Sig change

Roll on the Elefant. Better weather protection: more plastic to break.

 

Bastard... I like those.

Twin or single headlight?

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

Single.

This one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130267259676

No, I can't believe it was that cheap, either. It timed out at a stupid
time. Lunchtime, midweek: that's the only explanation I can offer. I
just stuck in a last-moment bid and won it.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, The Older

Cheap! **** me, you stole that.

Well done.

 

I can - the market, even for stuff like that, is dead flat at the moment.

Admittedly not as flat as the car market, but it has taken a big knock all
the same, and not just because of the time of year.

I suspect the problem now for a lot of people will be 'kid in a sweet shop
syndrome' as and when they start to see just what you can pick up for
peanuts at the moment, methinks. ;-)

It doesn't help that it was listed 'XTZ660' rather than 'XTZ 660',
methinks - my first instinct was to search on 'Tenere 660' when you first
mentioned you won it, and obviously drew a blank.

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

Well, no, it's not, not for everything. Old shit is going for silly
money, although maybe not as silly as when unleaded was £1.30 a litre.

I'm sure you're right here.

Good point. I hadn't thought of that.

 

Most stuff it is, seriously, from what I've seen recently.

IMHO, eBay is to be avoided if you're selling anything you'd actually like
to see a reasonable return on, right now.

Local press / supermarket ad boards etc, and maybe even Autotrader are
almost certainly a better bet for shifting on say that Divvie 600 my sisters
SO wants rid of (which is what I've advised him), if you want to stand a
chance of getting sensible money back on middle of the road kit; everyone is
aware of the credit crunch, but not everyone is looking at eBay to see what
stuff is really attracting bids on, right now, and hence there's more of a
chance of achieving relatively level money elsewhere than there is on there
unless maybe you have something that is still that bit different / sought
after.

VFRs have dropped like a stone even in the last month, as have all manner of
other normally fairly steady selling kit.

Yes, some of it is down to the shit weather but a lot more is to do with
people crapping themselves over the credit crunch and selling cheap /
resisting temptation more than normal.

Demand has dropped below supply, so to speak.

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

That is a seriously good bargain. I paid 2 quid more than that for
a rare-ish SO Bantam.
Or is there a nasty little gotcha lurking to explain the price ?.

 

If there is, I hope I'll find it before I hand over the cash. My
suspicion is that it was simply too old to go on the showroom floor
(it's a dealer selling it[1]).

[1] Bit naughty not to say that on the auction page, IMHO.

 

In my experience, hardly anyone looks at a bike before bidding. Most
times, they're too far away.

You have to make a call based purely on the info in the auction page.
Which is why, if the description doesn't tally 100% with the reality,
you walk away.

I'm very careful to make my auctions super-detailed, with lots of large
hgh-res pix, so people cant say: "Oh, but you didn't mention this..."

And apart from one utter twat, user name campsieshooting, who complained
about everything that was actually mentioned in the auction description
(the bike was a nice SOHC Honda CB750F2 that I took to Chimay), it's
worked so far.

 

He seems to have disposed of a good few bikes so you are probably right.
Most used bikes are fine but sods law says that any bodged bit is
always made of the finest unobtainium.
Looks like you lucked out with a bargain.

BTW, the LE came back. I will hang onto it until spring, not a lot of
point in trying to sell it again at the prices SOBs are fetching now.

 

Disagree, actually. I sold the GS500 twin for a decent return. And the
GPZ900R I was looking at went for nicely over two grand. It depends on
what you're selling. The 'right' bike will do OK, especially if it's
put on a decent page. So many auction pages offer crap descriptions,
or no description at all, with tiny pictures taken on a mobile phone.
And the low prices they attract reflect that.

Do a *good* page, with lots of high-res *big* pictures and an honst
and comprehensive description, and you'll do much better.

Disagree again. I *buy* from these places, where possible, because
they tend to be used by people who have little idea of value.

This is certainly true, especially when it comes to top-end and pricey
stuff. But in a recession, cheap wheels always sell.

 

Ain't that the truth.

<Thinks>

Not always, actually. I remember buying a small Suzuki some years
ago, and the top of one of the four bolts holding the handlebar clamp
had sheared off, so I had to remove the top yoke to get the remains of
the bolt drilled out.

I put a spanner on the next bolt, and the head of that one shot off
with no force being applied. It had been Araldited on.

Then there was the man who put a 19" inner tube in an 18" back wheel,
by simply putting a fold it in. And - my personal favourite, this -
the bike I bought that was wheezing at anything over 6000rpm and felt
totally strangled. I checked the air filters, to discover the previous
genius had used carpet underlay - fucking *underlay* - as air filter
foam.

I never underestimate people's supidity when it comes to bodging. Not
any more.

 

I've actually bought a few bikes from my local dealer that way.

 

Well, you are effectively another dealer, aren't you.

 

Course I could.

Hey! Look! An old Honda CB500T!

<Rushes off to bid>

 

YMMV. ;-)

Shame on you for inflicting one of those on someone else rather than doing
the decent thing and breaking it up.

Yes, a mint, very low mileage and end of the runish example of a bike with
something of a retro following.

No surprise really.

Indeed... hence my comments below regarding middle of the road, not
particularly thin on the ground stuff like VFRs.

Much better... but still worse than you'd have done with comparable kit a
year ago - your Tenere is a perfect example of this.

I buy from them as well now and again when a complete bargain turns up - and
you've just agreed with what I've said, given not everyone clueless about
values is looking to sell.

Yes... and they'll sell even better once the initial shock of 'we're in the
shit' subsides.

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

No such beast exists - they're all shite.

I note the new ones have a fairing that looks like exactly what it is - a
plastic tat afterthought.

HTH

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

Look, will you just hurry up and write a fucking book
with all these tales in, 'cos I for one would buy it
as they always have me giggling.