4 commandos on ebay

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Am I bidding against anyone here on the four basket cases?
I haven't met reserve or been hight bid yet but I am trying.
I would love an s and a combat plus I could use the 71's for two builds I have planned.

any comments, positive or negative?
 
I was selling a basket case, but kept getting my listings kicked back on technicalities. I gave up and decided I'll slap it together as a rough runner and get twice as much for it.
 
the good old days of a basket case for a couple hundred dollars are gone. I bought a P11 about 15 years ago for $200.00, sold it. It still hurts.
Commandos are very rare up in Winnipeg and you have to pay top dollar for anything. Not much for parts left either. I figure this lot could keep me going for a few years. Make some friends happy too. Any thoughts on what a fair price would be?
 
The last rolling basket case I sold had a freshly powdercoated frame, an engine with good compression, a disc brake front end, fresh (medium quality) painted tank & sidecovers, and a good condition Corbin seat. Basically, it just need the engine overhaul and a few minor parts, then total assembly using all new hardware fasteners. I got $2,550 for it on e-bay, about 4 months ago.

The project bike I have now is totally disassembled, and nothing is powdercoated or painted. More missing parts, although nothing major other than a set of connecting rods and a good set of cylinders (these have a couple of broken fins). There's a guy that wants to trade me a complete 750 engine with excellent compression for a Triumph Bonneville head & gas tank, so that would change the ballgame significantly.

If you want details and discussion on a deal, just drop me an e-mail grandpaulz@hotmail.com
 
Here's a recent one from ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...witem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_941wt_1167

It's always scary buying something like this on ebay if you can't actually look it over yourself. Then there's the time and expense of getting them home which has to be part of the equation. Like this 850, you'd have to tear it down and rebuild it yourself before firing it up.

The 4 on ebay all look like fiberglass tanks and likely ditto on the side covers. Personally I like 72 and onward commandos after they did away with the distributor and the oil breather off the cam on the left side of the engine. It's a much cleaner look and there's less slop in the ignition timing drive system IMHO. (specially now that there's a bolt in gear system available for 72 onward).

It will be interesting to see what they go for, good luck!
 
That last listing (bidding ended) chaps my butt.

e-bay has pulled 2 of my listings because they were not complete motorcycles, but were listed under e-bay motors>motorcycles>norton.

I'm steamed.
 
I'll have to study ebay's rules on mc listings. It sounds like they have tried to draw some fine lines but they ended up being kind of fuzzy in the real world. I ended up selling some parts a while back and it seems to me I could use the category "european MC parts" OR Norton MC's. When I tried to go with anything specifically Norton I ended up in the complete MC category . I was so flustered after a while I left them there as if they were a complete bike and ebay didn't say boo about it. It was only some front brake parts as I recall.

This auction being discussed is another. 4 bikes all in parts, none complete apparently and only 2 with titles. I think the expired 850 is a lot more complete than any of these. and as far as coldcommandocafe's query, I'd rather have 4 like this 850 that the 4 750's in this auction for this kind of cash.

I wonder what the seller of these 4 bikes paid for them. The original guy he bought them from seems to have come to the conclusion it wasn't worth spending any more time and money on them for what he could sell them for when he completed them. Without taking a trip over to see what's what I'd say the reseller's reserve is too high. But, different strokes for different folks, it's all about what it's worth to each individual.
 
Kebra, these must be worth a lot more over there, shipping would be deadly. I'm only 4-500 miles away and if I had more room and spare cash I'd have been interested too as I could drive there and get em. It would be a fun auction to win.
 
No go.

Went from $6200.00 to $8000.00 in the last 5 seconds. Too rich for my blood. I don't think it hit reserve anyways.
 
For $8,000 I don't think this collection of bits is such a good deal and I suspect that with that kind of budget you could probably find 4 separate projects more complete and perhaps with better specifications.
 
$8,000 was probably a good deal, but obviously not good enough for the seller.

What you'd have to consider is about $350 - $500 each to ship, plus the boxes of extra bits, so up to $1,500 more...
 
Wow, $8k for $4k worth of stuff. Seller is insane for not taking that and laughing all the way to the bank.

dave M is right on in saying you could find four better project bikes for that kind of money.
 
It's really hard to assess something like this without seeing it and doing an accurate inventory. Are the motor mount lugs broken on the engine cases like so many you see etc. etc.? It's such a gamble you have to err on the side of safety as a buyer. On the other hand the seller mentioned some new parts and we all know how they can add up in cost. If he wants more than 8K for the lot he'll have to sell them 1 X 1 with more details on each unit. A lot of enthusiasts would pay more for the "S" model and the ones with tiles are worth more but I didn't think bidding would reach 8K.

I don't know what it's like importing FROM Canada but I just imported a frame INTO Canada. The $200.00 frame cost $160.00 to ship 3-400 miles. Plus federal tax, provincial tax and UPS's brokerage fees cost me another $80.00. It cost me over double what someone would have paid locally for the frame. Shipping costs and import duties and taxes can ruin a good deal fast. For this reason I'll always pay more locally than I would for anything I'd have to ship and/or import. Plus, locally you get to look over what you are spending your hard earned cash on.
 
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