I got outbid several times and it's quite difficult when it's the middle of the night in Britain and the auction is underway in Japan.
On a near perfect example I bid on last week I was out bid by £2000! I bid £3000 thinking that would be a good price and considering the 27% VAT and Duty to pay as well as shipping, but I got outbid and that was that.
So below is the bike I bought.
It was a bit of a gamble with this bike as there are only a few photos with it and my exporter chap said there was an issue with the meter. That could be an electrical problem and it won't start. A blown fuse would be nice, or something more drastic who knows. I'm going to guess that the key (weird credit card thing) is missing as it's not in the photos. Which would be fine as I was intending on buying the HRC card to convert it to full power anyway.
From looking at these pictures it's probably best to take the fairings off and check the pistons in the barrels. Change the piston rings, oil, water and brake fluid. Maybe have some parts if they're rusty, stripped and powder coated.
The windscreen looks like it's yellowed from the sun. Maybe it can be polished out but a new windscreen could be in order. 
I think there are some chips in the stickers and I'm not sure how to tackle this. There's a paint shop nearby specialising in fibreglass, carbon fibre and bike plastics so I'll take the bike to them to see what can be done to make it as beautiful as possible.
The rear picture below got me worried because to my eyes, the the rear wheel didn't look in line with the fairing. I thought maybe the rear subframe was bent or even the rear wheel, but it'll be inspected before shipping from Japan and if its more bent than a 9 bob note I'll reject the bike and just pay the penalty dictated by the auction.
Below is the auction paperwork describing the condition of the bike. I can't read Japanese so if anyone can understand it please email me.
As the plan stands.
It goes in a crate, covered in futon pads.
Loaded onto a boat bound for Southampton UK and will take maybe a month at sea. Hopefully the ship doesn't sink or get stuck in a political problem in the Suez.
I pick the bike up in a van and pay 27% VAT and Duty to the Customs man in Southampton.
Get the bike through an MOT. Not sure how to get the digital speedo in Km/h to Mph but that's all part of the challenge.
An MOT allows me to buy road tax.
I have to have bike insurance to get road tax, which I guess it ok as I need to ride the bike after I de restrict it and sort out the jetting, although I'm intending on selling this bike on Ebay for a profit and not intending on riding it as my bike.
No comments:
Post a Comment