knew when I walked into the
basement of the house that a
serious bike nut lived there. There
were motorcycles everywhere
- dozens of them, all plugged
into trickle chargers. There were
all kinds of riding gear in protective
plastic covers hanging from the ceiling.
Boxes of motorcycle stuff were piled
everywhere: cases of oil, batteries,
windshields, seats and helmets. The
scene looked like someone had bought
a bike shop and moved everything into
the basement of the house.
A guy I’d met named Dave knew I
owned a BMW HP2, and he emailed
me asking if I would mind going to
the house to evaluate another HP2 he
knew was there. A friend of his had
recently passed away, and the friend’s
nephew, Paul, inherited all the bikes
and was interested in selling them.
Paul asked if I’d be interested in buying
any of the bikes. He had a 2006 BMW
R1200GSA that interested me. He asked
me what the bike might be worth, and
I told him between $9,000 and $11,000.
He found the price high and thought
I was mistaken. So I showed him a
number of those bikes for sale online
at about the prices I had quoted. This
surprised him, since a BMW salesman
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lower price. I told him if the bike ran
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odometer showed 17,000 km and the
bike had new tires, luggage, tank bag,
aftermarket pipe and every BMW farkle
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Mom was right when she told me
to always be honest when dealing
with people and not take advantage of
someone with less knowledge. What
helped me in this deal was that the
BMW sales rep had forgotten what his
mom (presumably) told him. I bought
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were good prices – and I didn’t lowball
him. In addition to the BMW GSA,
which is my daily rider now, I also
bought a K1200RS, a G650 XCountry,
a really funky 1999 R1100GS, and an
almost new Honda Africa Twin. I’ve
since sold the K1200RS, and I would
have liked to keep the Africa Twin,
but I did not want to jeopardise the
partnership my riding school has with
BMW Canada, so it went, too. I had all
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all of them passed and ran perfectly. In
addition to the bikes, I bought lots of
riding gear – and enough supplies to
open up a bike shop.
The gentleman who had passed
away was named Brian. He worked
very hard at running a few very
successful companies. His passion
after work was to search for online
deals, and judging by the stuff he had, I
would say he was very good at buying.
He loved to upgrade stock lighting
systems on the bikes to expensive
high-intensity discharge lights; I bought
a case of 25 BMW Motorrad bulb
upgrade kits. There were dozens of new
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when I got home and was surprised
to discover I’d left with 25 pairs, most
of them brand-new. Brian apparently
loved Schuberth helmets, and I bought
three new ones and two used; I gave
the used ones away to my staff. I sold
lots of stuff to my instructors. There
were dozens of jackets made by BMW,
KLIM and other popular brands.
Most of the stuff was brand-new and
waiting to be used.
I feel very grateful to Brian for
having collected such a mass of
motorcycles and related gear. I hope
that he would be happy to know that
the collection he had amassed over
many years is now out in the sunlight
and being used. Dave bought the mint
BMW HP2 and four other bikes; the
rest of the BMWs and the Harleys were
scooped up by dealers. I sometimes
think I should have borrowed money
to buy more, but then: how many
motorcycles are too many?
Brian also left me another thing for
which I am grateful: he showed me
that he could have easily been me.
He died at 62 from a massive stroke,
leaving a lot of stuff behind. I might
be wrong, but I think he may have
worked too hard, and may not have
taken the time to enjoy life thoroughly.
I don’t have the best heart, I work
too hard and I have a silly amount of
motorcycles and stuff. I can’t take it
with me when I’m gone. I vowed to let
my great staff do more, and I recently
took a fantastic 10-day hiking holiday
in Wales with my family. I am also
going to sell off lots of bikes and stuff
that sits in the dark. I would rather
someone enjoys them now than have
someone bid on them later during an
estate sale.
LIFE’S AN ADVENTURE
by Clinton Smout
I
ILLUSTRATION:DEANFOSTERTAKE TIME
TO ENJOY IT
14 MOTORCYCLE MOJO SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019