So I sold the 2006 749 to a guy from Toronto that is planning to use it for a track bike. I’ve bought/sold a lot of bikes and it is usually fairly easy, but not this one! This was the most difficult transaction ever. Not because of the buyer, he was great to work with, but rather because of everybody else that as involved in the transaction. My end of the deal is done for the most part, but the bike is in Buffalo where he will be taking it into Canada - the last major hurdle of this deal.

From the start there were quite a few hurdles due to the fact that he would be bringing the bike from the US to Canada. The border wanted a lot of things in advance including: a copy of the title, letter from DNA stating that there were no recalls on the bike, etc… The buyer handled most of this all I had to do was fax things to them. From my discussions with him it sounds like it was not so easy to get all of this taken care of.

So next up was to arrange the shipping. The idea was to ship it to Buffalo where he would cross the border into Canada with the bike. So I paid the forward air shipping online. I decided to use a factory Ducati crate, as it would save over $200 on shipping costs compared to using the forward air container. So I picked up the container from Ed at Commonwealth Ducati in Louisville and got the bike in it. The crate is steel and is quite nice, but didn’t have solid sides. Ducati just has cardboard sides for them. I called forward air and they said no problem they will ship it as is. So I take it to the Louisville terminal to drop it off. When I get there they tell me it has to have 1/2 inch plywood sides. Fak! Since there was no reasoning with them I headed home. Next I went to the hardware store and bought self-tapping screws and plywood. A few hours later I had the most solid container around. I left to go to the forward air terminal and my trailer blew a tire out! So I had to get a new tire and wheel since the wheel was also damaged. After that was over I then took the bike back to forward air and sent it on its way. An entire day spent on dropping the bike off, $60 in materials, over $100 for a new wheel and tire and about 150 miles of driving.

Earlier in the week I had gone to the DMV and applied for a quick title so that I could have it to him before the bike arrived in Buffalo since he couldn’t cross the border without it. Well the title was supposed to arrive on Friday, but that didn’t happen. Then no title Saturday so I called them first thing Monday morning and they told me that you can’t speed title a salvage title even thought they previously told me I could. So that meant a 4-6 week wait for the title. I found this out the same day the bike arrived in Buffalo. After some distress we figured out that his Uncle, who he hasn’t seen in quite a while, lives in Buffalo and might be able to help him store the bike until the title arrived.

So he left Toronto yesterday for a trip to pick the bike up at forward air and drop it off at his uncles. This was help by the fact that Buffalo had about a foot of snow fall during the trip and the only person to help him with this 600+ pound crate was his grandmother! At forward air he and the only guy working loaded the bike with forklifts. That’s right they let my buyer who has never operated one use a forklift. Apparently the forward air guy manhandled the crate to the point that he actually damaged part of the steel crate frame! Luckily the bike was not damaged at all. They loaded the entire thing into his van. Talk about a lot of work.

So from there it was off to his uncles house where upon arrival he had to shovel a shit ton of snow off of the driveway before he could even get in. At this point he had to dismantle the crate inside of the van and then figure out how to get the bike from the back of the van, down a ramp and into the garage in the snow without much help since he only had his grandmother there. Apparently it was done using a crow bar and a few other miscellaneous items found in the area, but the important part is that it was done.

Then it was back to Toronto for him. Quite a long day. So as soon as the title arrives he is going to pick the bike up in Buffalo and attempt to cross the border… I’ll update how that goes!