Aprilia rs 125, What an awkward Situation! ;-)

[TFG600]

Passed my mod 2 last october, And sold my much loved Aprilia rs 125 in November. I brought it Blind on ebay in Nov 2010 the year before 758miles, 2008 plate Literally in MINT condition a Bargin at 2 grand I thought; I was really lucky with the bike; I Would never buy a bike blind now.

I re-sold it for For 2k with 2500 miles on the clock It was still in exceptional condition. I religiously used it and maintained it to the manufacturers booklet after hearing all the horror stories related to this bike. I really really loved that bike, despite the fact it sounded like an angry bee in a baked bean can LOL!

So anyway I sold it without much Trouble at all, The people came to veiw it, they loved put a deposit on it. The following week the came back to collect and buy the bike, Signed all the docs etc gave them a recipt, the lad rode the bike down my track and I watched him ride the bike up the road about 1/4 of a mile mabey a bit less he went around a nice long sweeping bend an he was gone.

30mins later the lads old man Looking rather sheepish(had brought his lad down in his car) was knocking at the door saying, the bikes not working, not starting and is completly dead; It aparently had cut out when he was riding it. First off all he said it first went wrong at the bottom of my track before he went on the road, Then I told him I had seen his son ride it a fair distance up the road and his story changed then... Hmmm fishy I thought

They left me with the bike for the day, to see if i could get it started. Batt was dead so I charged that up, Tried to start the bike, It sounded like it had very little compression(like throwing a sausage down a hallway). Called the local bike garage up they came collected it. Diagnosis : Partial cold sizure, Top end rebuild 700 odd quid!!!!!!!!!!!

They wanted a refund then!!!!!! Or for me to pay half the repair cost.

More like suck my dick!

I sought legal advice and was told not to give them anything.

What do you guys make of my story?
What would you have done?

[J.M.]

You sold a well looked after bike "as is". You didn't promise a warranty or refund at the time of the sale, either.

You saw the lad riding it and the father came up to you with an, obviously incorrect, story. Which then changed.

Looking at the bike, does it look like the lad has come off of it? Sheepish Dad could be because he just watched the lad fall off, then it wouldn't start.

You sought legal advice, and I would firmly agree with what was said - don't give them anything.

Just make sure that they aren't the type to come back and damage £700 of your property when you're not there - I'd be keeping their contact details safe just encase you come home to some "damage"; you'll then know who to alert the police to.
____________________
2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[_Iain_]

As said above.

People like that are the reason i make anyone buying a vehicle off me sign a recipt stating that it is sold as seen for the sum of xxx on xxx date. No warranty given or implied, signed seller of sellers adress & buyer of buyers adress. Compare all this against whats on the v5 & if it dont match up dont hand over the keys till it does!

I then whack that in the scanner and print them a copy. Had two people come back filing complaints to ebay & theyve not had a leg to stand on.

[presquevu]

I had no idea what a cold seizure is so looked it up online, doesn't sound like something that could happen due to user error too easily ...

https://www.kartsport.org.nz/technical/engine_seizures.htm

Gotta feel for the lad that brought it, might well have taken him half his adolescence to save up two grand! At the same time I guess it was sold as seen and you have no legal obligation to them.

Not sure what I'd do here at all! Perhaps split the bill if I wasn't desperate for the money.

[_Iain_]

I'd hazard a guess that he's taken it off your drive, fired it up and fucked off...then opened it right up and ridden it flat out the second he got on a bit of road he's known regardless of the temp gauge being on flat cold...and come on - in this weather its going to take a bit of time to heat the coolant up!

Either that or he's got home, and then decided to show his new bike off to his mates by pinging it off the limiter on the driveway.


100% sure what i'd have done,

"Look, im sorry mate - i understand it's a lot of money you've spent on a bike that now doesnt work. Im more than happy to take a quick look at it incase its something simple, however im not going to be doing any refunds, bill splitting or anything else...RS's are widely known for being unreliable if used incorrectly or thrashed, and i've got no idea whatsoever what your son's done to it scince it left here."

Polite, and to the point. If they then kick off, make threats or whatever they'd be told to fuck off, should it go further then i'd call out the old bill.

EDIT: Regarding the cold seizure not being user fault, as far as im aware on the RS it goes something like this: engine starts up, heats up water in block. water then reaches set temprature, thermostat opens and dumps the ice cold water out of the radiator & hoses into the mix. Assuming you're flat out at a million revs when that stat opens up and dumps the cold water in, the metal of the barrel is going to contract around a rapidly moving piston that's expanded due to the heat generated from all those revs/wide open throttle. Pistons suddenly slightly bigger than the barrel and the whole thing jams up and scuffs the shit out of the rings, barrel and piston where it all hits, thus ruining the seal required for good engine compression. Least thats the way i had it explained to me...and if thats true then the user fault bit suddenly becomes a bit more beliveable

[J.M.]

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