Bring A Trailer process thread- follow along if you're curious

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

Your Ambassador is the nicest example I have seen!!
It’s just perfect and the attention to detail is stunning. I think it should break $15K IMHO and would be worth every penny.
It’s got to be hard to let this beautiful bike go but hopefully the new owner will look after it.
Best of luck with the results

Jim

Wow Jim, that is damn nice of you... have you ever peeked in your own garage?? I think there are some dang fine examples in there! Thank you!

[vintagehoarder]

Well me and the loop had a big day on May 9th. I am not tech-savy so I found a gound whippersnapper on Reddit who films and edits a bunch of gopro action sports stuff. He mainly does downhill longboarding videos with his crew of insane Gen Z'ers who ride longboard (them are long skateboards) down the various roads and mountains around here.  Thomas came over and we shot a narrated walk-around video of the bike, a cold start video, and he strapped me up with a go-pro and edited together some footage of me riding the bike around my neighborhood



Here's the riding video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e9w5SVaRac&t=39s


Later the same day, I rode down to the River Arts District to meet the photog that BAT had assigned to me, nice young lady named Virginia. She took about 200 pictures of everything from the keyring to the inside of the gas tank. The photo service BAT uses (Snappr) had the photos re-touched, forwarded them to BAT, and sent me a link to view them within 2 biz days.











Afterward me and the wife had double cheeseburgers and rode home chatting about how much we will miss the Ambo.


By the 11th, I have been assigned an 'Auction Specialist' named Chris. He will actually write the ad and guide thru the remainder of the process. I've just emailed him a detailed breakdown of everything done to the bike, what parts are new/refurbished/etc.  I suspect we will be in contact over the next few days as we answer questions back and forth and we complete the listing.

Wow she certainly is a beauty!

[sdcr]

Mayor,

Looks like it’s doing well, now that it’s hit five figures.
 Should be fun to watch the last two minutes, which may take an hour.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

Mayor,

Looks like it’s doing well, now that it’s hit five figures.
 Should be fun to watch the last two minutes, which may take an hour.

I work 5-2pm, so I am leaving work 30min early tomorrow and driving home like a bat out of hell.

I had a guy from Tryon SC come look at the bike in person.  I couldn't tell how much he liked it, but I mostly left him alone to look it over and draw his own conclusions. He has an ambo now, its a runner but in rough shape cosmetically .. it also has chrome bores. He was talking about buying mine and selling his. I am going to reach out and try to work a deal with him.

Since he's local and it would be a cash exchange, I see a situation where he brings me his Ambo + cash to depart with mine. That would be pretty cool, I really want to stay in the loop business but I need to get the money back out of this bike.
I don't know how likely he is to win the auction, but lets say he wins it at $14k...  he could bring me his ambo and $11k and roll away with the restored bike.
I would still have a loop, plus the $$ for some new cylinders AND re-coupe my investment.
No way he can bring his bike to the level of mine for $11k, not to mention the time investment.

That's a triple win, since my idea was to take some proceeds from this sale to turn my parts bike into a crusty rat runner.

[sdcr]

That sounds like an interesting plan.
And, if the bidding goes Bat crazy, you should be OK as well. Then you can just buy his Ambo

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

EXACTLY

No this is a non-scientific study, but by my observation the auctions seem to end about 50% higher than where the were sitting with 1 day to go. If that holds, hopefully looking at a $15k sale price. That would be an amazing result! Remember, I only wanted to set the reserve at $12k so I am thinking this is going to end up just peachy!

[sdcr]

And you just need two, deep pocketed and rabid loop fans.
There are several on this board that have at least one of those qualifiers.

[LowRyter]

Just watching the auction Mayor.  Great job.   

[sdcr]

One of the “serious” players just upped the ante, $11,500 now.
Are you smiling now?

[Texas Turnip]

I'm enjoying this very informative post.

Thanks,
Tex

[cliffrod]

It's a really gorgeous bike.  My slacker butt wouldn't want to have to keep it as pristine as it is. 

Glad to hear the auction is progressing well, Chad.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

Last day fellas...  let's see how it goes. I have been really chuffed at all the nice comments and feedback on the bike. Hopefully a couple deep-pocketed individuals go bonkers on it today.

[Scout63]

Final push Chad. This is the hard part. Hoping for at least two solid bidders for you.

[JJ]

QUOTE:  Hopefully a couple deep-pocketed individuals go bonkers on it today.

In the end...that's all it takes!  Good luck, it's a lovely motorcycle!!

[kidsmoke]

My Mayor,
Glad to see the auction so well received. As a BAT whore for well over a decade now, it's very cool to watch this as in insider! thanks for bringing us along!
 

[AJ Huff]

Nice job. Congrats!

-AJ

[80CX100]

Final Bid sold @ Jun 10 at 1:51 PM $11,750 bid placed by NCriding

That did not play out like I thought it would; the last 20 minutes was the quickest 20 minutes I've ever seen.

I can't help but think that some bidders may have fallen asleep at the switch like I did.

I kept checking the BAT site off and on, while doing chores and odds and ends. Made up my mind that I'd sit down and watch the last 15-20 minutes so I didn't miss any action.

I got side tracked and by the time I sat down to watch it, it was over, a done deal. 

Everything for a reason Mayor, With these uncertain times, you may have been lucky to have a few interested buyers push it up into 5 figure territory, who knows.

Glad that you've got some coin to get that CX rolling.

Good time to go out for some wind therapy 

Tks very much for letting us follow along on the inside, that was very interesting, what a roller coaster.

 

[LowRyter]

congrats.  the buyer got a great bike.

[Turin]

It's good to see that an Ambassador can fetch decent money. I was considering $7,500 for my Ambassador last month. It's not as nice, but I'm glad I hung on to her. 

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

Thanks for following along everyone. And thanks for the nice comments about the bike! My buyer is almost a local, the bike is headed to Tryon NC. We will meet at his bank Monday afternoon to take cash and notarize the title, then drive to my house to load up his bike.

I wasn't super happy with the final number, but this is the chance you take with a no-reserve auction and no ability to schedule the end time.  Kinda difficult to account for an auction ending at the exact time the DOW is taking a 900pt nosedive and all the news coverage is 9% inflation and a pending recession.  I do think if the bike had been listed sooner, in April or May, the price very well could have been $2k+ higher.. But who knows.

In the end I had a cool project for over a year, and I got to own/ride a super cool bike last summer and this spring. This has deff made me a Loop fan for life and I do see another loopframe (the next one not so shiny) in my future. Most importantly I didn't end up underwater, I actually made a few bucks on the whole thing! (if you consider my time free)

I would go the BAT route again, but I certainly would require a reserve next time. Overall is was a pretty simple process... If you can accept not being in charge of your own listing timeframe and working with someone to write the ad, then I would say go for it.

[Ncdan]

Thanks for following along everyone. And thanks for the nice comments about the bike! My buyer is almost a local, the bike is headed to Tryon NC. We will meet at his bank Monday afternoon to take cash and notarize the title, then drive to my house to load up his bike.

I wasn't super happy with the final number, but this is the chance you take with a no-reserve auction and no ability to schedule the end time.  Kinda difficult to account for an auction ending at the exact time the DOW is taking a 900pt nosedive and all the news coverage is 9% inflation and a pending recession.  I do think if the bike had been listed sooner, in April or May, the price very well could have been $2k+ higher.. But who knows.

In the end I had a cool project for over a year, and I got to own/ride a super cool bike last summer and this spring. This has deff made me a Loop fan for life and I do see another loopframe (the next one not so shiny) in my future. Most importantly I didn't end up underwater, I actually made a few bucks on the whole thing! (if you consider my time free)

I would go the BAT route again, but I certainly would require a reserve next time. Overall is was a pretty simple process... If you can accept not being in charge of your own listing timeframe and working with someone to write the ad, then I would say go for it.

The buyer is not far from me. Hopefully he will bring it to either the NC or VA rally and I’ll get the opportunity to look it over.

[LowRyter]

Thanks for following along everyone. And thanks for the nice comments about the bike! My buyer is almost a local, the bike is headed to Tryon NC. We will meet at his bank Monday afternoon to take cash and notarize the title, then drive to my house to load up his bike.

I wasn't super happy with the final number, but this is the chance you take with a no-reserve auction and no ability to schedule the end time.  Kinda difficult to account for an auction ending at the exact time the DOW is taking a 900pt nosedive and all the news coverage is 9% inflation and a pending recession.  I do think if the bike had been listed sooner, in April or May, the price very well could have been $2k+ higher.. But who knows.

In the end I had a cool project for over a year, and I got to own/ride a super cool bike last summer and this spring. This has deff made me a Loop fan for life and I do see another loopframe (the next one not so shiny) in my future. Most importantly I didn't end up underwater, I actually made a few bucks on the whole thing! (if you consider my time free)

I would go the BAT route again, but I certainly would require a reserve next time. Overall is was a pretty simple process... If you can accept not being in charge of your own listing timeframe and working with someone to write the ad, then I would say go for it.

I don't know the time and money you had in it but looking at the condition I thought the buyer got a bargain.  It was freaking beautiful, everything polished and pristine.  They never looked that good new.

[sdcr]

I agree, and I commented as much, on the auction site.
It would certainly cost a bit more to bring a restoration, to the level of Chad’s bike.

I don't know the time and money you had in it but looking at the condition I thought the buyer got a bargain.  It was freaking beautiful, everything polished and pristine.  They never looked that good new.

[Turin]

I never consider my "time" as part of what I have invested since cars and motorcycles are a hobby and not how I make a living.  I figure my time could also be spent watching TV or performing "Honey-Do's". Fixing bikes is fun!
That's one way to look at it...

[Scout63]

That’s decent money but not great Chad, but that was definitely the best way to sell it.  I don’t think Guzzis get the love that airheads do. Your bike is simply fabulous.

[bikeridertim]

Thanks for the "Ride Along"!  STUNNIG work!

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

That’s decent money but not great Chad, but that was definitely the best way to sell it.  I don’t think Guzzis get the love that airheads do. Your bike is simply fabulous.

I would have loved a little more, but I think it's about the best an independent party can do in the current economic climate. It is annoying that if Cycle Garden listed the same bike in the same condition, they would probably sell it for $20k+ and ship it off to the prince of Oman or whatever 

[LowRyter]

Would you have put a reserve price on the bike if you could re-do?

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

Would you have put a reserve price on the bike if you could re-do?

Absolutely! I made under $2k on the sale, for that profit level I would have happily kept it and rode it for at least another year or two.

Of course my biggest regret is buying the LMCX100 before the Ambo sold, at that point I was kinda stuck, as I dont want to ride and maintain 2 old/vintage bikes.

If I could start over I wouldn't have bought the LeMans CX100 until the Ambo sold -- And I would have set a $12k reserve on the Ambo. 

It was never an issue of not liking the bike or anything like that. I am happy for the $1500 or whatever profit- but I am going to miss that bike sorely.