How did you find out about the last bike you bought?

**bogan** · 4th July 2010, 13:03

KB, prev 3 were TM, one befotre that was T&E, 2 before that was from mates

**wysper** · 4th July 2010, 13:42

Of the last two bikes I got, one was bought privately and one from a dealer. The dealer put me on to the guy selling privately.
I research online (kb and general interdweeb), kiwirider mag (now I am subscribed) and talking to mates who ride etc.
I like buying from motorcycle dealers. My DR is the first bike I have bought from Boyds. Nothing but good things to say about them so far.

**bones135** · 4th July 2010, 13:46

The Duc was through Trade Me & the Honda well i guess right place at the right time.

**hellokitty** · 4th July 2010, 14:00

The funny thing about my bike was that it had arrived an hour before I got there, and they had called a guy that wanted it, but I got there 5 minutes before he did.
I was talking to the salesman saying I would have it when he arrived and was all over the bike - I rushed out and told him not to touch my bike!

**scumdog** · 4th July 2010, 14:23

Last four bikes were by word of mouth.

The T-Sport was a target bike and I happened to be speaking to somebody at a party about wanting one

The others were bought on a whim I guess - although one was an update as current bike was getting long in the tooth.

**warewolf** · 4th July 2010, 14:56

Actually bought the last used one via KB - but I was watching most of the internet trading sites and buying the odd magazine. It had low mileage/hours, appeared to be well looked after and the price was sharp. I guess I was shopping on price & history. The ad had those key points which put it into the worthy-of-further-investigation category, and the rest of the information came in conversation with the seller. Didn't really use print buy/sell/swap papers etc as locally there just aren't enough bikes listed so chances of finding the right one is small.

I do like TM ads (or any I guess) with good photos, as they indicate how particular the owner is. Blurry, tiny, mis-oriented, crappy photos don't indicate a personality that pays attention to what they do, ie maintenance is likely to be ignored or incorrect. I hate dealer ads with a bare 6 words of information, so you have to contact them to find out the most basic info. I also hate inappropriate keywords so that searches find listings that are completely irrelevant.

The last new one I walked into a shop, there it was. Didn't know there were any available new, and even used they were rare... only 10 available over the 9 year model run, plus a couple of used imports. I'd been looking/interested for quite some time, then this one popped up. Forced my hand to buy now, since I'd missed out on the last one or two used ones I'd found. Probably not a very common scenario, though.

**Monkeynz** · 4th July 2010, 15:58

My mate who lives in England used to work for Triumph in Hinckley. He came over for my wedding and was saying the Triumph test riders were raving about these new Street Triples, so while he was over he made me go down to our local Triumph dealer and sit on one. I went on my honeymoon/working holiday for 6 months and when I returned went back down to the Triumph dealer and took the Demo Street Triple out for a spin which had the Arrow exhaust fitted and from that I decided to buy one. A big thanks to my mate because this has been the best bike I have ever owned.

**SPP** · 4th July 2010, 16:19

"walked into a shop" - I'm a shocker. I took >4 months to choose a bike, researched it to death!

* read 600cc shootouts over and over
* dropped in on bike forums to check out owner reported “character flaws”
* checked Trademe daily and Motorcycle Trader every other day to be sure I hadn’t missed one

I finally made up my mind on a ‘08 ZX6R kwaka green at Mt Eden

and was headed up to Auckland with a mate to get one. Dropped into Boyds Hamilton on the way through and rode out an hour later on a CBR.

… the best laid plans eh

**Neshi** · 4th July 2010, 16:27

Went to the shop for a cruiser, got out on the CBF250.
The guy that helped me convinced me to do a testride on it and I just fell in love with it.

**SPP** · 4th July 2010, 16:37

yeah a mate says "you don't buy a bike with your head..."

Actually... the same mate who rode me to Boyd's

hmmmm

**CHOPPA** · 4th July 2010, 16:46

World Superbikes!

**Vgygrwr** · 4th July 2010, 18:46

Last two bikes found the one I bought on Trademe but knew what I was looking for from magazines, internet and word of mouth. Then became a wait for one to turn up at age, mileage and price I was happy to pay.

**quickbuck** · 4th July 2010, 18:54

Well, there is a bit of a story behind my last bike purchase.

See, I already had one of the same model, but I bent the front rim.
So, I ended up finding a guy on here who was selling one suitable for wrecking.... or doing up, my choice.

So a deal was done!
Bike is still in a few pieces, but will see the track some time in the summer....
Oh, it bought me some time to actually fix the rim I bent on my other bike.

**AllanB** · 4th July 2010, 19:08

E-mail & Telephone.

Did the internet research, test rode, talked trade to the (then only) Honda dealer in CHCH. E-mailed Honda dealer in Dunedin (who sold me the bike I was trading), great trade price and reduced new bike price. Phoned and deal done. Delivered to my door in Christchurch the next week.