Picture this: You've just driven four hours to look at a Marketplace special, a 2001 XR400. The fella comes out, hungover as can be. He's kicking the bike, then you're kicking the bike. It won't start, or if it does, it runs for a second or two, then stalls out.
In my head I'm thinking, perfect, we've got room to negotiate — and that I did! Just by looking at the bike, I could see it hadn't been thrashed like most other XRs on the market. I was confident that even with the bike not running, it wouldn't take much. Little to no marks on it, solid compression. We could have a little bargain on our hands.
With the bike loaded up, $3k cash handed over and a spares box…
