PEOPLE, WAKE UP!

Sadly, there are plenty of suckers out there.

And what are the odds it was insured.

rope

tape and airtag behind the airbox cover and take it off after cash in hand

my motorcycle does not leave the bed of my truck until i have cash in hand and the paperwork has been signed… if that’s an issue I end the transaction. 

This along with climb out of the truck with a pistol strapped to your side.  

Meet at a police station,dont unload until you have the $$ ,take a money marker, have both people sign a written receipt  sold as is . with the vin # on it   simple process 

All this is easy if you’re a fanatic like us on a dirtbike forum

bur for the average guy, sorry this isn’t something that they’ve had a community like us reminding them regularly about.

you gotta remember we are all nerds, reading and talking about dirtbikes enough to join a forum because our wives and friends weren’t enough to talk to about dirtbikes to.

Anyone know the guys ethnicity?

Just kidding, I watch wheelie boys too guys.

This happened to my son's good friend, except he didn't tell the guy that he could test ride it. They basically had agreed on the sale and the "buyer" went to his truck to get the money. At the same time he and asked my friend's son if he could grab the owner's manual for him. As soon as he got in the truck to retrieve the OM, he heard the bike fire up and it was gone, as was his friend who left in the getaway vehicle.

I sold my last bike last August and thankfully it was to a guy that I knew. I honestly had anxiety about selling it to a random individual. Bought and sold many bikes over the years, and had very good luck...but the law of averages was catching up with me.

How stupid can you be?    

Cash in sellers hand at a police station and then you can test ride it around the parking lot. 

Anyone who won't meet you at a police station should tell you something. 

Yeah I don't even like starting my bike for extended periods at my house. I don't want anyone living near me hearing I have a bike. I was going to sell my 450 last year after I bought a 350 and, like you said, I was stressing about selling it. I said fuck it and just kept it lol

I sell through FB Marketplace now since Craigslist is dying, and I vet the hell out of the seller’s profile to make sure they’re legit before sending them my address. Like, been on FB since ‘09, tons of pics with family, etc. I really couldn’t be bothered to load up and meet at a police station just to be told they don’t want to buy it, so I just turn away anyone that looks sketchy in the slightest. But once the buyer shows up, I usually let them take a test ride down the street since their truck is in my driveway at this point.

Driving to meet someone at a location of their choosing, then letting them test ride it? And feeling uneasy before letting them ride it, but letting them do it anyways? Not even asking for a license to hold or anything while they ride off? Yeah, multiple bad decisions here. You’re the seller, you have the leverage in a situation like this, if you feel like something’s off, call it off.

A friend of mine had the same thing happen a few years ago.

As a young, naive 18 year old, I nearly had this happen to me. Kid test rode it off the property and out of sight where some fairgrounds were located, I heard it shut off and starting fearing the worst. Fortunately, his dad happened to be over there and he was just getting his opinion. He rode back over and I learned a lesson. 

Rule #1 - Don't ever deliver anything without cash up front.

This kinda stuff is why i have so many bikes...

Sucks to be that trustworthy,  I guess those kids will now realize why the tube socks are locked up at the local Walmart.

I just trade my bikes in these days…I don’t want to risk dealing with a sketchy person and jumping through all the hoops so I don’t get ripped off…it’s worth it to me to take a few hundred less from a dealer just to not have to deal with that nonsense.

That's rule #2.

Rule number #1 is:  Whenever you get a message that says "I’ll offer you $xxx extra"....  Delete it.

Why.....these days law enforcement won't even go after stolen property even if they know where it is.         Why risk the hassle...    Cash in hand before the bike leaves your hands, have a "wingman" with you that never takes eyes off what is going on.    Depending on your state laws...be prepared for anything, if you catch my drift.

(Not a slam on law enforcement...I have a number of friends/acquaintances in LE across a number of agencies.)

Thats why you insure stuff also

Crazy how much money bad people can make on naive people. 

I thought for sure this was happening to me once. I sold my wife's Warrior on Cycle Trader once. Dude comes to my house (I know, I know,) and stops in my driveway in a janky old Chevy Astrovan. He looks it over, sits on it, and asks if he can ride it down the street. 
I figured, sure. He can't put the ATV in his truck without coming back here, right? So I let him ride the quad. He pops it into gear and pulls a near full-throttle takeoff, shifting through all the gears and out of sight down my street. When I couldn't hear the engine any longer, my wife and I looked at each other and laughed. "haha, is he coming back???" 
Just then I started worrying that he had already stolen the Astrovan and my unit was his next stolen vehicle. Crap. 
Fortunately, he came back, paid in cash, and loaded up to head home. 

 Yep they got taken. I wish they had a phone number and then everyone could call em and say “YOU STUPID F-CK!” Then hang up lol

I used to sell my bikes in Walmart parking lots during the day only when people were around and I had hardly any fuel in them so they couldn't ride off. I like the new air tag idea for sure.  Nice little precautionary measure 

We let a man ride my 85 up and down the street to test it out before he bought it from us, like 20 years ago.

His child was standing next to us. Maybe if it really wasn't his child he would have taken off with the bike and never come back?