Deals, Steals & No Good Evil @#$#

[vtwin650]

I do not know if this has been done before on the list, but I figured why not start a new thread.
What deals, steals and wild goose chases have you gone on to find and buy motorcycles?

I will start - as I am always watching craigslist for that special deal or bike, and willing to add to my project list.

Bargains

My best deal to date was a FREE rd350 off craigslist - I was the first to call and shoved the bike in the back of my yukon (spilling oil everywhere!)

Second best deal was a mostly complete SR500 for $100 - again rushed from work and shoved in the back of the yukon (I need a pickup!)

My last steal was 2 complete cb360's for $500, one with a title - with a little investigative work over the last weekend I got the titled one running, so it will be my next cafe project!

Several years back, I scored a barn find in Austin, TX (about 3 hours from me) it was a 1989 NT650 for $700. At the time, my daily driver was a cherry 89 NT650, so I knew my way around it. That $700 deal cost me a total of $12-1500 more in parts and more to get it road worthy - worth every penny.

After the barn find NT650, I located another one just like it in Galveston (6-7 hour drive) for $750, I called the guy and he assured me that it was all there, it ran, and it only had 16,000 miles on the clock. I rented a pickup, drove 6 hours and the guy rolled the THRASHED bike out and it did run and most of it was there. However, the bike had 86,000 miles on the clock! I almost punched the guy immediately! Since I was going to resale this one as soon as I was finished, the mileage was no good, I could not get my money out of it, so I turned and left without the bike. very upset.

This is an addiction, obviously, because I can keep going with stories, but I will let someone else have a turn.e

 

[djelliott]

79 XS650 for $250. Started and ran with a clean title. Problem was it had a bent/busted shift fork. I still ended up selling it for $900.

71 CL350 $80. Almost complete (missing the tank). All I wanted was the titled frame. I've made unknown amounts of money selling bits and pieces of it plus have a decent low miles spare motor if needed.

71 CL350 $200. Running no title, came with an extra motor. This bike and the previous bikes frame eventually became my current Cafe Racer.

There's been plenty of other but these were the steals. I still have a ton of CL and CB 350 parts.

 

[JustinLonghorn]

Steal...

A 1975 CB400F titled bike. Missing the front end and swingarm. Came with Alloy hoops laced with SS spokes to the stock hubs. $50. Sold all of the parts (except for the wheels) for well over $1,000.

Deal...

Cherry 1975 CB400F, titled and perfectly running. $750 (I will probably keep this bike forever)

Not bad...

Titled 1975 DT250, complete bike. $200 (It will be my next project)

 

[Bozz]

GL500 silverwing listed for $300, titled but running on 1cyl.


I offered him $200 and he took it.


Then, as we're loading it up he says, "I have a titled parts bike as well if you want it for free, I just need it gone".


So I come home with 2 titled, complete (but rough) bikes for $200.


And to top it all off, I live WAY out in the middle of nowhere and these were only about 5 minutes from my place, so not much gas to get them either!

 

[Barkingmadspeedshop]

Steal:
1985 xl 600 papered with a stripped shift shaft needing a cam but with all of the gaskets and a new shift fork, $250.00
then traded a half case (6) beer for new cam, flat tracker aggressive cam, 4 top ends and two bottom ends.

82 Kawai 440 Running no problems $100.00

71 CB not bad shape 100.00

85 xr 250 in boxes just put it together and rode it

Hand made aluminum Cafe seat 40 bucks

Deal:

99 gsxr 600 no problems at all 1800.00

^%$#%$#%^:

Went to buy a cb 400 "running" bike "with papers" showed up it had no pipes, one carb, bent bars and had no papers.
The other was an add for a complete bike with papers I don't remember what it was, spent several hours emailing back and forth and calling set up a time only to show up and find the whole bike in bits in "boxes and bags" I was pretty mad and wound up taking a strip off the guy.

 

[samsquantch]

I'm going to pick up a complete, titled 440 for $250 in a day or two. Not the coolest bike, but decent and with title; I can't really lose.

 

[NortonGuy]

In spring of 1992 my brother and I drove a 1-ton dump truck from Pennsylvania to Pasadena CA to buy some motorcycles. The guy said he had a truckload of Harley Davidson KR and XLR dirt-track bikes and parts.

We drove it non-stop, one would drive while the other slept. It was interesting going down the side of the mountain into California in the dark in that truck. Yes, it got very poor mileage and it was slow.

When we got to the guys house all the shit that he said he had was not there. So I told him to stick it up his ass. We got a hotel room at a Travelodge in Pasadena on Colorado Boulevard. The trip was not wasted though.

We took the dump truck down Mullholland Drive as fast as it would go, and went down to Malibu beach. I bought a surf board. I had thousands of dollars in cash in my leather biker jacket so I did not want to take it off, even wore it into the water with the surfboard.

I scanned the local classifieds and saw a 1973 Pontiac Trans-Am, original paint, original owner, for $1500 for sale in south L.A. and we drove down and took a look at it. It was a sweet car. I told the guy that owned it that I would think it over and call him in the morning.

After we left the Trans-Am the dump-truck needed gas so we stopped at a gas station and fueled her up. I noticed a few small bonfires on a sidewalk not too far away and thought it was odd, but no one seemed to be reacting to them so I thought it must be a normal thing.

We stopped into a bar and got a couple of drafts. A TV was going and the news was on. The news was from a Helicopter flying over L.A., plumes of smoke were coming up from the city here and there. I asked the bartender what was going on and he said matter of factly: "The Rodney King verdict went the wrong way and they are starting to burn the town". Okay, I thought to myself. Time to get back to the hotel. We walked out of the bar and looked at the fires a little differently. I told Joe lets get back to the hotel, I told him no matter what do not stop. I said run the lights, run through cars whatever you have to do but keep going until we get out of here.

We made it back north to the hotel and it seemed relatively quiet there. We are still sort of thinking that there is nothing really big going on and it will blow over and be fine in the morning, so we hit the hay. At the break of first light I got up and switched on the TV, things did not look good. I heard what sounded like a gunshot come from outside somewhere. We decided to get the hell out of the L.A. area.

We loaded up the truck and talked over the same instructions. We had a baseball bat behind the front seat, and we were not going to stop for anything on our way out. Down the street from the hotel some cops had guns on several black guys that were all laying on the ground face down in a sort of circle in some grass. Nice.

Aside from the interesting sights and goings on and tension in the air, the ride out went okay. We went out past the windmill farms and the first place we stopped was Kingman Arizona, home of Timothy McVeigh. I bought a 64' Chevy Fleetside there, rust free for a thousand bucks and we drove both trucks straight back to Pennsylvania non-stop again. I just about smashed the Chevy I had bought falling asleep at the wheel and swerving all over the road. I stopped at a rest-stop for two hours and was right back on it.

I was really tired when we got back to Pennsylvania.

 

[DrJ]

Free - 73 CB350 in pieces from a guy who bought it for the sidecovers and tank. Doing a ground up restoration close to showroom condition. Selling for profit.

$150 - 69 SL350 in pieces from a guy who wanted to build an ice racer but gave up. Building it up as a dual-sport adventure tourer, almost done.

$200 - 72 CB350, crashed with bent forks. My first complete rebuild and it's my main vintage ride.

$450 - 68 CB450 K1, yes the 5-speed with chrome tank panels, uber-rare. Very rough but 90% complete. Hoping to finish it this year.

 

[SONICJK]

Bought a complete cb350 for 150 but no title. Tore it down repainted made it look nice rebuilt engine and sold for 600.

After that I was searching high and low for a 350 with a title and stockish.
Found one 2 hours away. So I rented a trailer an headed up there. Called the guy and confirmed I was on the road headed that way.
About 10 minutes out from his house I get a call and the fuck head had sold all three bikes (I had made a deal to buy one) to some jerkoff.
Needless to say I was pissed. I made him give me the guys number who bought them to desperately try to buy it off of him. That douche bag never called me back even after 2 messages.
In my book a deal is a deal, whether verbal or in contract. You don't bail on a deal.
When I was selling the other bike I had a guy offer 750 if I'd sell it to him instead of the first guy that wanted it, I politely said I'd let him know I the first guy bailed. A deal is a deal.