Feeling Better, or...

...There is hope for the world.

As I have previously posted, my Craigslist adventures have, for the most part, been fruitless. That changed today.

A couple of months ago, Nancy was shopping for a car to replace her well used, and aging 2006 Scion Xa. They had been through a lot together, she bought it right after her heart attack in 2006, but it was time for a change. She found a great deal on a 2017 Toyota Rav4, low price, low miles, 0% financing, $0 down, bright blue (please God, any color other than black, white, or silver), and Certified Pre Owned with 7 year/100,000 mile warranty... She couldn't pass it up. The dealer offered only $250 for her Scion with 201,000 miles on it. I thought we could do better than that. She was determined to try for $2500, but after a while she admitted that she may have been overly optimistic in her pricing! I had the car on Craigslist for a while and just like the Zx-14, only scammers. Until yesterday that is. This morning, a man and his buddy drove the 75 miles from Duluth to our home, took it for a short ride around the block, looked it over, offered cash, I countered, we agreed on a price, kept our social distance, signed paperwork, and he drove away in her car! Just like it should be. The ad was up for 13 days. Not bad. Faith restored!

Her Rav4

There continues to be no activity on the Zx-14. I've had only one legitimate email exchange with a real person... and it's been pretty funny!

About 3 weeks ago, I received an email from Thor. He said that he was in Washington state and had seen my ad on Craigslist. He had recently purchased his own Zx-14r and was looking for information on the luggage and some of the  things that I had added to mine. He also commented that he thought my ad was "... great and well structured...".

I wrote him back, thanking him for his comments and added several paragraphs about the Givi bags, SW-Motech mounts, bar risers, C14 seat... All the modifications I made to make my Zx a super comfortable, long distance, sport-touring bike, with emphasis on sport.

That same evening, he wrote be back thanking me for all the information I had provided. He told me about his friend, a retired airline pilot, that was trying to sell his Zx-10 on Craigslist (Seattle). He told me he had suggested to his friend that he fly out here, buy my bike, and drive it home... LOL He also included some pictures of his green 2019 Zx-14r.

I again emailed him and complimented him on the color of his bike.

Well this morning I find another email from him. I was laughing so hard that Nancy came to see what I doing. Here it is, cut and pasted....

Hi Erik,

I've been checking in on your add and see it has not sold.  A lot of bikes out here aren't selling either.  I think it's the economic fears about covid and such. 

 My buddy Dave has his zx10 listed at a great price with no nibbles.  He listed it lower than I think he should with no serious replies, only some scammers.  I don't know if I told you the story about how his wife wants him to sell the sport bike and get a cruiser for them both.  She is not fond of motorcycles and has only ridden with him twice.  We will see; I'm kinda doubtful.  She does not like the blue zx10.

I've told him several times to fly out and buy yours and ride it back; I told him that this would be genius!  See, your bike is green and my bike is green; he could ride it and just say that it is mine; she wouldn't know the difference!  He loves riding mine.  He said it's the most comfortable bike of all of ours. 

He used to keep his motorcycles at my house.  He had his Grandson over once and wouldn't you know it he slipped during Christmas dinner, "Grandpa has some kool motorcycles"  Of course Grandma said "What motorcycles??"  I sat there and giggled like a little girl knowing that this had been going on for five years and he had some explaining to do.  He has the zx10, a vmax, and a Honda xl600r.  I told him there is room for another zx14 so buy it!

My zx14 only has about 1000 miles on it.  I had a knee injury shortly after I bought it and in July I fell at work and tore a tendon in my shoulder and am due for surgery in twelve days.  So no more riding for a while.  I did a new exhaust since I last wrote which is just as quiet but much smaller so I can fit luggage on now!  I'll find the luggage when I get more money saved.  Also bought a center stand; it will be delivered soon.  Hopefully by the time I'm healed everything will be set up the way I want it.

I'll send you a link to Dave's zx10.  I helped him write it or I should say "we" helped him write it as I borrowed some of the content from your ad.  Some famous writers once said that "copying others' work is the sincerest form of plagiarism."  

If you don't sell your zx14 then keep it.  Kawasaki does not make them anymore and it's the best motorcycle ever made!

Take care and good luck.

Thor

Dave's Zx-10 in Seattle.

If Dave's ad is gone when you read this, Thor basically copied a lot of my ad where I list all the things I won't do for a buyer. Cut and pasted from the ad...

I’m not interested in trades, I will not "take payments”, I will not finance it for you, nor take money orders, bank checks, "certified checks", or gift cards for it. I will not hold it for you so you can save up your money... No, you can't rent it for a weekend to see if it is the bike of your dreams. No, I do not have a truck or trailer you can borrow to haul it home. I do not have ramps to load it in the back of your pickup truck. I will not ship it to you, I will not take more than the asking price and give the extra $$ to your shipping agent... I will not send you a copy of the title before you pay me for the bike. This is a face to face, in person sale only! Bring cash if you’re serious. If you can get a bank check, you can get cash.
I'd also be happy to email or text you any additional pictures you may want.

This is definitely not a bike for a beginning rider. Your life, freedom, and driving privileges all depend on your brain's ability to control your right wrist…

Dave's Zx-10..

As I'm writing this... hummm, blue Zx-10.... blue Rav4? ... humm... No, needs to be Kawasaki green!!!

I feel better! Thor, you made our day!

Frustrated...

To be honest, I haven't looked any motorcycle blogs in almost a year, and I have no idea if anybody will even see this. Sometimes, life has a way of messing up your plans.

I won't get into discussing the current state of the world, but I will say we're doing OK up here in the middle of nowhere.

My 2009 Kawasaki Zx-14 has 62,200 miles on it and I've been thinking of selling it for a while now. But, I'm not 100% sure I want to do that though, Do I keep it? Do I sell it? Is that high miles? I mean I really love that bike. I'm weeks away from 60 years old, and even at my age, I still think the Zx-14 is the most comfortable long distance motorcycle I've ever owned. I like it more than either of the two Goldwings I've had, ('98 and '03). The Goldwings seemed really cramped and heavy. I feel that the Zx-14's engine, transmission and chain drive is smoother than the shaft drive FJR1300 that I used to own. Over all, the Zx-14  truly has been my favorite bike! It does everything I ask and never complains. Sure, it developed a leak in the radiator and left me stranded 700 miles from home, but it was my fault for not catching that one. Did I mention I really love that bike....

The only thing I don't like about my Zx-14 is the cost of insurance. I don't know who the actuary is at my insurance company, but they must think that ALL Zx-14 owners are 18 year old, wheelie popping, stunt riding, no experience, hold my beer and watch this.... wow, we'll put that on YouTube, squids! It shouldn't cost a mostly mature, senior citizen, with a credit score over 800, that much for full coverage insurance!

Part of me wants to replace it with a 2019 Kawasaki z900rs Cafe. There are some really good deals out there on new, left over, 2019's, like $2600 off MSRP kind of deals!. I'd prefer a '19 over a '20 because the '19's are green and not the two-tone black and green like the 2020's. The z900rs gets great reviews, there are side cases and luggage racks, taller wind screens, and even different seats available for them, so setting up another long distance ride should be no problem.... And speaking of insurance costs... I asked my agent about the cost to insure it. Get this, I was quoted a price for full coverage, at my current levels, that is CHEAPER than liability only would be on the Zx-14!!! Crazy... They really don't like the Zx !!


              2019 z900rs Cafe

                  photos lifted from dealer web site..



This brings me to the major source of my frustration... Craigslist buyers!!!

I know I've posted before about my frustration with Craigslist sellers. You know the kind, the ones that won't answer emails or their phone. They take one crappy picture and don't bother to drag the bike out of the garage, turn on the garage lights, or even remove the crap from the seat, before taking an under exposed, blurry, picture. They don't offer any details about it, like it's an old school "want ad" in the news paper and they're paying for each word they use. Lastly, and most annoyingly, they can't even manage to spell the brand name correctly... It's written right on the tank FFS!!! This kind of crap isn't limited to just motorcycles. I have more than 80 screen shots of Craigslist ads for Allis Chalmers tractors saved in my computer. Everything from Alice to Ellus Chumblers to Charmbers... WTF!!!

Sorry, anyways...

In the past, I've purchased and sold items on Craigslist and never had a problem  using their email communication system. It keeps inquiries and replies anonymous so no one knows the others real email address. It has worked fine for me, and any legitimate buyers/sellers never seemed to have a problem with it either.... More on this in a minute...

For a couple of months I've had my Zx-14 listed on Craigslist and I've had no real replies, only scammers.

Within minutes of posting the ad the first time I had someone ask if "the item" was still available, and the rest of their email sounded like a 2nd grader wrote it. No punctuation, incredibly bad grammar... In fact, most of the emails that I've received sound like that!!

Then, there's people that ask questions that I have already answered. They would know this IF they had taken the time to actually read the ad. There are people that ask really strange generic questions like, "Does the 'item' have any frame rust and have you replaced any mechanical parts recently?" I replied to that email and said that the Zx, like most modern sport bikes, has an aluminum frame, so, NO, no rust, and that the ad tells all about what I've done to the bike. This same person replied a day later and wanted me to purchase a "history report" from a link that they provided so that "any issues could be discovered". I went to the web site and noticed that it's from some foreign country and it wanted my VIN, credit card number, and 3 digit security code from the back of my credit card... LOL ... No freakin' way that's going to happen. I have had several emails asking for a "history report".

Every one of these weird emails has had one thing in common... They've all said that "craigslist email doesn't work for me" or "craigslist emails don't come through on my computer", or "crags lists mail is Flakey" (yup, just like I typed it). ALL of them want me to reply with my real email address... nope.

Two days after I listed it, I had one email that could have been from a real person, but their email was a little short and asked a one word question.. "$3900?" was all it said... I replied with "no".

This shouldn't be that hard.. Tell me you're interested, ask to come see it, show up, look it over, bring cash, sign title and purchase agreement, drive it or trailer it home..... easy

I've had a couple of people tell me that I should list it on Facebook Marketplace, but I don't Facebook... so...?? Does anyone have an opinion about FB Marketplace??

I'm going to let the current Craigslist ad expire next week and if it doesn't sell I'm not going to relist it.

Maybe this winter I'll show it some love and strip the plastics off and either adjust the valve clearances myself, or find a reliable shop to do it. If I do that, I'll keep it for another 10 years...

That's all for now. I feel better, thanks for letting me vent!