1969 Honda 750

Sorry to be so crass but I happened to catch some programme on CH5 about the
top ten best ever motorcycles and I just was smitten with my old favourite
the original 750, to such an extent that I have played the same bit of video
over and over - nothing short of unrequited love for an object completely
out of my reach when I could only afford a CD175.

Can anyone tell me how much a really good one is likely to cost me?

 

Wot, like this?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=424&item=4558792892&rd=1

 

Six grand and upwards for a 1969 model. Half that for a mid-1970s K4,5,
or 6.

 

"> Wot, like this?

Anyone got any ground rules for buying via Ebay?

Having been ripped-off a few times on small money items, I am a bit wary;
especially when you see demands for big deposits before you have even
proved the bike actually exists.

 

Unless you're an experienced bike buyer and/or the bike in question is not
very expensive so you can risk to throw away the money, get down to see it.
If you can't, get a mate down to the bike to see it. If you can't get a
mate down there to check it out, ask around on a newsgroup if someone's
willing to do it for a curry .

Treat it like any other vehicle purchase - just because it's on ebay it
doesn't mean it isn't duff. Talk to the person who's selling it, check out
the bike (I would *never* bid on a bike that the seller won't let me
inspect beforehand - some think you're there to rob them), hear it running
and all that. If you don't like the seller, don't like his attitude, your
early-warning sensors are lighting up like the neighbour's Christmas tree,
don't buy it. There'll always be another one along shortly.

<thinks>

Folks, chuck in your ebay advice here as well and I'll turn it into another
entry for the FAQ.

 

Sound stuff.

Another point: winning an eBay auction creates a legal contract to buy the
goods. If you then decide not to, you could be subjected to hassle, legally
or otherwise.

Take a print-out of the listing with you to collect, especially if you
haven't been able to inspect it in person, take cash, not cheque in advance.
If the bike doesn't match the description in any significant respect
(quibbling about minor blemishes might not be popular, unless it's described
as concourse condition), you don't have to buy it as it was misdescribed.
If you've already paid, e.g by cheque, that's more tricky...

Avoid stuff with poor or incomplete descriptions. If someone can be
bothered to describe the bike in detail and photograph it properly, then the
chances are it's genuine.

Check the seller's feedback, and especially, study any negatives. Someone
who sells a lot on eBay (mentioning no TOGs) is quite likely to get one or
two negatives. Low feedback score is fine if they don't trade much, but
someone who trades a lot you're wanting to see at least 98% positive
feedback, I'd say. Be wary of people who appear to be a newby but
nevertheless have a load of miscellaneous stuff for sale.

 

On or around Sun, 03 Jul 2005 14:00:03 +0100, Austin Shackles
<> enlightened us thusly:

Oh and one final point. Establish how much you're prepared to pay for the
item (not necessarily what it's worth) and stick to it. That last rule is
one that you can break, I suppose, in unusual circumstances. If someone's
auctioning the last-ever in the world of something, then it's worth to you
might be way more than it's worth generally. But the general rule is that
sooner or later another one will crop up.

At the Goodwood festival of speed, the auctioned a Type 53 (IIRC) Bugatti,
which was one of very few built, and alleged to be the first to come up at
auction.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Austin Shackles

Not true. Ebay would like you to think it is, but it just isn't. The
worst that can happen is a "strike" against your user name for
non-payment. Three of those and you need a new account.


--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets
and Ducati Race Engineer.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single"

 

I've bought several bikes on Ebay, as you know. I've also sold quite a
few.

I've not bought a duff one yet, and I'd never sell a duff one, on Ebay
or off it - unless it was one that was visibly incomplete or just
fecked, and then it's been described as such.

However, I do reckon I know what I'm looking at and can usually tell
whether a bike is a hound or not.

Austin's advice to take a printout of the auction page along is
excellent - any discrepancies, you can point to the printout and
justifiably refuse to close the deal.

If you don't feel confident in your own knowledge and ability to sort
the wheat from the chaff, try and see the bike before the auction ends.
Also try and talk to the seller, and email as many questions as
possible, Keep copies of these and if you do buy it, take them along as
well.

 

Selling, as I'm finding out, can also be sprinkled with gotchas.

One of the problems is that a buyer can, at will, freeze a PayPal
account for non-delivery or 'goods-not-as-described,' unless you've used
an (expensive) traceable carrier service and can thus prove receipt at
the far end. This means that PayPal demand that shipping is at the
seller's risk, which, IIRC, is the opposite of English law.

Basically, if I send something by post and the buyer pretends they
haven't received it, they win. Not just that, but if I don't 'resolve'
the matter to the buyer's satisfaction, I also cop for a hefty PayPal
charge - in essence a fine.

As you might guess, someone's just done exactly that to me. The speed
with which it happened was the shocking part. A complaint was lodged
less than four days after the item was posted (from mainland UK to NI).
As it stands, I have no comeback whatsoever if the buyer continues to
claim the item has not been received (I can well believe it hasn't now,
but will be surprised if it doesn't arrive shortly). Despite having
proof of posting I can do nothing.

Obviously one doesn't post a whole bike, but parts?

I'm treating the whole thing with far more cynicism in future...

Regards,

Simonm.

 

OK, FAQ updated. Thanks for all the entries.

 

Heh. How true. The only neg I've got was a retaliatory neg from some
bitch who never paid. I filed a Non Paying Bidder (NPB) report and
negged her and she got arsy. She got kicked off Ebay immediately
afterwards, which was nice.

However, I've just NPB'd a dumbfuck Yank[1] and I'm in the process of
NPB'ing a bloke who won an auction for a bike that belongs to the son of
an old friend[2], and I have a feeling that one or other of both of
these will also result in a retaliatory and vindictive neg. Oh well.

[1] By his own admission, got my address for payment wrong *twice* and
no money has appeared in six weeks.

[2] Their computer went tits-up and I said I'd list it for him. made it
plain it wasn't my bike, gave the seller's details and phone number and
all, and some dimwit Taff has been playing silly buggers ever since he
wonb the thing..

 

This is one reason why I don't offer Paypal. I'll buy with it, because
it's so heavily weighted in the buyer's favour, but not sell.

 

Makes much sense - I'm a slow learner. I think I got too enthusiastic
about the instant credits and didn't read the fine print.


Regards,

Simonm.

 

Its not that bad , i've been using it for donkeys years without any probs.All
you have to do is send whatever it is via recorded delivery , 86p more from the
Post Office or via Special Delivery.
If you have a tracking number the buyers complaint is finished with.

Steve

 

Timo Geusch

Thanks for all the comments guys!

Just read the FAQ and thought it was hilarious - the comment about the C15
cracked me up.

Best regards

Steve

 

True, but the same holds good with any recorded delivery, IYSWIM.

There's also the matter of fees - with PayPal and Ebay's fees combined,
you're looking at 10% or thereabouts.

 

<pedant mode>

No such thing as a K0.

Just CB750, then K1, K2, K3 etc.

 

Thus spake TW unto the assembled multitudes:

I always remember an interview in a 1969(?) Motorcle Mechanics with the
late Dick Emery (British comedian who died back in the 1980s), who had just
bought one of the first CB750s to come into the UK. The way he waxed
lyrical about the bike's then-revolutionary features ("the electric
starter...the flashing indicators...") certainly put British iron to shame,
not to mention all that chrome and those four amazing cans sticking out the
back. My bike-mad fellow adolescents and I would talk about the new "Honda
Four" on the school bus home almost as if it were some mythical beast, and
we didn't actually see one in the flesh for another year or two. Happy
days.

 

You made me smile because I must have read that road test/interview
countless times. I seem to remember the words 'Christmas Tree' were used. It
was totally amazing for those of us who were dreaming of Commandos and
Bonnies; and didn't quite know what to make of it. But it seemed like a
fantastic way to celebrate their 21st birthday.

I have a Motorcycle Mechanics 'Used Bike Buyer's Guide' from that era
(69-70) and it lists amongst its recommendations for under £50 a1950 Norton
ES2 and an Ariel Huntsman, which both look like ancient metal by comparison.
The brochure (?) I have for a Velocette Venom and its stable-mates, also of
the same era, look from another age entirely but actually stunningly
beautiful.

My original price list which has a 250 K2 (£330) as the current model, shows
the 750 Honda costing £695. I'm sure someone can age the price list from
that.