Steve54296

I really appreciate all your guy’s help! Thank you!

I agree! I think $5.5K is very fair, and I’m happy with that! Although, I’m going to give him $200 off the price for new tires, so $5.3K, which is still what I was expecting for value. I’m not sure why the Falcone auction went so poorly, and this one went so well?! I might just eBay the Falcone, so I have more control over the wording of the listing, because, even though I wouldn’t add BS and fluff, BaT really hammers down on the wording, to where they made the Falcone sound like scrap metal. Plus, BaT only gives you one shot at selling a specific item, anyways.

Yep, I did refer him to you guys, and texted him the link to the site, telling him how helpful you guys have been! He lives in Des Moines, and I live in MN, so it should work well for him to hop up here, and get it!

$5,500! You guys were right in the ballpark of value! I did offer to give the new owner $200 back for new tires, so I guess $5,300, but still happy with the result!

I will certainly check them out! The only thing that makes me a little hesitant about Guzzi, the brand, is they do tend to be a little needy, from what I gather. Which, that’s the nature of the beast, and the Italian way! Like with cars, sometimes they just require a little more time investment, with the payoff being an unmatched character! Similar to cars, if you just want to start it up and go, get a Corolla. If you want something a helluva lot more fun, with some character, but is going to require a little more attention, get a C8, Porsche, Ferrari, 1969 Boss 302, etc. It is what it is.

I appreciate it! After just dipping my toes in the V11 and Guzzi community, I almost regret selling it! Lots of friendly help and support, for a very cool and sweet looking bike! Like I mentioned, I’d have to do so much screwing around with it, just for it to be compatible with my poor back, I might as well just start looking for cruisers, at that point. It’s too bad, because I love the bike!

If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask me here. The comments section on BaT is a royal PITA!

Well, I certainly appreciate it! Thank you!

I’d be perfectly, 100% fine with that price range, but disappointed if it’s significantly below that. I would have done a straight $5K on here, just so I wouldn’t have to deal with the BaT ‘fear of the unknown’…but, to my discredit, I came on here kinda late, for someone on this forum to kick around an offer. I do have a very nice 1953 Falcone up for grabs, however 🤣

I’m don’t what the penalty would be. BaT says it’s their policy to never pull auctions down, once they are started. Not sure what they could possibly do about it, other than permanently ban me from BaT. No one can force my mom to sign the title over, and I can assure you it wouldn’t stick in court, until some sort of actual documented financial and ownership transfer took place. That being said, I consider myself honest, and I’ll go through with it. I have other items of my dad that I will use as keepsakes. If my back could handle this bike, I’d be all over it! My dad had arthritis in his back (hence the low miles), and I have reason to believe I’m likely on that same path.

Yes, I’ve read a fair amount about the V11 on here. The Italians definitely take a different path to engineering, than the Japanese. But, if a guy goes into it understanding that, you’ll get character out of this bike, that the Japanese bikes just can’t match! That’s my take on it.

I won’t be one to change your mind! If anything, I think it’s more slanted towards trying to submarine items. The auctioneers write the listings, but they leave out all the pertinent qualifiers, like, “minor”, or “occasional”. So, with the Falcone, what started out as “occasional oil drip”, and “minor pitting”, turned into, “engine leaks oil”, and “exhaust is pitted”. Then, like with the Ballabio, once the auction is up and rolling, the trolls show up, to basically make the thing sound like it’s ready for the scrap yard. I understand sellers will often fluff up an item, or leave things out, but with BaT, if a guy goes into it honestly, it ends up not just leaving the fluff out, but it turns into a bash session. There are ways to ask honest questions about things that could be concerns, without presuming the thing is ready for the scrapyard.

Ha, that was my mom! I think you just made her day with a drastic underestimation on her age, even if it does require an incestuous path to reach that estimation🤣

Yeah, I’ll do the brake fluid, but from everything I’ve seen in my 27 years of working on cars, is it’s hot/cold cycles, that really beats up the brake fluid, or if something is stored outside. This bike rarely saw a humidity over 50%. The comment that irked me, wasn’t necessarily that one, it was the one that presumed that the fuel was gummed up, the seals were all dried out, the tires were shot, and the bike is basically scrap, at this point. While those are legitimate concerns of long term storage, there was a certain amount of presumption in his post, without even asking how the bike may have been kept up with, while in storage. He basically said this, without saying it, “this bike is junk”. And I agree if the intention is to hop on it, and slam the bike into corners at 120 mph, the first thing I’d do is get new tires. But, that being said, for normal riding, these tires still have a very sticky, gummy feel to them. But, I guess I’ve lived my life working on cars, and pushing things to their limits, before their replacement, so I’ve learned where the limits are..so I go more by experience, rather than some arbitrary “should be replaced” mantra…unless, like I said, my intention was to buy the bike, and immediately slam it into hard corners.

I’m not a pushover, and I’m the man of the house…but, that being said, I also don’t want my wife to murder me🤣. Bringing motorcycles in the house would be a one way ticket straight to the wood chipper! 🤣

I’ll check that out. Thanks! Appreciated! Who knows if my dad ever even had the bike setup, or if he ever did any adjustments, since it got shipped over from Italy? I am guessing not. There are no service records of any adjustments or service: which, at 507 miles, it wasn’t ever really due for any service. I’ll probably just swap all the fluids, before the auction is over: I already changed the oil/ filter, and put in a new battery, but now people in the comments on BaT are freaking out about the brake fluid. I really don’t like BaT, because not only do the auctioneers use overly aggressive language when describing the bike, but then a bunch of trolls end up entering the auction comments, who probably have no actual interest in the bike, and only have the objective of sowing fear and doubt in the bike. Not sure why they get their rocks off doing that, but I guess I’m the stupid one, listing the Ballabio there, when I already had a bad experience with the Falcone.

Ha, yes, I had ridden the Ballabio, right after I had ridden my dad’s BMW R1200RT(which I just sold), so we are talking going from a bike where the Germans did every thing they could do to engineer the character out of the ride, to an Italian bike with lots of character! I also noticed the Ballabio was a little difficult to kick down into first gear, so not sure if that’s typical, or if there’s something I could do to improve that.

I wish I had a place to just let the Ballabio hibernate! My mom wants my dad’s stuff cleared out, and I’m pretty well maxed out with stuff at my house, until I get a polebarn built. I probably needed a polebarn over a decade ago, but instead, my 3 stall garage just slowly became a game of Tetris…a game I am quickly losing 🤣

I think my problem with the Falcone on only getting bid up to $7100, is I was too honest about it. Does it have an occasional drip of oil? Yes, like a few tablespoons per month. BaT wrote that as “engine leaks oil”. Also, I was particular with the title, and submitted for a title correction with the State of MN, to reflect the frame number, and NOT the engine number. I think the fact that the correction is still in progress, ended up scaring people, even though it’s completely a non-issue what’s on the title to begin with, as the numbers on these 1950s bikes don’t really mean a damn thing. It’s not at all equivalent to a modern VIN number. Also, the throttle cable was detached at the handlebar, and I listed that in the auction..oops.. I have since reattached the throttle cable, and it took all of 10 minutes…my point being, is I probably screwed myself on the Falcone auction.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1953-moto-guzzi-falcone/

I appreciate it! Yeah, I did include a cold start video on BaT. Starts nicely. The only thing I was questioning with it, mechanically, is it has a little clutch noise when the clutch is disengaged/ lever pulled in. But, I read on here, in fact, that it’s very typical of this dry clutch setup, and it’s nothing to worry about, unless you hear loud grinding or whining noises, which, I don’t. I read that they all make some noise, and it’s just the nature of the beast with these machines.

Ha, that would be nice! BaT takes the information you give them, and writes the listing for you. While they claim it’s so they can cut through the fluff and BS, so buyers have an accurate representation, I think they are too aggressive with their language. For example, I had told them my dad’s Falcone has an occasional oil drip, maybe a few tablespoons per month. They translated that into my listing as “engine leaks oil”. While they were, technically, not wrong, if I were a potential buyer and read, “engine leaks oil”, I’d be thinking if I ride this thing a mile from home, I could very well lock up the engine! Where as, the reality is, it would be almost impossible to find a Falcone that doesn’t have an occasional oil drip, unless a guy has torn the thing to pieces, and black RTVed the living daylights out of it! It’s almost as though BaT punishes a guy for being honest about it.

Thank you! I guess, per Bring a Trailer’s policy, I can’t sell directly on here, as of 30 minutes ago, but thank you for the info! I think if BaT hits around the $5K mark, I won’t be ecstatic, but I’ll be satisfied with that. If it hits the $6K-$7K mark, because of the extremely low miles, I could see that as being within the ballpark, for the right person, too, just because it’s basically new. If it’s around the $3K-$4K mark, I’ll feel like I made a huge mistake with no reserve on BaT.

My thought was, if someone came to my house with $5,000 cash money, I’d take it, even though, with almost being a new (used) bike, it could potentially be worth closer to the $6K-$7K range, because you just won’t find one of that vintage with that low of miles. There may be rarer V11s out there, but the mileage alone gives it a rarity of its own. He always kept it running, even though he wasn’t able to ride it much. Always had fresh, stabilized gas, and he’d take it around the block, when he was physically able. I did siphon the ‘old’ gas out of it, and put fresh non-oxy in it, but it was completely unnecessary. The gas that was in it had the tell-tale pink tinge of ‘Stabil’, and smelled as fresh as the day it came out of the pump.