Driver and Gangs of New York in there.

Me too and throw in Clint with Unforgiven, Josey Wales, Dirty Harry and Gran Torino. Ronin was good too. I love that kind of stuff.

[glwilson]

Hey you guys stealing this thread... you have a member that is looking for a Nomad... not your ramblings about movies!

Just saying!!!!

[anchornomad]

Kijiji worked great. Found the bike I wanted, pictures were great, really good fellow to deal with, He was a member of KawaNOW, which I found out later and we had a deal. You folks on this site are great and have a wealth of knowledge. One day will be with you on the wisdom, about bikes, hopefully. Have bought an Idaho Jack Adapter etc. as a result of the good info and knowledge and all of it has panned out really well. Keep up the great advice and I am sure he will find a bike. Long time looking for sure. All the best. Den

[ponch]

Originally Posted by glwilson

Hey you guys stealing this thread... you have a member that is looking for a Nomad... not your ramblings about movies!

Just saying!!!!

He's been trying to find a bike for awhile. Obviously he can wait.

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by glwilson

Hey you guys stealing this thread... you have a member that is looking for a Nomad... not your ramblings about movies!

Just saying!!!!

Every party has a pooper, that's why we invited you.

[ringadingh]

Ive used Kijiji a few times and find that you get a lot of low ball offers, or scammers trying to give you a money order and have the item shipped. It works but you have to be careful.

[docv]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll have to check Kijiji. I know patience pays off but it just seems the west coast is bone dry. Found a good one last weekend up in Tacoma and I even got a response back to my email asking for a phone number but when I called, all I got was a voice mail so I left message and never heard back from the guy. It was gone from Craigslist the same day. I've found through lots of experience with craigslist that the deals worth having go quick. You've got to jump on them as soon as you can. But when I'm not within driving distance, it's kind of difficult. Weather just turned nice here in NorCal so I suspect the available bikes will become even more scarce. I guess the Kawi commercials are getting to me. How's the jingle go? "I wanna ride... I wanna ride... I wanna ride!"

Oh.. and personally I always like

Doc

Oh... and personally, I always liked the scene in Goodfellas where Pesci ends up shooting the bar boy. "...That's me! ... I'm the Oklahoma Kid! ...Dance!"

[ponch]

Originally Posted by docv

Thanks for the heads up, I'll have to check Kijiji. I know patience pays off but it just seems the west coast is bone dry. Found a good one last weekend up in Tacoma and I even got a response back to my email asking for a phone number but when I called, all I got was a voice mail so I left message and never heard back from the guy. It was gone from Craigslist the same day. I've found through lots of experience with craigslist that the deals worth having go quick. You've got to jump on them as soon as you can. But when I'm not within driving distance, it's kind of difficult. Weather just turned nice here in NorCal so I suspect the available bikes will become even more scarce. I guess the Kawi commercials are getting to me. How's the jingle go? "I wanna ride... I wanna ride... I wanna ride!"

Oh.. and personally I always like

Doc

Oh... and personally, I always liked the scene in Goodfellas where Pesci ends up shooting the bar boy. "...That's me! ... I'm the Oklahoma Kid! ...Dance!"

Am I a clown? Do I amuse you?

[Jared]

Like Scott said, I have bought several bikes outside of Utah. There is not a large motorcycle market in Utah and for that reason, the prices are much higher than, say Arizona where the ride year round. I was able to find a Nomad for $1500-$2500 cheaper 600 miles away. It was obviously a no brainer, but I didn't want to drive down to find out the bike was a piece of crap. I had Scott take a look at the bike in my signature picture before making the trip.

The bike I currently have, I bought 825 mile away in El Paso, Tx. I'm not gonna tell you what kind of deal I got on it, but trust me, it was worth the trip! I spoke with a fellow Vroc-er who lived in the area and asked him to do the same thing. I was expecting them to do a full, complete inspection. Generally, you can get a feel for how the bike has been taken care of just by looking at it and talking with the previous owner. I was given a big thumbs up and so I sent the guy $50 through paypal to hold onto it until the weekend when I flew out.

I bought a $165 one way ticket and saved myself a good chunk of change. Sure, the bike could have been crap. And if it was, I would have said no thanks and turned back around.

It all depends on your budget. If I made a lot more money than I do, I would buy new. No doubt about it. But I don't make a lot of money and until I do (not likely anytime soon) I'm not willing to take the 40% drop in value that happens in the first year or two.

When you can find a 3-4 year bike with less than 20,000 miles for half of what the sell for new, it's difficult to say no. If I wasn't willing to buy used, I'd be riding a much small and less fun bike.

[glwilson]

Originally Posted by cactusjack

Every party has a pooper, that's why we invited you.

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by ponch

Am I a clown? Do I amuse you?

Haha...you're a real funny guy!!!

[duneseven]

I am with loafer Call a local dealer get a price and have the seller take the bike ther to be looked at by a pro. I was looking locally for awhile and found a bike I liked and agreed on a price but as a condition I requested that the seller take the bike to a independant dealer for a inspection. I told him to have the dealer call me and I would give a credit card for this service. I never heard from the seller or the dealer, I assume either something was up with the bike or the seller just changed his mind.

[Hacksaw]

Docv, might want to take a look here, I just came across it and looks like a heck of a deal as it's pretty loaded up and they ship

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Kawas...ht_16532wt_958