Moving out of area, selling, rambling personal story

K

kurth83

New member
Joined
Aug 6, 2010
Location
San Jose, CA
Moto(s)
Honda CB500X, BMW F700GS
Looks like my moto days are coming to an end. Although I may be counting chickens here.

I am trying to move to Tennessee, no lane splitting there, so no reason to use a bike to commute. I am hoping to accept only remote positions from now on if possible. This is my pre-retirement move, while I am still physically strong enough to do it.

Sadly, I have two bikes and a trailer to get rid of (this is not an ad, just a ramble).

My CB500X I modded heavily, and it has been a garage queen for a few years. I have just about returned it to stock, and am about to drain the old gas and put in some new. Then it's time to kick the tires and light the fires.
The reason I procrastinated on selling this bike is the multiple days of work it took to get it ready to sell.

Fortunately (hah) my last company went bankrupt - that was fun, surprise morning meeting, today is y'all's last day, no severance, many apologies etc... - so while looking for a new job I have time to do all the stuff I have postponed over the years, and had a chance to think about what should be the next chapter in my life.

Just cleaning the garage is a major thing. Mostly about calling places to find out who recycles what these days.

Doesn't help that I've gotten older and slower, manual labor gets harder every year...

After that, the F700GS is only slightly modded, so a lot less work to unmod, I think I'll leave the clearwaters on it. I suspect nobody is going to sneer at the $1k+ lights, even if they don't intend to use them.

My plan is to off them without much regard to price, I just want somebody (probably a dealer) who I can be assured will fill out the DMV paperwork, since I won't be around to chase after them.

Lastly, I have a trailer in a bag, in case you never heard of it, it is a single-bike trailer that disassembles into a bag, which is really just a dust cover, you can't pick it up while in the bag. The annoyance there is it is a DMV registered vehicle, so I can't just give it away, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.

I probably will post the trailer in BARF classifieds at some point, I still have to actually get a remote job and sell the bikes first. I may be commuting next month on the bike for all I know at this point.

I am grateful to have ridden about 60k miles, over ten years, with no crashes (plenty of parking lot drops though, I think I can still remember most of them...).

Riding to me was a utilitarian way to get to work, forced by CA circumstances to risk my life to get to work on time, it was a surprise just how much fun it was. And I did love to tinker with my bikes too. I laugh that the biggest bike I ever rode was an 800, and never owned a single sport bike. With my back now, I can ride anything I want as long as it is an ADV bike. :)

I have many commuting war stories, the year I commuted over 17 was one of the more interesting times in my motorcycling life.

So looking back, no regrets, I will always be a motorcycle rider at heart.

I have loved being a part of BARF, you guys taught me almost everything I know about riding. :) I can't imagine what it would have been like without this community.

So, God willing, Knoxville here I come... :)

While I lack the southern accent, I love country music, play bluegrass on guitar and mandolin, and share some other things in common with the folks down there.

I'll still be lurking for a while, I'll send a last post when it's really goodbye.
 
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Good luck with the life change. But if you don't want to change your life too much, there is the Blue Ridge Parkway and Tail of the Dragon out that way, might be worth keeping a moto, just sayin'
 
This kind of well written post with actual thoughts about bikes and riding is my favorite to read. (Sadly, it's sorely lacking on barf lately.)

Is the reason to un-mod the bikes to get better prices on the aftermarket parts?

I can understand the desire to quit while you're ahead - 10 years without crashing. Maybe that time will come for me in another 10 years, and I hope I'm still ahead at that point.

I looked into Trailer-in-a-bag when I got a dirtibke. It seemed like a good solution for people without a lot of garage storage space, but ultimately, like you said, its weight and the assembly required for use isn't as pain free as it seemed at first. Also, I just couldn't trust the weight carrying capacity for something looking like that, although my optometrist said he carried his Road King (close to 900 lbs) on one.


kurth83 said:
My plan is to off them without much regard to price, I just want somebody (probably a dealer) who I can be assured will fill out the DMV paperwork, since I won't be around to chase after them.

Lastly, I have a trailer in a bag, in case you never heard of it, it is a single-bike trailer that disassembles into a bag, which is really just a dust cover, you can't pick it up while in the bag. The annoyance there is it is a DMV registered vehicle, so I can't just give it away, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.
Click to expand...

Buyers not transferring ownership with DMV right away seems surprising common. It happened to me on 2 bikes, and I didn't do that for years with the trailer I bought (but finally did). I was on a business trip in China and the tow yard called me in the middle of the night (China time) saying my bike got impounded after a high speed crash. It's not a problem at all, though, if you just file the release of liability with DMV (which can be done online). if you have proof of that then the vehicle you sold is no longer your problem/liability even if the new owner failed to transfer ownership.
 
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The TAT starts in Tennesse (first picture is the literal start of the TAT) either of your bikes would make a great TAT bike also. The TAT is not that difficult.
20170603_141432-XL.jpg

20170603_143515-XL.jpg



Tail of the Dragon is not far
1627495-XL.jpg
 
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life is what happens when you're making other plans... or something. good luck with the move!

dmv transfer followthrough is.. yeah. buyers are just naieve sometimes. one way to apply some pressure is to "lose" the license plate. be blunt about it. show them all the paperwork and how it all lines up then take the plate off and explain why. knock $20 off the price to cover the replacement fee which is only $14 last i checked.

lastly i might be interested in the trailer in a bag. it might come in handy :teeth
 
Santa Clara Cycle Accessories takes bikes in on consignment and will perform all the DMV paperwork.
When I worked there we did several "out of state owner" sales.

Good luck with the sale, move and life change.
 
As for the DMV transfer thing, as long as you submit the Release of Liability to DMV, you should be all set. Regardless of whether the buyer files for new registration or not.
 
I would definitely keep the F700GS and ride it in Tennessee- TOTD/129 is in your backyard in Knoxville and there are so many good roads in the area that it gives CA a run for the money. Cherohala Skyway, Wayah, 143/165, 28 South, Blue Ridge Parkway, 209- The Dirt Dragon (a/k/a The Rattler), 360 Loop- these are roads my friends and I go to Tennessee/NC to ride every year. I mean, just look at the danged map. ;)

If you like riding the California byways, you'll enjoy the Tennessee riding too- selling your bikes without a plan to buy another on the TN side would be a mistake unless it's absolutely necessary, imho. I'm saying this as a guy who lugged 2 motorcycles from Texas to CA in a trailer so that I could ride the canyons and mountains instead of the plains. :D Even if you're just out putting around the scenery at Sunday driver speeds, it's worth doing.
 
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Best of Luck

Change is exciting and enlightening. Tennessee doesn't sound so bad and things are closer there, as in not far to the distillery, Atlanta or New Orleans. Good luck and enjoy.
 
You can still be on Barf from Tennessee. I good luck with your move.
 
Even if you do file a release of liability with the DMV, keep the hard copy. We got a dun for 1000 dollars, two years after we sold a vehicle. It was abandoned on the side of the road, and wasn't registered or licensed. Retrieving info from the DMV is a pain in the ass, and since it was in there system, why didn't they send the bill to the new owner? We still had the hard copy, so no problem for us. This has happened to me 3 times.
 
For some reason when I think Tennesse I think rural, but that’s just assuming. If it is, remember, some of the best motorcycle riding doesn’t have to be on pavement!
 
Thanks for the encouragement folks. I didn't know about SCC consignment sales, means I could possibly sell to anybody through them.

I still have to get an actual remote job... :)

Tennessee is in the midst of a huge housing boom, construction everywhere, I guess I'm not the only one figuring it's an attractive state to move to. It is growing at twice the national average.

The reason for the unmods is every time I ask a dealer should I return it to stock, they always say yes...

I did crazy stuff to the Honda, I upgeared it by 19%, louder can, added more lights than a Christmas tree (which included drilling some fairings - those are being replaced with fresh OEM fairings, dirt cheap through Honda too, nice surprise there).

I saved the original sprockets so I could put them back on, the chain is still fairly new, no wear at all (those DID X-Rings last forever on a low powered bike).

I'm leaving the TPMS on it, since it's battery powered and easily removed.
Leaving the gear indicator on too, it plugs into an accessory port, so also easy for someone to remove.

I do all my mods like that, so I can back them out without any damage to the bike.

I started the Honda today, check engine light, coolant sensor. Took a while but once the new gas got to the injectors it started and ran ok, but suffering from hard starts, so I was kinda bummed. :) Put some seafoam in there.

Fortunately I bought the service manual, and some tracking down of the blinking ECM code told me the ECT (Engine Coolant Temperature) sensor was bad. The service manual had a pic where it was, and I had a good laugh. I had disconnected it to remove the speedo-healer (for the 19% upgear), and forgot to reconnect it. The service manual said a bad ECT would cause hard starts too, and it fixed that right up, starts first time now and runs great.

The battery was surprisingly good too, battery tender did it's job. It did fine with a lot of cranking to get to the new gas. Given it's a 7 yr old battery I may still need to replace it though.

The TPMS needs new batteries in the sensors, those batteries should arrive tomorrow.

But at this point it is starting and running perfectly, gotta love Hondas, they are famous for that.

All it needs now is a service (flush the old fluids: brake, oil, and coolant) and some new tires, and then ready to sell.

I am also waiting on the DMV for the new registration which I had let expire, silly me, I am getting lazy in my old age...
 
Can't kill a Honda :) my first bike was a '96 CBR F3 that had sat in a garage for 4 years. Luckily the guy had drain the tank and carbs, but he couldn't get it to start. Bought it cheap, took it to a friends place, new battery and fresh gas and it cranked for a good while but eventually fired up.
 
Knoxville is a great riding area. I’d keep all my riding stuff if I was moving there. Perhaps even add to the stable.
 
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