Would *you* have sold the bike?

[mowin]

The only way I would have sold him the bike is if I delivered it to his house. I understand your "no house" cl rule, but seeing the kid did show up and had the cash, I'd would have made a exception.

 

[satownsendsr]

I also commend you for doing what you did. Not many people would have. They would have taken the money and felt fine about it. If he had gotten hurt or worse, they would have just shrugged it off as his fault for not having the experience or training to ride properly. I would have done the same thing.

 

[jaherbst]

You buy your ticket and you take your chances. Those with poor judgement will die early if not on a motorcycle then an automobile or just walking across the street or die in bed with their best friends wife. I found out early on you cannot save someone from themselves.:joke:

Jack

 

[Dan McNally]

I commend your decision . . . if the kid is going to kill himself, you don't have to be a party to it. Lots of us learned to ride when we were young and dumb . . . and lots of our friends were severely injured or died in the process . . . but that doesn't make it right. I don't understand the "let them sink or swim" philosophy . . .

 

[ekfraz]

Sale of a bike

I had this happen before but in my case the young man said he has been riding for years, he did have a helmet with him and seemed like he new thr Ninja 650 so we go through the paperwork, calls his insurance and put liablity on it. He said he was familiar with everything on the bike,we get the paperwork and money exchanged and I told him good luck and be careful, he starts the bike and reves the engine to like 7000 rpm mad pops the clutch and ended destroying the bike when he ren into a large pine tree with the throttle was wide open. The bike was now his and totaled,he was ok but the bike was a 6,000.00 piece of scrap.

 

[Bob Denman]

At least you got paid first...

 

[PrairieSpyder]

I had this happen before but in my case the young man said he has been riding for years, he did have a helmet with him and seemed like he new thr Ninja 650 so we go through the paperwork, calls his insurance and put liablity on it. He said he was familiar with everything on the bike,we get the paperwork and money exchanged and I told him good luck and be careful, he starts the bike and reves the engine to like 7000 rpm mad pops the clutch and ended destroying the bike when he ren into a large pine tree with the throttle was wide open. The bike was now his and totaled,he was ok but the bike was a 6,000.00 piece of scrap.

At least his survived. A young guy here, riding a crotch rocket, went from a dead stop at a light to about 60 in a 35 MPH zone, missed a curve and hit a power pole and died.

 

[Oldmanzues]

I think you did the right thing. If you "teach" a person to ride, they can come back and sue you. Yes, I have done it for people I know, but also tell them to take a good class. Operating the control and making a machine go down the road does not make a rider all the time.
Even long time riders can learn from classes or I should say, relearn thing they have forgotten along with new stuff. ABS is a god way to start a "fight" on how good it its for example.
Most new rider courses use small bikes that are easier to hold up.
News story here a couple years ago. A guy bought a pocket rocket and rode it a little over a mile, then went airborne on a on ramp to the interstate. Long distance to the ground, died on impact. A long time (as the news put it) rider said, the guy had passed him on the road going way to fast and he did not see any brake lights. (I know gear down, but I do not think he did). Both this guy and the pocket rocket wife/kids got to see him go airborne. They were following him home.
Oldmanzues

 

[flaggerphil]

You did the right thing. I'd like to think I'd have done the same thing in your position. At the very least I would have delivered it to his home...but you got it exactly right.

 

[MRH]

Thanks everybody for the kind words and strong opinions. I'm still torn about my call, but that's what happens with gut calls... :doorag:

There is nothing to be "torn" about. You may have saved this kid's life, and that's worth having to sell your bike for a little less if you can't otherwise get what you want. Chances are reasonable he would have wrecked it before he even put the money in your hands, and the insurance policy is yours. I was riding with a group yesterday and two people (of the seven of us) had stories about wrecked bikes on first rides (one let his friend ride if up and down the alley, and the other wrecked it right after he bought it). Both cases look just like this situation, except they involved scooters instead of sports bikes.

I'm guessing he will come to his senses after the class and buy something a little more forgiving than a Ninja, but you've done exactly what you would have wanted somebody to do for you at his age and level of experience.

Well done.

 

[Motorcycledave]

You Did the RIGHT THING

You may have saved this new riders life....
Dave

Had myself a little moral dilemma this morning.

Readers know I bought myself a new motorcycle a few weeks ago, a Honda CB500F-- that I'm loving, BTW!-- which necessitates me selling my little Ninja 250 (GF won't let me keep *three* bikes in the driveway, I don't blame her, we we're getting to be "that house" pps.

Put the Ninja up on Craigslist at a competitive price, or so I thought-- I've only gotten a single hit in the last two weeks, which bums me out, especially since it's less $$$ than other 250s on CL *and* it needs no work at all-- recent tires, fresh oil, clean carbs, etc. I swear, 95% of the bikes for sale on CL are garage queens that were never ridden and need $1000 worth of work to bring back to life... anyway, neither here nor there.

So, I met the one kid interested in my bike this morning (we'll call him Joe). Waited waaay too long for him to show up at the shopping mall lot, but whatever, it was a beautiful morning. When Joe (maybe 22 years old at most) shows up in a car, he hops out in his shirt, shorts and sneakers. No gear, not even a helmet. Okay, whatever, we're just in a parking lot.

I show Joe the bike, point out the scratches, praise it as a great beginner bike. He shows me his license, fresh with a learner's permit stamp. He asks me to ride the bike around the lot a bit, which I do, then when I'm done he pulls out his money to make the deal.

That's when Joe says, "Do you have any pointers for riding?" I'm like, ummm, what kind of pointers do you need? "Like, how do you shift? I drive a manual car, is it like that?"

:shocked:

I stop, look at Joe, and ask, "Joe, have you ever even *ridden* a motorcycle before?"

Nope. Turns out he took the *written* test at the DMV and got the permit, but has never been on a bike before. I asked him about taking an MSF class. "Nah, they charge like $350 for that class, I'd rather save my money."

:shocked: :shocked:

I tell Joe that the class is the best money he'd ever spend, totally worth it. He nods his head and repeats the request for me to help him learn how to ride it.

You know, in, like, fifteen minutes in a TGI Friday's parking lot.

That's when I couldn't resist my guilt complex any longer. I tell him, "Joe, I'm really sorry to have to say this, but I can't in good conscience sell you this bike today. Here's what I *can* do-- if you go and take the MSF class, and you come back and I still have the bike for sale, I'll knock $200 off the price, the bike will be yours. But you gotta take the class, or at least find someone who can lend you their bike for a couple days in a parking lot."

Now, it was hard to turn down the money-- he was going to give me my asking price, too, no negotiations!! :banghead:-- but in a way, it wasn't. Yeah, I know, millions of men and women learned how to ride motorcycles without ever taking a class, it happens every day, but I just couldn't bring myself to sell the Ninja to this eager, enthusiastic, and completely unprepared young man. Odds are he'd be perfectly fine getting home, he lived not too far from there, but if he didn't make it home... I'd never forgive myself. I thought about riding to his house and dropping the bike off there, but I long ago made the "no houses" rule of buying & selling on CL, wasn't about to break that one, either.

Anyway... what would YOU have done? :dontknow:

 

[Blade]

Selling a novist a dangerous tool

You did the right thing. He might have tried riding the bike and injured himself or someone else. There will be another buyer. There are too many riders in the DC/MD/ VA area for it to go unsold for very long. Go luck with the sell.

Blade

 

[OJ UK]

I would have done it a little different.....but still had a good result at the end.
I would have had him show me his insurance and then being a qualified motor cycle instructor,
and having put many, many first time riders on the road, I would have given him a couple of hours
of instruction, as we were in a parking lot, and assessed his abilities and if I was satisfied that he
posed no risk either to himself or others I would have let him ride on his way. Yes! Two hours is plenty
enough time to give a car driver the knowledge to safely control a motor cycle.
Reckless? No I don't believe so. He was a car driver with knowledge therefore of the rules of the road
and thus an awareness of other traffic and making allowances for their mistakes.
We all had to start somewhere and this guy was already a driver so he had a head start on me when I started!

 

[donec]

That has to be a judgment call on your part but when he rode it around for the test ride how did he do? That's the only information you have to go on. At 20 something he is not a kid any more. I would like to think I would have done something similar in the same circumstances but I don't really know. I am self taught in almost everything I have learned and after several years of riding with a license and without I went ahead and took the MSF course and almost did not pass it because that particular course required pushing the bike all over the parking while seating on it for 2 days which was almost too strenuous for me, but I did pass.

 

[bronzeflex42]

Good call

I probably would not have sold it either. You did what you felt was the right thing to do. And maybe it was. He might have drove away on the bike and never got hurt or if he would have gotten the bike and hurt himself or worse, then you probably would have felt bad. :2thumbs:

 

[Saluda]

In today's sue everybody atmosphere (not saying he would have had a case) I would have done the same.

Then again I sold my old Vulcan (mint condition) to a friend who had ridden for years. Saw the bike 3 months later and couldn't believe how it looked. He put it down 3 separate times, turn signals, fogs, bags all messed up. He sold it a few months later.

 

[robtdonna]

Prob something similar. Actually had a similar situation back In Feb. Still had my Vulcan 900 and a guy bought it sight unseen. He was going to have a friend drop him off pay for it and ride it home. His experience was limited and not recent and with much smaller machines. He was going to ride it about 60 miles . Made me very uncomfortable. I wound up trailering it to his place for him. Oh yeah, it wouldn't have had a tag/registration or insurance on it. I felt better delivering it, slept better, too.