Posts
2799
Joined
8/16/2006
Location
Ormond Beach, FL
US
Tbteam
11/14/2019 5:42pm
11/14/2019 5:42pm
Edited Date/Time
11/18/2019 9:17pm
1996 “McGrath replica”. Supposedly gone through and displayed for five years.
Looks ok in the crate when it arrives. Then you notice a hole drilled into the intake chamber of the piston with JB Weld weeping out of it.
So you contact the seller. He agrees to buy a used cylinder. Ok.
Then you decide you better take a good look at the bike. You find:
No air filter. Or filter cage.
No fuel tank strap.
Oops! Cracked piston.
No bearings in the top shock mount.
Wait! Forget about the shock bearings. The rear shock has a bit of a problem.
Complete tear down. Bad bearings. Missing seals.
Cracked and chipped gears.
Couldn’t save the shock pivot. So corroded and locked up, it was unusable.
Want more?
The DEP pipe is off the wrong bike.
No rim locks installed.
Power valve bolt threaded in half way.
No clamps holding on either side of the carb
No nut on front motor mount
Wrong front disk protector. Fell off.
No radiator mount bushings.
Spokes on both wheels are loose. Wheels aren’t trued.
Every bolt on the bike was finger tightened or just barely tighter. I removed most things without tools.
So far, I’m out about an additional three grand over the cost of the bike.
Ultimately, after refunding some importing fees, the seller has stopped replying to my messages. Lesson learned. I jumped way too fast on this one. Thank God for eBay and Rocky Mountain ATV.
Looks ok in the crate when it arrives. Then you notice a hole drilled into the intake chamber of the piston with JB Weld weeping out of it.
So you contact the seller. He agrees to buy a used cylinder. Ok.
Then you decide you better take a good look at the bike. You find:
No air filter. Or filter cage.
No fuel tank strap.
Oops! Cracked piston.
No bearings in the top shock mount.
Wait! Forget about the shock bearings. The rear shock has a bit of a problem.
Complete tear down. Bad bearings. Missing seals.
Cracked and chipped gears.
Couldn’t save the shock pivot. So corroded and locked up, it was unusable.
Want more?
The DEP pipe is off the wrong bike.
No rim locks installed.
Power valve bolt threaded in half way.
No clamps holding on either side of the carb
No nut on front motor mount
Wrong front disk protector. Fell off.
No radiator mount bushings.
Spokes on both wheels are loose. Wheels aren’t trued.
Every bolt on the bike was finger tightened or just barely tighter. I removed most things without tools.
So far, I’m out about an additional three grand over the cost of the bike.
Ultimately, after refunding some importing fees, the seller has stopped replying to my messages. Lesson learned. I jumped way too fast on this one. Thank God for eBay and Rocky Mountain ATV.
The Shop
In some places you can take him to court if he misrepresented himself or the item in a sale.
That dude sold you a pig with lipstick on and knew it!
Pit Row
Too late to be kicking yourself in the butt. Money is already spent. It’s a build project and enjoy. People get hosed buying a brand new bike paying a lot more. It happens to all of us.
Have fun man!
I’m pretty good at getting even. Lol
Fwiw..... that asshole should not only pay for all the missing , damaged and broken parts.....but for the time and patience it took to find it all. I hope you squeeze this guy , because he deserves it!
You bought it so you wouldn’t have to restore it. So you paid a price based on that being your intention.
I imagine you weren’t looking for a restore project as you could have bought such to begin with.
You have an incredible collection from what little can be seen. Thankfully you know your way around these.
I understand your pain since I purchased (2) CR 250 s a 92 and another 95 last year. Both I failed to do my own due diligence and certainly over paid.
The 92 was laughable for what I paid and what was an issue with it. I saw a short video where the seller started it easily enough and ran it. As long as he delivered it to me I would pay his price. That was just plain silly since I felt tied in to pay his price despite what I ultimately saw wrong with it. A fool and his money.
I started the restore on this bike and still have a long way to go.
You did members here a solid on posting your misery for all of us to read. Thank you. It reinforces overlooking the small things just because the whole looks great can be costly.
Amazing someone would sell that at a premium restore price and have so many basic issues wrong with it. None of those would be considered a minor memory lapse.
Edit- You're not replacing the entire pivot just the bearing right? I found it not terribly difficult to remove the old race on one bearing of the 95 I just fully restored. Dremel and dental bits.
That’s what it would cost to restore one to a high standard that is also “ready to race”.
Who doesn’t do their homework on a purchase before handing over that type of cash?? 800-1000 maybe, but not 8-10k?!
I’d bet it was advertised ‘cheap’ for what it appeared to be and so you jumped in quick. Only to find it’s not what you were expecting. Still not great that you were sold it like that, but I bet you weren’t sold it to the value of what you thought you were getting.
Post a reply to: How would you feel if you bought this bike? *Important Update*