I have owned three motorcycles to date. The first I purchased through a work associated classified ad, the second through craigslist. Both of those purchase experiences have been unique but as good as I could expect. The first bike, a Kawasaki Vulcan 500, turned out to be a great learning bike but a maintenance fiasco. The second, a Harley-Davidson Sportster 883, was a great bike that I have been able to drive many miles over the last three seasons. When I was looking for those first two bikes, craigslist owned my life for months. Especially in the beginning of the riding season; the more affordable bikes go within 10 minutes. I had been searching on craigslist for a used Yamaha FZ1 (2006 or newer) or a Suzuki Bandit 1250S (2007 or newer). All of the local bikes that I found were priced more than I thought the bike was worth. I began looking on eBay and still the local bikes were overpriced. I then found a 2006 FZ1 outside of Buffalo, NY for a reasonable price.
I was torn. I had never purchased anything so large on eBay, nor had I dealt with vehicle shipping companies. To make a long story somewhat shorter, I purchased the bike off of eBay. The seller, Andy, was great. A gentleman of middle age. I had considered taking a plane or train to Buffalo and then riding the bike back. The train would have taken 12 hours to get there and the plane would have been difficult to bring essential ride tools and supplies. Also, the ride back would have been 9 hours of boring Interstate 90. That sounded dangerous due to fatigue and increased opportunity for drivers to hit me.
The actual sale of the bike went quite smoothly. Andy and I talked on the phone and decided on the proper steps that should follow. I sent him a Cashier’s Check. After he cashed the check, he sent me the Title, Bill of Sale, and one of the keys. I then proceeded to remove my Sportster from my insurance and registration and added the FZ1.
I tried to pay the seller to bring the bike to Albany, NY and I would take a Greyhound to Albany and ride the bike back. The seller couldn’t do it himself and couldn’t find someone else to bring it. I didn’t want to pay more for the bike+shipping than what I thought I could get for the sale of my Sportster. With that in mind, I didn’t have the funds to go with a big name vehicle shipper. I found another auction site, uShip.com, where I posted a shipping request and shippers then bid on your shipment.
I was surprised how many bids I received, and in hindsight I posted the request too early. In the future I wouldn’t post this request until I had won the eBay auction and also had completed the payment portion of the post-sale activities.
To make a long story short, the original shipper turned out to be a flake. He continued to over promise and under deliver, or in may case not deliver at all. After two weeks, I canceled with him and booked another shipper who was more expensive but worth it. My bike was brought to me in an enclosed trailer covered in a moving blanket.

I have had the bike a week now and have been loving it. It is so much fun. It’s a perfect specimen of an FZ1. I am sure there will be many riding adventures to come.