Best Country in EU for 2nd Hand Bikes?

Zynks · 20-09-2005 12:02pm #1

I will be buying a new (2nd hand) bike before year end. I am most likely to buy it abroad and ship it (or ride it) to Ireland. I know a lot of people buy in the UK due to the language and distance, but I am wondering if there are other countries in the EU where better deals would be available. Any suggestions? Any good sites to shop around?

I am thinking about (but not limited to) Germany, Spain and France.

In case bike size or model may influence a country's "attraction level", I am likely to get a VFR800 or a TDM900.

Any ideas/suggestions most welcome.

madrab · 20-09-2005 1:18pm

my uneducated answer would say germany

but i have no direct experience with it

murphaph · 20-09-2005 1:29pm

Germany would be best IMO. They have a lot of fair weather bikers and many of the older bikes you'll see for sale have never seen a drop of rain.

The roads are immaculate too so the bit of riding some of these bikes have seen will be very easy on them.

Germans are also ridiculously honest when advertising vehicles, often taking close up pictures of scratches etc. and including them in the ad so they don't waste anyone's time, indeed if a german went to look at a vehicle and there was a scratch that hadn't been described in the ad he'd be pretty annoyed! (you'll see the word 'defekt' when there's something badly wrong with a motor or 'unfall' if it's been crashed, 'unfallfrei' means it hasn't been crashed).

Check out motoscout24.de for ideas. If you're not familiar with german, 'nur' means 'only'. 'Anzeige' is an ad and 'bild' is a picture. The rest is self-explanatory german IMO.

galwaytt · 20-09-2005 2:04pm

Germany good - Italy cheaper - especially for older, or not current-fad stuff.

Watch out for restricted bikes ....they're not all the same as ours..........and not always easy to de-restrict either.........

Zynks · 20-09-2005 3:01pm

murphaph wrote:

Germany would be best IMO. ...(you'll see the word 'defekt' when there's something badly wrong with a motor or 'unfall' if it's been crashed, 'unfallfrei' means it hasn't been crashed).

Check out motoscout24.de for ideas. If you're not familiar with german, 'nur' means 'only'. 'Anzeige' is an ad and 'bild' is a picture. The rest is self-explanatory german IMO.

Excellent murphaph, great link and a crash course in German. It doesn't get much better

Some great deals in that site!

A ride from Germany should be an interesting experience...

murphaph · 20-09-2005 4:55pm

You could contact a number of sellers in the same city/area (use the PLZ, which is the german postcode system) you can fly to from Ireland, book some flights and head over. Munich or Stuttgart can be reached direct from Irelnd and when AerLingus have a good sale on Munich can be reached for €9 each-way plus taxes. I've flown there a few times for €65 all in.

That way even if you don't see anything you like you can just enjoy a break in beautiful Bavaria and return on a plane. Buying a bike in southern Germany might be a better idea because the vast majority of bikes down there will be off the road for the winter months as it's just too severe to be on 2 wheels.

It'd be an awesome cruise back to Ireland.

Kazujo · 20-09-2005 7:57pm

Is it just me or are some of the bikes a little too cheap??

For example:

http://www.motoscout24.autoscout24.de/Public/Detail.aspx?id=bkdwiowiri

http://www.motoscout24.autoscout24.de/Public/Detail.aspx?id=bkdkitozbt

If these are right I'm booking my flight tomorrow

galwaytt · 20-09-2005 8:51pm

another one for ya www.mobile.de it also covers other countries including Italy ...and you can search in English...

galwaytt · 20-09-2005 8:59pm

something wrong there.....I've emailed him to clarify.....maybe I'll beat you to it !! Will post findings here....

murphaph · 20-09-2005 9:19pm

The silver one has a greek phone number. There are some non-german ads to be wary of.

Kazujo · 20-09-2005 9:31pm

I did a search of all Europe at one point which would explain the Greek bike

galwaytt · 21-09-2005 9:00am

...well, I got an answer from an "Alex Grontved" about the ST.........but he didn't really answer the question.

Here's what he says.............

Hello,
Dear Sir the bike is my and the price yes is corect 3950 euro.The bike is registred at the escrow service if you are interested to buy the bike
You`ll have to register on the escrow site: www.motoscout24shipping.com
They will inform me that you are registered with all your details and you are ready to start the deal.I will go and i`ll register the bike on your full name and address.They will inform you that i registered the bike on your full details.You`ll have to send them the money.They will start the shipping and will deliver the bike directly to your home address right after you`ll confirm them that you made the payment.You`ll receive the bike and you`ll have 10 days to inspect it.
After you`ll see that everything is Ok you`ll have to inform the escrow service that everything is ok and they will deliver me the money ! If you don`t like the bike you`ll inform them and they will give you the money back and they will also take the bike back !
It`s very secure for the both of us !
So if you want to start the transaction please register on theyr site:
www.motoscout24shipping.com
Hope to hear you soon !
Regards !

What I've done now is email him back because he hasn't answered any of the questions I've asked..........like how come the ad says ST1100? How come the pic is of ST1300? What country is the bike actually from? etc etc

Let's follow this one for a bit and see where it goes.......

madrab · 21-09-2005 9:38am

yeah keep us informed

i also noticed a few bikes that were way too cheap

http://www.motoscout24.autoscout24.de/Public/Detail.aspx?id=bkkddwrokw
http://www.motoscout24.autoscout24.de/Public/Detail.aspx?id=bkkdkkirwb

deffinately something a bit dodgy

Tomohawk · 21-09-2005 10:39am

Perhaps the 2nd ad the "HARLEY - DAVIDSON Tour Glide 2004" is a G.I. on some american base in Berlin selling it up before he ships out? You know the way american troops can get special deals on american motors while away from home and serving oversees. There are US companies that specialise in such military car sales. I notice many of these ads are out of Berlin.

keep us posted on whats happens.

galwaytt · 21-09-2005 10:56am

update for ye...........good 'ol Alex is on the ball....must have broadband !!

Hello,
Dear Sir the bike is ST 1300.I`m from london uk. So if you want to start the transaction please register on theyr site:
www.motoscout24shipping.com
Hope to hear you soon !
Regards !

Right, so that's an 02 reg ST1300 from the UK for EUR3950.........I spent more than that on my Aprilia scooter........!!
I've reported the ad to motoscout.de as a poss hoaxer.........any ideas where to go with this...........we could have some fun with it, as these guys did... HERE

Zynks · 21-09-2005 1:56pm

Glawaytt, this is strange alright. I bet they fool a good few people, specially Germans. I don't know what could be done, but the zug.com story is brilliant! I did some checking about the domain. Results below. I might use Skype Out to check it out.

WHOIS result for motoscout24shipping.com

Registrant Contact:
Nancy Lanzi
Nancy Lanzi
9 Topwood Court
Baltimore, MD 21234
US
+1.4104104499
Full details here:

http://www.whois.ws/whois-com/ip-address/motoscout24shipping.com/

Zynks · 21-09-2005 2:12pm

Hmmm, thought so, invalid number.

Krusty_Clown · 21-09-2005 2:15pm

Forget all that tat:
BMW R1200GS, 7 months old, 2,600kms, only 2600 euro
BMW R1200GS, 4 Months old, 916 kms, 6,000 euro

Think I'll buy two..

madrab · 21-09-2005 2:28pm

Tomohawk wrote:

Perhaps the 2nd ad the "HARLEY - DAVIDSON Tour Glide 2004" is a G.I. on some american base in Berlin selling it up before he ships out? You know the way american troops can get special deals on american motors while away from home and serving oversees. There are US companies that specialise in such military car sales. I notice many of these ads are out of Berlin.

keep us posted on whats happens.

well he has been emailed, ill let you know what he says

Zynks · 21-09-2005 2:38pm

The first one is an auction in what appears to be Daytona, US. Did you notice the palm trees? There appears to be quite a bit of fraudulent adds on that site.

murphaph · 21-09-2005 3:50pm

I think all the dodgy ones will want to 'ship' the bike. The genuine sellers will be happy for you to buy the bike on inspection in germany. I'd steer clear of the guys that want to use an escrow service (although reputable escrow companies like on eBay are very useful protection when buying through eBay etc.).

Personally I'd want to inspect any vehicle I'm buying.

The old saying says "if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't", never a truer word said.

madrab · 21-09-2005 5:28pm

so my 3grand electraglide isnt real???

Zynks · 21-09-2005 7:12pm

I followed up with the domain hosting companyfor www.motoscout24shipping.com, Dreamhost. Correspondence bellow:

> Hi,
>
> I have strong reasons to believe that motoscout24shipping.com is
> being used to promote fraud. They claim to provide some sort of
> escrow service for the sales of motorcycles advertised on a well
> know German website motoscout24.de.

Thanks for the heads-up! I have disabled the account in question, as
per our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, please let us know.

- Jeff C.

If you check, the site doesn't exist anymore. Did my good deed for today

madrab · 22-09-2005 9:11am

Nice work zyncks

just got a responce from the harley guy

Kevin wrote:

Hello.
It's not cheap. I want to sell it. That's why I am selling it for this price. No damages or accidents.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Kevin

murphaph · 22-09-2005 11:22am

I've never met a german called Kevin!

Zynks · 22-09-2005 3:02pm

What was the price for that bike? The guy sounds genuine. Maybe he is being sent to Iraq and wants some pocket money and has little hope of seeing the bike again ;-)

madrab wrote:

Nice work zyncks

just got a responce from the harley guy

madrab · 22-09-2005 3:16pm

3600 euro

madrab · 23-09-2005 8:00am

he has just sent me more photos

murphaph · 23-09-2005 10:00am

That's clearly North American architecture. Did he tell you he's in the States?

jacool · 30-09-2005 1:29pm

i bought a 98 GSXR 750 in Germany (had to pay 440 VRT and delivery) Its worth going over to the shops in any big city (Munich my example). Bikes are cheap and better than that immaculate as their roads are excellent. For the price of a return flight (100 euro ish) you can guarantee yourself a look at a lot of quality machinery.
the only difference is that mine is restricted. However, on irish roads, and "obeying irish laws" this is an irrelevance. Or I'm a chicken/responsible person (delete as applicable !!)
the bike worked fine until recently when someone tried to rob it !!
they failed, but cut all the starter cables. so its getting dusty now.
off topic what's best shop in Cork to fix it ?

maybebaby · 18-10-2005 3:04pm

murphaph wrote:

I've never met a german called Kevin!

there's tons of them out there (the name became/was popular when "Kevin - Home alone" was in the cinemas)...

To get back to those cheap bikes - if the price is lower than what you can get when selling it to a dealer it's clearly a fake.

There's lots of those fake ads out there in Germany at the moment (i. e. a 1.5 yr old X5 for 18k€ for sale on autoscout24.de in Berlin palm-fringed -> http://www.autoscout24.de/home/index/detail.asp?ts=6120399&id=ffxggwfhx34 )...

For shopping you can also look at mobile.de - they charge for ads and they're a bit more serious than autoscout24 (where ads are for free)...

Best Country in EU for 2nd Hand Bikes?

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