12-18-2013, 11:02 PM
(07-10-2013, 09:26 PM)The ferret_imp Wrote: My dad had a 72 R5. he was in his 60s at the time ( about my age now lol ) and the bike was too high strung for him so be bought a 73 CB350 F, a nice docile 4 stroke. Anyhow my brother and I were out on our own by then and dad rolled the R5 out in the front yard and put a 4 sale sign on it. A guy came " walking" down the street and stopped and looked at the bike. He asked my dad if he could take it for a test ride. My dad agreed but siad he would have to follow along (on the CB). When they took off the guy on the R5 took off like a bat out of hell and quickly lost my dad. Dad went home and waited but the guy never came back. He called us brothers and told us what happened. We figured the bike was gone. A couple days later the police from Gatlinberg Tenn called my dad to see if he was the owner of an orqnge and black Yamaha (we live in Ohio). They found it lying in a ditch out of gas. We took a car and trailer down there and picked it up. Dad was more cautious after that and we always made sure one of us was there when dad was selling something.
Wow that's some story. I've only sold bikes outright to people I've known... and haven't done that in years trading in the last one I replaced. How does one allow a stranger to test ride a bike you are selling? Or do you just not do it? I'm fearful of that exact story happening again...