Happy Shitday.

[Stevie B]

Not sure whether this should be in General Bike Pics but there is a bit of a story to tell so thought it would be suitable here.

Sunday just gone was my birthday which was apt as i was to go and look at, and hopefully take away , a CB-1 i had seen on ebay/ 400GB.
The lady selling it had been looking for £800 for it but by purely letting her know i had £600 ready to give her encouraged her to get back in touch with me when it didn't sell on ebay. We pretty much agreed on £650 before i even saw the bike (literally all i could stretch to).

So early Sunday morning dad and i head off in the car to the South Coast to the Littlehampton area.
Good journey down there and when we arrived we went straight to the bike and start looking around it. Everything seemed good so thought i would take it out for a wee testride (didn;'t know the area well so just wanted to go around the block ). The lady was more than happy for me to take it out and didn't even want to hear about any kind of deposit etc.
The testride went fine although it would cutout if left to idle too long, which i knew could be sorted out by adjusting the idle screw. Being happy with the bike, i handed over the money and did the paperwork, enjoying the great hospitality of the young lady and her parents!

We left her house around 2pm and it only took 10miles for my day to go from good to shit.
The bike kept stalling even if i revved the tits off it when i came to stopping. And to make it even worse the electric start stopped working, it was just ticking when i pushed, which i suspected was a dead battery
So every traffic light was a slow down, cutout, move bike to side of road, bump start then go!

Although pissed off, at this point i was thinking "well if i can just get it home i can sort out the carbs/ idle or whatever was the problem". But things just got worse.
Next break down was on an A road and then the electric start wouldn't even make a click. A push back up a fuck off hill just to roll the bike back down got me going again but not for long. Next breakdown was on a tiny traffic controlled bridge
A guy on an old Beemer stopped to help (thanks mate, your a legend ) but we both knew it seemed more complex than just idle problems. He did offer to keep the bike at his place for the night but at that point i was still hopeful of it struggling home, naive old me
I turned the idle screw right up, bumped it and revved the knackers off it to get it going but within a mile it started to cough and splutter, something that hadn't happened before. It was bogging down when i opened it up and was bunny hopping even in 6th!

6th and final breakdown came only about 25miles from where i had picked the bike up from, in a village called Sheet. The bike was having nomore so i knew the only realistic option left was to get it recovered.

While i waited for recovery i was trying to get my head around what the problem was going to be with my newly acquired stallion. Ended up coming to the conclusion it probably had something to do with alternator problems, so the battery wasn't getting any charge hence the bike couldn't even run from a bumpstart in the end.

The recovery guy was quality and took it back to their base, cost me £55 for recovery and storage for a night.
We headed back home with me just laughing at my birthday happening as we went. I rang the lady to tell her of my happening and she was so apologetic and geniunely concerned. She kept texting me the rest of the day worrying and asking questions about cost and whether she could help.
Now i know people are probably thinkng that i was and am being naive but i truely believe and know she had no idea that there was a problem with the bike, firstly because she hadn't used it for a while although she had charged it, and secondly because of how geniune a person she and her parents were.

The next day i rang the most local bike garage to the recovery base but they didn't deal with imports!
As i flicked through the yellow pages for van hire services thinking to myself my only option left was to go and bring it back home to get fixed, i remembered the recovery garage also had 'electrical repairs' advertised on the right section of it, so as a last gasp effort i managed to get hold of the guy who did the electrical repairs and ask him in my nicest (non-homo) voice if he could possibly look at it for me..... he said he would!

Later in the day he calls me back, as promised, and his first words are "it's your lucky day son!"
Turns out the wiring loom to the battery was fractured so it wasn't getting any charge hence the bike not being able to run. He said the battery was on charge at that point but appeared to be fine and holding it's charge. F*cking yes!

So dad and i go back down there Tuesday to pick it up. Cost £100 (so £150 if you take into account revcovery aswell), bit steep i thought though the other option probably would have cost more, but he (Roy) was a class A bloke and even made us a cup of tea before we headed back!

That night i rang the young lady that it was fixed and she demanded to know the cost of everything. In the end i told her but also told her not to worry about giving me any money for it as i knew she had no idea about it and that these things happens. Two days later the owner's manual comes through the post from her, as she said she would do, and also a cheque for £150
Now i don't know about anyone else but i thought this was so nice of her in a way, because she didn't have to if you get me. It was accompanied by a short note saying how she hoped i was fine and she knew what a poor student i was!
I'm going to wait until the cheque clears then give her half the moolah back i think, becasue i know she didn't try to fuck me over, she just wasn't that type of person,i hope you can relate to what i'm saying!

The ride back was great and apart from a few little niggles i'm still yet to sort (and the horrendous pink anodized bolts), i'm really enjoying what the little 400 has to offer through the country and town!

Will do a better report on the bike itself soon.

Sorry for the long post.

Heres some pics to try and repair your now retarded eyes.
(bike is dirty as just come back from a ride but you get the idea)

Cheers

SB
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Past: Katana 50, NSR125RR, FZR600r, CB-1 Present: TRX850

[Barney]

That must have been a real pain in the arse for you. Glad its now sorted, those 400 are great fun, I have the super four.

Theres a post on here somewhere saying all BMW drivers are cocks, funny that

[Barney]

Just noticed the pics.

Looks like you got a good deal there (apart from the problem at the start)

Not sure about the purple bolts, but a very smart bike.

Get some 090's and really enjoy the twistys.

[SimonB]

Wow so there are nice people in this world!! Glad you got your bike sorted m8.

When I sold my first pride and joy the guy rang me up to tell me that the bike fell off the trailer on the way home.
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Bikes: Honda CBR250RR [sold], Yamaha FZR600 [sold], Honda CBR600RR6

[Whosthedaddy]

[Rookie]

That's what every bike sale should be like. Really nice story.

[killa]

Wicked post Stevie, that 400 is really tidy, shows that some people aren’t out there to rob you blind at a given opportunity.
Liked the write up dude, where’s the part where you lost your temper with the bike?
Seemed like you kept your cool, I have no idea how…. Lol

Killa


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Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[ram_doom]

Cool story I love buying bikes and the roadtrip part. That cb-1 looks just like my mate's old one
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TL1000s, KDX200

[map]

Good write up and good karma over the bike purchase. Sounds like a problem anyone of us could have had. As I've said before, bikes rot, especially the electrics, if left stood (must be some sort of universal law). You've dealt with it, I'm sure some others would have just screamed like babies without their dummies.

It was said recently that theives can target bikers as they are, as a group, quite trusting. So some toe-rag would pose as a biker, get chatting, jump on the bike and never be seen again.

Nice to know that there are genuine sellers out there as well and not just those only interested in keeping quite about a bike's history. Out of interest was the seller getting anything else or just giving up with bikes?

Good choice with the CB1 BTW.


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...and the whirlwind is in the thorn trees, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks...
Gibbs, what did Duckie look like when he was younger?

[akaDAVE]

Good to hear that. We hear too many stories about ebay rip-offs etc on here. It really is good to hear that there are honest people with a concience out there.
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GSXR600

[Stevie B]

Thanks for all your positive replies guys!

To be fair i surprised myself actually how i didn't loose my temper because i often do over these kind of situations; tend to give it the whole "it always happens to me" type moan. Instead i found myself just laughing and thinking what a funny story it'll be once it's all sorted!

Yeh the woman was great, she rang me again last night to see how i was getting on with the bike etc. Good to know there are genuine ppl out there like a few of you have said.

She was selling it because her boyfriend didn't like her riding it, thought it was too dangerous! Bit of a role reversal there to the usual hey

I'm trying to get myself to go into the corners with a bit more speed now with the CB-1 because i think i lost alot of confidence in the corners when i had the FZR6 as i found it quite twitchy and cumbersome.

There's a slight problem with it at the moment at high revs but i better post it up in 'The Workshop' or i'll get shouted at!

Thanks again

SB
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Past: Katana 50, NSR125RR, FZR600r, CB-1 Present: TRX850