IAMBLAMB
Been Around the Block
So let me first start by telling you how I got this thing. I trade stuff on craigslist. First it was on a kind of bet. My dad wanted a new phone and I told him that if he did an insurance claim I could hock his phone for enough to cover the 200 insurance deductible + the 200 for the new phone. He bet me that I couldn't, So he gave me the old blackberry 9800 which I found a trade for, a new htc vivid. I then found a guy who wanted the Vivid and traded me a crossbow but the value wasn't there for me so he threw in $100, it was an old tenpoint (one of the guy's from horton started his own company doing the same thing) with a red-dot. A month later I was trading that for a CVA Optima, the breach plug was stuck ( I assume it was not properly greased and then fired and set up) I had to soak it for 2 days for it to come out. After I got it cleaned up I traded it to this guy with a 1985 Honda ATC250 that needed the seat redone but was pretty well preserved. I found a girl that didn't know how to work on scooters (but oh, she thought she did.) So she traded me this for the 3 wheeler.
Its a 2011 Roketa 150cc with 800 miles on it. She was running it with lower octane fuel than it called for and let the gas sit in the tank and carbs. So I opened it up and it looked like the petroleum had been separating out of the gas, I cleaned the fuel pump, lines, carbs, and put a fuel filter on the carb gas intake, some staybilt in the tank. And she fired up like a dream.
Now here's where it gets tricky. And I lost a little bit of value but got something I like. I saw this guy who had this suzuki posted on CL for 1200. I though well, thats a bit steep but I was willing to do an even trade. So I called him up and asked if he'd do an even swap. This guy was so hillbilly that he didn't know what a vespa or moped was. I tried to describe it and ended up just sending him a picture (but my phone takes hours to push pictures out, for some odd reason). So he's like, just come on up and we'll swap. So I'm like ,"YES!!" After I get off work I get my scooter loaded up in the truck, strapped down and head to the gas station. I call him to get directions and he says, "Man, I just got your picture. And I'm sorry but I can't do anything with that, I need a full blooded street bike." I was a bit down but said something like, "Cool, dude. Have a good night." At least I wasn't on my way or anything. The next day some other dude emailed me about the scooter. He wanted to trade a ruger security six, 100 rounds of 357 and $200 bucks cash. So I told him I'd think about it. A day later the guy with the bike texted me and told me that he was in a pinch, and needed some cash. He wanted to let me know he'd take 500 for the bike. My first inclination was to ask, "Would you take a ruger revolver?". He said yes. So I traded the scooter for the gun, ammo, and cash, grabbed my buddy, and headed north. We got out to this place in the middle of nowhere and knocked on the door. This guy popped out and looked just like I'd pictured him. Meth-toothed, beer gutted, and balding. He even had on a bud light trucker hat. So we went out to take a look at the bike, it was in decent shape apart from some cosmetics, but all of the parts were still there. We shook on the deal, he handed over the title, and then went to bullshitting about how he got the bike. My arm was stinging, I could smell rain, and I let him know it. He said that they had already gotten the rain for that day and that the forcast said they weren't supposed to get anymore. At that moment it began to rain so hard that my hand was hard for me to make out from more than a foot away. We struggled to get it uphill through the mud and into the back of the truck (which took alot of cussing and evenually me picking the back end up off the ground and walking it up the ramp.) Here's what it looked like when the rain finally let up.
Its a 2011 Roketa 150cc with 800 miles on it. She was running it with lower octane fuel than it called for and let the gas sit in the tank and carbs. So I opened it up and it looked like the petroleum had been separating out of the gas, I cleaned the fuel pump, lines, carbs, and put a fuel filter on the carb gas intake, some staybilt in the tank. And she fired up like a dream.
Now here's where it gets tricky. And I lost a little bit of value but got something I like. I saw this guy who had this suzuki posted on CL for 1200. I though well, thats a bit steep but I was willing to do an even trade. So I called him up and asked if he'd do an even swap. This guy was so hillbilly that he didn't know what a vespa or moped was. I tried to describe it and ended up just sending him a picture (but my phone takes hours to push pictures out, for some odd reason). So he's like, just come on up and we'll swap. So I'm like ,"YES!!" After I get off work I get my scooter loaded up in the truck, strapped down and head to the gas station. I call him to get directions and he says, "Man, I just got your picture. And I'm sorry but I can't do anything with that, I need a full blooded street bike." I was a bit down but said something like, "Cool, dude. Have a good night." At least I wasn't on my way or anything. The next day some other dude emailed me about the scooter. He wanted to trade a ruger security six, 100 rounds of 357 and $200 bucks cash. So I told him I'd think about it. A day later the guy with the bike texted me and told me that he was in a pinch, and needed some cash. He wanted to let me know he'd take 500 for the bike. My first inclination was to ask, "Would you take a ruger revolver?". He said yes. So I traded the scooter for the gun, ammo, and cash, grabbed my buddy, and headed north. We got out to this place in the middle of nowhere and knocked on the door. This guy popped out and looked just like I'd pictured him. Meth-toothed, beer gutted, and balding. He even had on a bud light trucker hat. So we went out to take a look at the bike, it was in decent shape apart from some cosmetics, but all of the parts were still there. We shook on the deal, he handed over the title, and then went to bullshitting about how he got the bike. My arm was stinging, I could smell rain, and I let him know it. He said that they had already gotten the rain for that day and that the forcast said they weren't supposed to get anymore. At that moment it began to rain so hard that my hand was hard for me to make out from more than a foot away. We struggled to get it uphill through the mud and into the back of the truck (which took alot of cussing and evenually me picking the back end up off the ground and walking it up the ramp.) Here's what it looked like when the rain finally let up.