After getting bitten by the bug during last few months, thinking of buying a track bike for next year, any good salvage sites anyone could recommend as id like to find a half decent blade..... ?
I have a Blade RRW in pieces, ex trackbike. The engine is going in my bike , but I will have another available in a month or two. A few pieces have been sold , but most of it is there. and it has a V5.
I saw a tidy CBR1000RR7 track bike on ebay a few weeks back, I haven't seen it on there whilst search recently I think it was priced at 3K but was reay to go. Wouldn't a 1000 be a real handful for a first track bike?
i have seen em on ebay etc and thanks for offer.... but was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to buy direct from insurers ? or salvage auctions....., have i got to be a bit careful when buying ? V5 present etc ? or can it all be legal without ?
Get a bike with V5 mate..... Lots of stories going around about police checking bikes at track days and seizing them as they are coming up as stolen . Blokes are going nuts as they bought them totally innocently of ebay
I'm sure if you could buy from an insurance company they would be able to provide suitable documentation of ownership even if the V5 was no longer avaliable.
if you will allow, ill tell you all a little story. in 2009 i bought an RR7 Blade from a (supposedly) reputable trackday dealer in lincolnshire, i bought it in need of total conversion, it needed bodywork, ecu etc etc. The shop claimed it was a cat d stolen recovered but didnt have the keys, now, being good mates with one of the owners i decided i could trust him and took the plunge. What followed was a pleasure for 6 months, but then it all went to ratshit. 2nd Febuary 2010 i receive a knock at the door, 6 plain clothed CID officers have a warrant to enter my premises, they explain that they beleive i am in possesion of stolen goods, namely a 2007 honda fireblade! They seized the bike, arrested me, took me to lincoln police station where i was held for nearly 24hrs on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle AND handling stolen goods. i was released on police bail, and it took 8 months for the shop to admit i bought the bike from them, turned out they were really in the poo and had sold upwards of 40+ bikes the same as mine. However, they ceased trading during that time and started up a new ltd company, leaving me with no legal comeback, i had however negotiated with the shop owner to reimburse me, this never really happened. However, in late 2010, the police contacted me to inform me that the bike was being transferred out of there custody to its rightful owners (insurance company) and wanted to know if i wanted them to pass my details onto them as an interested party, at the time i did to recover all the parts i had rightfully and legally purchased A week later i have negotiated with the insurance company to buy back the blade with no category attatched and with full legal title. It cost me to get it back, but at least it was only 2k out of pocket not 5k! In the intervening period i took legal advice from motorcycle experts and insurance industry people. Heres what i was told. cat d, fine, you dont need any checks, apply to dvla for v5 cat c, bit heavier, generally frame or swingarm marked, heres where it gets murky... Cat B...this is bought by breakers from insurance companys, the bike can be broken for spares but the bike can never be returned to the road, and the frame should have the headstock removed and destroyed. Cat A...totally destroyed. ANY bike claiming to be cat b is illegal and you have no legal title to it, if the insurance company that originally owned it could legally seize the bike and it would mean big doo doo for the breaker who sold it. any bike on ebay or other sites that claims to be a cat b or insurance job and has had numbers removed is illegal, simple, if the police check your bike at a circuit, which they have done 3 times when ive been at cadwell this year, and you have removed numbers on your bike, they will seize it, no questions no options. Simple way is to buy a bike with a v5, as from 2012 most TDO's will be randomly checking. Finally, in regards to buying damaged bikes direct, unless you are a registered trader with VAT registration and current breakers licence and enviromental certificate from your local authority, you wont be allowed to even apply for membership of Copart, who are the agents for 99% of UK car & bike salvage. Hope this helps!
Good post mate.. Glad you got the blade back in the end , must have been a right headache whilst it was going on....IMO a bike with no papers just is not worth the risk..
Its not, and the problem is, despite the police cracking down, the problem is at its height at the minute as every monkey with a dodgy bike sticks it on ebay etc to try and get rid of it asap.
