info on buying on-line

[minnleeboy]

I am getting cabin fever here in Minnesota. I am in the market to buy a trike. I have been doing a lot of research and surfing the web for articles and trikes for sale. My main question is, Is there a person or company that is bonded and would represent someone buying a trike from someone in a different state. This person may travel to the site, inspect the bike, advise you on the condition, take care of the transphere of money, getting a clear title, arrange for shipping ETC: I think most of you people vewing this post will get the point right away that a lot of us do not have the means to travel to a different state and do this once we have found something on-line that we have the money for and would buy it . This is just a request for inf from you people on how you may have handled a simular situation.

Thanks for any feed-back.

Lee Kvanli
Montevideo, MN

 

[The Wolf]

ThumbUpif its a Wing you are after. ask the person selling if they are in chapter of GWRRA. If so speak to chapter director and find out if the person is for real. that what I do when buying from the States (3 times).
Good Luck

 

[rickt]

Just my 2 cents ... thinkin' that an airplane ticket would be cheaper than the services you would farm out. Plus, you are putting a lot of trust into someone an a pretty expensive purchase.

 

[John Luciano]

What state did you find them in? Maybe someone on here lives close . It wont be a Total "It is a great bike buy it " BUT at least you will know it is not a piece of junk and it looks good and runs fine . No one not even a mechanic can guarantee it is perfect. I also go along with Wolfs suggestion. If u get a State and a City address from the seller E mail me and will give u a list of names to call from my GWRRA Gold Book. as far as getting it would go get it . I don't trust anyone to ship it after they got the $$$

 

[BlueTrinity]

Lee,
Take a look at the California Sidecar website. They have a number of trikes in the classified section at what appear to be some pretty good prices.
If memory serves, Lehman has listings on their site as well.

Good luck!

 

[curley03]

I know several people who purchased motorcycles and had an arrangement with the shipper, who only transported motorcycles, to check out the bikes for them prior to accepting the bike for shipping. I think a better method would be to try and get car check or some other vehicle inspection company to do it for you. You could also try and find someone on a M/C forum to check it out for gas and expense money. BUT nothing is better then buying from a reputable dealer who has a good record ,good luck there, and some kind of warranty. I got screwed on a moto guzzi with minor electrical problems bought on ebay. Turned out that everything else was shot and the repair bills were in the $1,000s. I did not get any advice wish I had. curley

 

[The Wolf]

When I am purchasing a trike I also go over to see the person and trike and give it the once over and have shipping details and instructions ready if I am happy. John is right...do call him and he can do a bit of detective work for you (he's doin' nothing anyway LOL)ThumbUp

 

[tfdeputydawg]

Find what you think you're interested in. Post a message here asking if anyone lives close to (give a general area) willing to check out a trike. Ask those willing to PM you for details. I don't think anyone would be willing or should do the whole deal for you,IMHO.
I happen to work for a Installer that went, w/2 of his techs to look at a bike for sale that was minutes from his business in response to a similar request on another board.
No charge!
Do not use E-bay as a pricing gage! I studied every trike on there for almost 4yrs while making a decision on what I wanted. A very large number of the trikes on E-bay ended up not selling because either the reserve was not met or there were 0 bids.
There are several good, knowledgeable members of this board that can advise you on reasonable prices, when you find what you are interested in and tell us about it.

 

[tfdeputydawg]

Another consideration is to locate a bike-then have the trike conversion added, after you have checked out and tested the conversions that might interest you.