Buyer Beware (2011)

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builder said:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Norton-850-COMMANDO-4S-Factory-Race-Cam-One-of-a-kind-Frame-Off-Restoration-Cafe-Racer-/320656205048?pt=US_motorcycles&hash=item4aa89964f8

Thought I would post this since this guy (whizbangbingo) really has to talk about how he has been cheated by other eBayer's and says he won't cheat a buyer.

Long story short, I have a bike in my shop right now that was purchased from him...$4,500 USD for a bike that supposedly had been through top to bottom. The bike made it a total of 1 mile before breaking down and ending up in my shop for a complete rebuild. My client paid about $3,500 too much for this bike, he's now got $10k+ in parts in the rebuild.

Bent frame, cracked and hogged out mounting holes on the engine, wrong/junk parts in the primary, original bearings throughout when advertised as new. mismatched incorrect body work, mismatched incorrect header pipes and mufflers, the list goes on. Basically a junk parts bike that photographed really well.

This guy has a reputaion of buying junk and reselling as restored. He'll tell you names of people he has been "cheated" by and then turn right around and buy parts from them again under another eBay id.

I haven't bought or sold parts from/to this guy, but know others that have...guys that I have bought, sold, and traded parts with in the past and have always had fair deals. I'm in Minnesota, but a couple hundred miles from the seller, he is infamous in the area.

Just a tell tale sign of how this guy operates. In his ad he says, "Very fun to ride, handles great, and turns heads everywhere I go." I know the guy that sold the Interstate tank that is on this bike to him...and he just shipped it to him a couple weeks ago. We've had temps well below zero degrees F here...I'm sure he's turing heads riding any motorcycle at -20dF.

I don't like to post negative stuff like this, and I won't be offened if a moderator deletes it, but as I'm finishing up a bike that my client got screwed on by this seller, I feel somewhat compelled to at least give a fair warning to others that are out there looking at eBay regularly and think this might be a good deal. Also not an attempt to somehow bolster business for myself...not actively seeking additional projects and the current project will be my last for anyone other than myself.

I've had one bad buy on eBay but lots of good sells, I guess it goes without saying that you should always be aware of buying on eBay.

Good luck to all...
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Rather than getting ripped off with a "restored" bike, if prospective buyers dont have the expertise to inspect anything they are interested in properly themselves, then why not pay someone to do this for them?

Seems to me that this sort of thing is getting more and more common, and have even heard of some people buying bikes over the phone or from Ebay without any sort of hands on inspection............
 
Big_Jim59 said:
It looks like a basket case job. This is not necessary a bad thing but the Yamaha looking wheels kind of hang me up. There are very few people I would trust to combine Norton with metric hardware and make it work right.

The bike reminds me of a bike I built back in the early 90s. I purchased two bikes from the same guy (for $500.) One was a MKIII that was locked up from sitting and the other was in boxes with a bent frame. I got the MKIII unstuck and running and built a second bike from bits I had. That's why it looks a bit daft with the clipons, rearsets, SS pipes and Interstate tank. There are lots of little short cuts on it to save money. The speedo was destroyed in the wreck so I designed a single instrument shell with a place for idiot lights that bolted in place of the handlebar mounts. It was a good bike just not very correct.

Buyer Beware (2011)
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To be honest Big-Jim, I think it looks good, as you say, you built it using bits and bobs you had lying around, so yes, maybe a couple of bits could do with changing for more 'easy on the eye' bits, but you saved it, got it together and got it running which is the main objective, another Commando on the road!, and at the end of the day we all have limits on finance, so we work to those ends, (well maybe not in some cases!!!!!).
As for the "not very correct", it's your bike, you have it any way you want, who wants to see rows and rows of clones sitting in a car park.
Cheers
Robert
 
pelican said:
$8400.... I can't believe it went for twice the price of that cool purple bike when it's only half as cool :lol:

Anyway it'd be funny if we get a post in a week or two... hey, I just bought a commando, I'm new to the forum and.... :lol:
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A fool and his money are soon parted.
 
When I bought my first bike, the Bonneville, I thought buying a complete, fairly decent looking bike was the way to go. But then I started replacing most of the chrome bits and other shabby looking parts and then things like clutches and chains and electricals that were worn out and ended up spending a fair chunk of change. With the cost of plating so high, its just about as cheap if not cheaper to just replace most of the chrome parts. Its also kind of a snowball thing too. You put one new shiny part on and everything else starts looking bad. I'm thinking you are probably better off buying a complete rat if you want to do a restore if all the basics like engine and transmission and frame are usable. That said, having all the little hardware bits on is good, because a lot of that stuff is pricey to buy individually. My Commando effort so far has consisted of buying 3 basket cases, 71,72 and 74. I've bought the new generally replaced parts for the 72 and with the better parts off the other bikes it will be a complete restore. The 71 is mostly there and with buying some decent used parts it will be almost complete. I haven't decided ultimately what I will do with it. The 74 will basically be a rolling bare frame and I'll probably eventually sell it.
 
builder said:
A fool and his money are soon parted.
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Hey! I resemble that remark! :)

Seriously though, if the buyer shows up to collect and the bike is not as represented then they can refuse it and also open a claim with eBay as to misrepresentation. Although I heard horror stories of trying to get eBay to respond, he can have his credit card company (as long as it was configured via PayPal that way) refund the deposit and then they can duke it out with the seller. A friend went through something similar when he showed up to get a car he had won at auction and things were not as they appeared in the eBay listing. I think in the end he was out a 40$ fee to his CC or something.

Now if the buyer goes and sends the rest of payment and has it shipped - I don't know.

Hopefully it'll turn out OK and the bike is fine.
 
Strangely, the advice on this forum is often to buy the best bike one can afford as a full restoration will cost $xxx£ - The trouble is that I've long felt people don't sell good Commandos. When they're broken, no-one will buy them for a reasonable price and once they're fixed, no-one wants to sell them so we're all stuck with 'em...'till death us do part.

I have noticed with pre-war bikes (that's WW2, not Korea or 'nam !) that rusty projects seem to be fetching as much or more than averagely restored examples. Most of us must prefer bolting incorrect parts on ourselves rather than letting some other bugger have all the fun. :)
 
79x100 said:
I have noticed with pre-war bikes (that's WW2, not Korea or 'nam !) that rusty projects seem to be fetching as much or more than averagely restored examples. Most of us must prefer bolting incorrect parts on ourselves rather than letting some other bugger have all the fun. :)
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Lol. Very true.
 
KSUWildcatFan said:
79x100 said:
I have noticed with pre-war bikes (that's WW2, not Korea or 'nam !) that rusty projects seem to be fetching as much or more than averagely restored examples. Most of us must prefer bolting incorrect parts on ourselves rather than letting some other bugger have all the fun. :)
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Lol. Very true.
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I couldn't agree more!
Go on, give a basket case a new home today :)

Webby
 
Webby03 said:
KSUWildcatFan said:
79x100 said:
I have noticed with pre-war bikes (that's WW2, not Korea or 'nam !) that rusty projects seem to be fetching as much or more than averagely restored examples. Most of us must prefer bolting incorrect parts on ourselves rather than letting some other bugger have all the fun. :)
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Lol. Very true.
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I couldn't agree more!
Go on, give a basket case a new home today :)

Webby
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I'd love to, if only I could find one around here!
 
I think if I were going to find a basket, I'd go the route of one that has had the frame and misc parts finished in advance and do the mechanicals myself or as much as I could. The mere thought of a rust bucket makes me want to vomit.
 
this is all so true, doesn't e-bay stand for evil- bay or idiot bay or some such... I've bought lots of stuff from it though only been burned a couple of times on low dollar items (no norton stuff thankfully). I have a '69 frame and what turned out to be and atlass motor that i picked up years ago when i was single and used to go kicking around junk yards. i think i got the frame for 40 bucka and the motor at a different yard for 25. Well i started getting parts together and was supprised just how quickly the price adds up, so when i found my '75 MKIII i went ahead and bought it and switched to getting it going -it's not been run in 20 years but at least my buy in was low and it's basically all there. Cj
 
cjandme said:
this is all so true, doesn't e-bay stand for evil- bay or idiot bay or some such... I've bought lots of stuff from it though only been burned a couple of times on low dollar items (no norton stuff thankfully). I have a '69 frame and what turned out to be and atlass motor that i picked up years ago when i was single and used to go kicking around junk yards. i think i got the frame for 40 bucka and the motor at a different yard for 25. Well i started getting parts together and was supprised just how quickly the price adds up, so when i found my '75 MKIII i went ahead and bought it and switched to getting it going -it's not been run in 20 years but at least my buy in was low and it's basically all there. Cj
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$25, eh? I'll take it!
 
yep 25 bucks, but it's a rusted out mess sat outside for years , only one piston in it when i finally got the head off and it wasn't connected to the con rod, but it sure is frozen in the bore. Cj
 
cjandme said:
yep 25 bucks, but it's a rusted out mess sat outside for years , only one piston in it when i finally got the head off and it wasn't connected to the con rod, but it sure is frozen in the bore. Cj
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So.. $25 rusty yard art? Still nice! :p
 
I agree this is becoming an all too familiar scenario with supposed original/restored Commandos.
I myself went looking for a basket case, but here in Oz even they are pulling too many $ so I switched tack for an Original/restored 850 Mk2.
Apart from the wheels & the Paint the bike has become a total resto without giving a blow by blow description of what the bike needs.
Some of the previous work carried out on this bike rates with some of the best/worse bodge I have seen. Until you get inside them you really don't know what you have bought!
I have 35yrs experience doing resto's & rebuilds on bikes and still got totally ripped.

To do it again, I would go with the basket case as has been said before "you need to go through it to know what you really have" and one I really like was "bones don't lie".
Just remember; Sellers will say what they need, To sell.

Sweenz
 
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