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December 12, 2008
Auction Curiosities
A friend of mine recently put up a dearly beloved machine on eBay, and the auction bids did not meet the reserve price. However, after the auction ended, several of the parties and people watching the auction became very interested in what he had to sell. It turns out that he ended up selling the bike outside of eBay for more than he would have settled for during the auction.
This week I had a similar experience. For the past three weeks, I have been trying to sell a license plate tag (Minnesota, 1957) on eBay. The first two times I listed it, a few watchers tracked the auction but never bid. I lowered the price and the shipping amount, and now the sale price (with 12 hours to go) is double what somewhat could have had it for the past two weeks.
Posted by Underblog at 7:36 PM | TrackBack
December 8, 2008
Crossing Paths
When first I obtained the 851 and got it serviced, a colleague of mine and I took it out to celebrate. Rather, I rode the 851 and he drove his Porsche Spyder replica. Gear-headed geekdom is small enough here that I recently met a fellow who knows my colleague through the Roadrunner Chapter of the PCA.
It also turns out that this fellow has a Ducati ST4s that he is interested in selling. I am interested in buying it, since as a two-up tourer the F650 is somewhat underpowered. When I ran into him a second time at Coffee at Dawn on Sunday, he said "Let me know when you are ready to pull the trigger on the ST4." He seemed to understand that I was still in hock for the F1. On the other hand, the net cost after selling the F650 would only be several thousand dollars. But still. Maybe I have to check my calendar to find a month with three paychecks in it. And eat nothing but beans and rice for a long, long while.
Posted by Underblog at 8:10 PM | TrackBack
December 3, 2008
Near Miss
I was walking outside of my office building downtown when I noticed the following.
A bus was pulled over dropping off passengers. A large motorcycle—Gold Wing most likely—carrying a large person unhelmeted in shirt sleeves passes the bus in what remains of the lane. The bus driver, not seeing the motorcyclist passing starts to move off from the sidewalk. The motorcyclist honks his horn, swerves into the oncoming lane of traffic to avoid the bus, and then shouts "Mother----!" He continues along Copper Av, having just barely avoided an accident that easily could have been avoided altogether.