How not to sell a bike?

[latexeses]

I noticed this XJ11 on ebay and didn't notice anything about a title...so I asked...

Response...

No Roger Am not familiar with vehicle registration law
over here. I bought the bike from a guy who worked in
security at my Dads casino here. He had moved from
10000 lakes and brought the bike to Vegas with
Minnesota plates. I never got around to registering it here
in Nevada. Happy to provide you with Engine and frame
numbers if you want to make sure all ok. As mentioned
being sold as spares, though anyone looking at it is going
to be tempted to make a runner out of it, and it's hard to
describe this bike as 'salvage' for sure. Regards

In my reply I suggested that if the bike had been abused it may be showing the early signs of gear slip but could be a fairly easy repair. To the issue of the title I added.... I am in California and the one thing that is not easy to fix is "No title"..

His response...

Have had a few folks banging on about this 'no title' issue.
How can it be, in this age of quality home printers that a
vehicles identity can be verified by a piece of paper!? 'Title'
papers will not show if a bike has been an insurance write
off. title papers will not show if the bike has been
stolen/recovered, or if there is a finance company looking
for the machine because there is money owing on
it...Thats why in UK if you text the frame and engine no.s
to DVLA (is it DMV over here?) you get a complete history
of the machine, and the owner can wave all the title
paperwork papers he wants..What do you folks do over
here if you find an old shovel head Harley under a tarp at
the back of a barn in perfect nick worth thousands. Is it '
Oh NO ! theres no title! what a shame...and walk away?
There must be a proceedure for registering a bike with
unknown identity, the relevant authorities then must run a
check to find an owner, or find out if it is 'hot' or been
written off etc. then at some point it will be assigned to
it's new owner. Enough waffle already! 2nd gear slip? well
looking at the design of the primary shaft when
accelerating am imagining the springs pushing the cams
together but under serious load they ride up and the
sprigs compress and try and push back taking the edge off
some of the power going to the rear tyre. On this bike it
doesn't take much power and there is a clacking sound,
which I guess is the shaft opening all the way and over the
top of the cam and riding up again over and over, poss
because one of the springs has gone/split, or all of them
have weakened. Least that what it feels like to me. Been
wrong before! have opened the cases, checked it all looks
fine no chewed gears, no bent dogs/selector forks. Most
importantly no broken bits and pieces in the cases or oil. I
put it all together, and it did it all over! AARGGH! Well my
next stage was going to be to buy that piece, Buy for
spares Bud ok!


Sort of gave me a warm fuzzy feeling about this guy.

[DGXSER]

Honestly Roger, I have oftend wandered the same thing. How is it that simply losing a piece of paper can make a good viable vehicle a paper weight in the yard??!! But in most states, the DMV takes the approach you got a nice operable paper weight unless you have a signed viable title, and here in Ohio it must be notorized. When I was looking to buy a bike before I got Thunderstruck, I found MANY really nice looking bikes that folks had left in storage places when they skipped town. So no title to the bike. No way to track it down. Bike = Paper Weight.

I will say his description of the gears and springs leads me to believe he has no clue what the inside of the tranny looks like, and never cracked beer over the engine let alone the cases.

[latexeses]

DGXSER,
I didn't disagree one bit about the title. The tone of the message was what had my hackle up. Just trying to be civil and helpful.

The tranny description was telling.

[crazy steve]

...How can it be, in this age of quality home printers that a vehicles identity can be verified by a piece of paper!?

Just that comment alone tells you this guy ain't too straight...

[natemoen]

If I lives somewhere close to there I would still buy the thing as long as it stayed that cheap!

[RS Thornton]

one of the joys of living in MI

The law here on old cheap bikes makes getting a title from a bill of sale on them easy. Fill out a form, Sec of State runs the numbers and if nothing come back you get a new clean title.
Of course you have to tolerate a shorter riding season than CA and NV

[Pat Kelly]

So, get someone trustworthy to register it in MI then transfer it to your home state.

[DGXSER]

I do wonder if that works for a bike from out of state. Here in Ohio, to bring an out of state vehicle in you need title and the DMV or authorized agent has to inspect it, basically check the VIN is same as title.

[PsRumors]

Here in GA all that is needed is a bill of sale on any vehicle '85 and older. It doesn't matter where the vehicle comes from. There is no inspection either.

Of course GA wont issue a title to the new owner, just tag registration. Other States will then accept the GA tag receipt and issue a title if that state requires such.

[fredintoon]

I noticed this XJ11 on ebay and didn't notice anything about a title...so I asked...
Response...
No Roger Am not familiar with vehicle registration law
over here. - - -

Hi late',
perhaps you weren't the first potential buyer to bag on about the bike not having a title?
Mind you the seller seems to be a recent arrival from the UK and he's right, in Britain there's a central registry you send the frame number to and they'll tell you everyone who ever owned the bike from new.
And I'm also sure that US DMVs could do that too if they wanted to.

[PsRumors]

Hi late',
perhaps you weren't the first potential buyer to bag on about the bike not having a title?
Mind you the seller seems to be a recent arrival from the UK and he's right, in Britain there's a central registry you send the frame number to and they'll tell you everyone who ever owned the bike from new.
And I'm also sure that US DMVs could do that too if they wanted to.

I am sure our DMVs could but isn't it better that they require bonded titles, collect extra fees and penalties and then charge for inspections?

[TexinMaine]

Speaking of E-Bay, did you see the guy who spent 10 grand restoring a 1978. These are great bikes but that seems a bit over the top.

[jetmechmarty]

Of course GA wont issue a title to the new owner, just tag registration. Other States will then accept the GA tag receipt and issue a title if that state requires such.

Except for Pennsylvania!

[Geezer]

Washington state is pretty good too. If the bike's VIN doesn't show up on the hot list, they will issue you a temporary title and if no one contests it, in 3 years it's all yours... I've been tempted to get a PO box over the river for just such cases...

Geezer

[latexeses]

Out here it is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. I am sure that there is that part of the bunch that makes the rules think that they will get some older cars (and bkes) off the road.

In todays world there is no reason to have to jump through hoops to get a title on a bike or find out that one is not legit.

Getting rid of the fatheads in Sacramento and every other state house in the country is going to be the trick.