Yes not so many early models which are the most appealing to me in general (from aesthetic point of view), and the few I've seen listed are being for crazy money IMHO and are usually not selling. RC1, I haven't been able to see any in person yet unfortunately. I'm in France and haven't seen any listed that I could go see close enough so far, market for those here is very small which is the reason why I'm looking at the other European countries; but that makes it much harder to go see the bikes given the distance. Cookster, yes I'm regularly following up ebay.uk but haven't seen the one that made me go for it so far. I'm also honestly a little bit cautious with ebay sells for such bikes given the distance; I'd rather buy from a known fellow forumer or other passionate group member individual than from unknown foreign dealer (which is the case for most bikes I've seen listed on ebay so far).
Just get something or you'll end up waiting for ever for 'the one' Lots of us have and will buy sight unseen so go for it!
I understand what you mean and am ready to buy "sight unseen" given the distance constraints, still gotta have the right feel about the one I'd go for; I'm patient that's ok
Why not buy something a little less perfect to fill the gap temporarily? You won't lose money on bikes of that vintage and you'll be a bonafide member of the club
I'm not looking for a "perfect" bike, and don't think I have the funds for one in the general "collector" sense of the term anyway looking at what people seem to ask for those. From personal experience on other kind of "collectable" items (classic cars, vintage instruments..), I'd rather be patient and wait for an example that I "feel right" about given my criteria, rather than buying something with the clear intention to "fill the gap temporarily" as you said, which means I would still be on the lookout to resale for something else; every transaction brings additional cost that it always hard to recover and can be quite time consuming, especially when we're talking about buying from abroad, importing to and registering such bike here in France. That being said I understand what you mean by not waiting to find "the perfect one"; only looking for one that "talks" to me for a price I find fair given the condition/history/documentation, and I find a few months wait for such bike is a better "call" than rushing for a "temporary/filler" bike (especially that I'm in no real hurry and already have toys to play with )
Here's another one recently listed: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192682922131 What do you think guys? Abviously some little changes done, and it looks like an interesting early '98 model with a few remaining '97 features?
A very nice low number on the head yoke but as cookster said get the stickers off if they are if not you might be in for a paint job.Also the ebayer has only been around for a short time so proceed with caution/hpi/ducati chassis check at your local.............look at the service records
Thanks guys. Stickers (if they are) would have to go indeed. My biggest "worry" would be about potential frame repaint, as colors don't quite look right in the photos as another forum mate from the US pointed at, and why that happened? Could be a good "driver/rider" to enjoy, though the BIN listed price sounds more in the upper "0 issues - top original condition" range to me?
