Is there a bike you regret selling?

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Ben
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Is there a bike you regret selling?

#1 Post by Ben » Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:39 pm

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I still kick myself when I think about my Aprilia RS250 which I sold in 2005. I had a TL1000S at the time and the Aprilia. I was out of work and needed to free up some money.

Sell the Aprilia or the Suzuki?

I figured the Aprilia wouldn't be a good bet if I got a job miles away, so I stuck it on eBay and it went for £1600. The pipes alone cost £800!

When the new owner came to load it in the van he made a right old pig's ear of it and put a huge scratch down the fairing.

I still miss that bike!

Have you sold a bike and later regretted it?

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mangocrazy
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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#2 Post by mangocrazy » Fri Dec 06, 2019 8:57 pm

Yes! A TL1000S, as it happens... I'd bought a full custom exhaust systems for it (stainless pipes, oval Titanium cans), a replacement Ohlins damper for the crappy standard 'door-closer' unit and then I lost my job, was out of work for 15 months and had to sell it to pay the bills and buy food.

At the same time (and for the same reasons) I had to sell my Hejira 350YPVS 'special' that I'd built - box section frame and swingarm, Gerry Pell motor, Jim Lomas pipes, Astralite wheels, ISR calipers, carbon fibre subframe/seat unit etc. etc. I must have spent the thick end of £10k on it and it went for £2k. Gutted.

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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#3 Post by BikerGran » Sat Dec 07, 2019 1:58 pm

:smt023 My bikes have all gone and as I can no longer ride it's more that I regret HAVING to sell them. But my first bike, my much loved RXS100 that I was always going to get back on the road one day, went to a bloke looking for a small Jap to restore. He brought it back to show me when it was done and he told me it was such fun riding it that he's sold his 'Blade (only one of his stable of 6 bikes) to keep the RXS.
I was sad when my trike Gertie went - she'd been my bike before I bashed my leg and had her triked, and I rode that trike all over the place doing the Round Britain Rally and the RS meet we used to have in Shropshire. We had 18 great years though! :smt023
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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#4 Post by RiceBurner » Wed Dec 11, 2019 2:53 pm

I tend to regret selling EVERY bike I own!

Mind you - I keep my bikes a long time so I get rather attached to them!

First major regret was a Ducati TL600 (a 'touring' Pantah) from '85. I owned it in the mid-90s and after crashing it at the Manx in (iirc) 93 or 94 I restyled it as a cafe-racer with a georgeous gloss black paintjob, Guzzi Le Mans 1 bikini fairing and custom side panels, Alazzura GT rear wheel and a lot of rebuild work that I did myself. For some odd reason after a while it started missing a lot and I simply couldn't correct it. I'd bought my ZXR400 by then (first proper job) and couldn't justify 2 bikes (this was before I was in a position to start collecting) and sold it to a friend for about £500. He promptly spent an hour fixing the misfire and sold it on for (I heard) nearly 3 times the amount. GIT!*


I still regret selling my 52,000 mile ZXR400 - it was a superb little bike, far comfier and quicker than anyone expected and I did a lot of fun riding it.

Hated selling both the Mirthcycles (ZR550 Zephyrs) - again - a very underrated bike, make some very simple suspension tweaks and they're a very good road-bike with 'enough' power for anything.

Lately I really regret selling my 3rd BMW Rockster. I did something like 130,000 miles on that bike, only to blow a crank-main bearing on the A303 in 2017. It was kind of a corollary to real life actually - I had a bit of a mental breakdown the same year and quit my job after becoming massively overwhelmed by everything.
I had intended to strip the Rockster down completely and rebuild it, but was a bit daunted by the whole thing (overwhelm again) so sold it to Motorworks as a spares bike for about £300 MORE than it was worth as a part-ex! Still very sad about that. :(








* Genuinely - I was pissed at that - if he knew how to fix it, why not help me?? grrrrr!

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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#5 Post by Gio » Fri Dec 13, 2019 9:22 pm

Ben wrote:
Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:39 pm
Image

I still kick myself when I think about my Aprilia RS250 which I sold in 2005. I had a TL1000S at the time and the Aprilia. I was out of work and needed to free up some money.

Sell the Aprilia or the Suzuki?

I figured the Aprilia wouldn't be a good bet if I got a job miles away, so I stuck it on eBay and it went for £1600. The pipes alone cost £800!

When the new owner came to load it in the van he made a right old pig's ear of it and put a huge scratch down the fairing.

I still miss that bike!

Have you sold a bike and later regretted it?
Yes my 1st Blackbird, I should have rewired it, problem sorted. Spent a fortune on mods and paint job. It had originally been the demo bike for Tippets at Surbiton, the original carbed model, hated the winter, but a veritable rocket in the summer as it had been breathed on. Definitely a bad move by me.
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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#6 Post by Animal » Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:27 am

BMW R1200S. Gutted I sold that.
Full Ohlins, 60mm Titanium full system, All-Day comfy and quick round a track too...
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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#7 Post by fatboy » Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:12 pm

Every Brit bike I owned!
Common as dog shit in the late seventies/early eighties,eye wateringly expensive now.
I guess you just get so pissed off with primitive engineering,primitive electrics and no brakes to speak of,a lot like Harleys, eye candy and fucking high maintenance
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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#8 Post by mangocrazy » Tue Dec 17, 2019 8:30 pm

I think I had a narrow escape there - I went to look at a Norton Dominator 600 in my late teens (having not long passed my bike test) and was very tempted, but something made me hesitate and walk away. A few years later, when helping a mate to strip down his BSA I couldn't help but be horrified by the crudeness of the engineering compared to Japanese bikes of the era. It was then I knew I'd made the right decision years earlier...

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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#9 Post by zoidberg » Sun Jan 05, 2020 8:59 pm

My Buell XB12ss it was fantastic.
Also my Rs250, that's was crazy fun on the b roads.

I now only have a 1970 BSA Starfire but I'm considering a speed triple to get me back on the road proper.

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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#10 Post by Ben » Mon Jan 06, 2020 9:26 am

I genuinely didn't think I'd see anyone mention Buell in this thread!

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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#11 Post by zoidberg » Mon Jan 06, 2020 5:18 pm

Don't think many have rode one, never mind owned one.

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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#12 Post by fatboy » Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:46 pm

I took one for a test ride not long before they went bust....
Very impressive for both the best and worst reasons, bucket fulls of torque, front wheel picked up in 1,2 and 3,handling was weird at low speeds like sitting on a massive jelly and braking took a lot of getting used too.
So then I bought the Falco, not too dissimilar from the above but a little less disconcerting
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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#13 Post by zoidberg » Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:07 pm

You're not wrong. I had mine remapped. It was pushing 80ftlbs at 3krpm. It was mental.

I do miss my falco. Great bike once it's been fettled properly.

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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#14 Post by mangocrazy » Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:14 pm

zoidberg wrote:
Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:07 pm
You're not wrong. I had mine remapped. It was pushing 80ftlbs at 3krpm. It was mental.

I do miss my falco. Great bike once it's been fettled properly.
Absolutely. One day I'll get mine put on the dyno. Every time I ride it, it puts a big grin on my face. Instant grunt, any gear and pretty much any revs - what's not to like? And fit it with items liberated from an RSV Factory (Oz wheels, 4-pad Brembos, Ohlins shock) and it's the equal of an RSV, but with much more relaxed and user-friendly ergonomics.

I also think the Falco's looks have aged much better than those of the RSV/Mille.

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Re: Is there a bike you regret selling?

#15 Post by BikerGran » Tue Jan 07, 2020 10:16 pm

zoidberg wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 5:18 pm
Don't think many have rode one, never mind owned one.
Son in law has an early S1 Lightning, he rarely rides now but he loves that bike!
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