Fly and Ride

As I am looking for a Gen II FJR, I have been wondering how fly and drive purchases operate.

A bit of background. I was a Porsche/sprtscar racer/instructor for a numebr of years. It isn't a huge nationwide community, so if you were looking for a new car, and found one you could usually find someone who would go and look it over and test drive it for you. If that worked out, I would talk to my mechanic who inevitably knew a tuner in the area and a pre-purchase inspection could be done without my having to fly across country only to find a car with a blown headgasket, unchanged tiing belt, massive fluid leaks, etc.

I see a lot of folks on this forum do fly and rides. But how do you go about insuring that you aren't flying out to pick up a dog?

Thanks.

Mr. Natural

Seems like most Forum members do fly and rides from other Forum members. It could happen, but it's VERY rare that a member would hose another member. I think I've only ever seen that once, and it was before I even got here. The backlash was unrelenting, as it should have been.

This community is big enough that if you want to do one from some one we don't know, or whatever, there is usually someone close that will run by and take a look.

Have at it.

I figured as much, but I didn't want to come bursting in here with a bunch of expectations only to be told "That's not the way we do things here!"

Well there is a Gen2 for sale, three posts above or below

this forum has been very good for transacting biz. for a fly n' ride i'd see how long the seller has been on the forum, ask for plenty of pix. should be no problem at all.

I sold my 2008 to a fly-and-ride forum member. We still observed strict financial dicipline and tons of communication during the transaction. I sent a bunch of pictures of the bike from just about every angle. He decided to purchase the bike, sent me the cashiers check for the price I was asking, and I confirmed that it was genuine and deposited it.

I told him that I would be happy to drive 15 miles to the local airport and pick him up, bring him to my home, and have his bike ready to go for him. I even wired-up a Zumo power lead for him because I knew he was going to use his 550 on the way back to Mass.

We had a great time of fellowship. He took off and rode to his parents house in western SC, then he rode on to Boston. Got an email from him that he arrived safely and that the bike performed flawlessly.

So this was certainly a pleasant experience I had with the buyer and he got a good deal on a spotless 2008. We were both very happy with the transaction and new friendship. YMMV!

FWIW, a coupla years ago, I assisted another Forum member with a fly 'n ride. The buyer (in Minnesota) found the bike local to me and asked me if I'd go check it out for him. I did, took lots of pictures, and took 'er for a brief ride - I think the seller was OK with me taking a ride 'cause I was two-up on my nicely patina'd '04. I told the buyer everything I could, and he commenced with buying the bike. I, as pretty much every other forum member I have met would be, was happy to help.

I did a fly & ride a couple years ago.

The seller was a longtime forum member. He picked me up at PHX, we went to his home, I gave him a cashier's check for the agreed upon amount, and I climbed aboard Lucille and followed him to the bank. We took care of the signatures & title transfer and I hit the road for the 425 mile ride home.

Couldn't have been easier. My only regret was that the ride wasn't longer!