RS Motorcycles, Woodford Green, Essex init

Has anyone ever had any dealings with RS Motorcycles in Woodford Green, Essex init ?

They seem to have a few bikes at very low prices - 1150GS for £4500, though it is listed as stolen recoverd but undamaged.

They have other bikes such as an R850R with a small ding in the tank for less than 2 grand which is way less then they go for normally.

I did ring them up, but they were fairly vague about the condition of some of the bikes and just seemed to want to get me to drive up there, which I am loathe to do if they speak with forked tongue.

So: Honest horny handed sons of toil providing good deals to impoverished potential GS owners like me or bunch of sheep-skin clad pikeys selling dodgy written-off tackle to the unwary

Your views please

Cheers

6X

Just remember 'If it sounds too good to be true' then it probably is.

Simon

Pint6x, have you got their address, as i go past Woodford evey day , i'll pop in and check out said monsters.

Ian.

Ian

Thanks for your kind offer. They currently have an 1150GS billed as "Stolen Recovered" with no damage. I am NOT in a position to buy this yet (I need to sell my R1100R first) but I would be interested to hear what sort of operation they have there, and if you get to see the GS, anything you can tell me about it would be appreciated. Also, could you ask if they would be interested in a part-ex ?

Their details are: Unit 13 400 Roding Lane South Woodford Green ESSEX IG8 8EY Tel: 0208 5509200

Thanks very much - I owe you a pint at some stage !

Cheers

6X

I've been and seen.

Right then ,i'm back from seeing this 1150 at RS motorcycles. It took me two days to find the place , and i'm local. Any road up, the GS i saw was good and bad, here goes...

Good points,cheap(£4500),straight,not damaged,nice silver color,engine bars,hard parts on front forks,not bad milage(20,000)
Baglux tank cover.

Bad points, very dirty, tyres are shot,no rear seat ( but i bet he has one somewhere),it is a stolen recovered,no box's.

So there you go. If I can give you any more info dont hessitate.
For £4500( he will take px if BMW ) its a good deal . It would clean up well and is the cheepist 1150 i've seen.

Ian.

Ian

Many thanks for your kind efforts - much appreciated. I will try and squeeze a visit in over the next few days if I can. It sounds like it's worth a look.

Does anyone know if a bike which is "stolen/recovered" has been written off ? in the case of this bike, the insurance did pay out, so I am unsure of the "legal" status of this bike. I know I can buy it and register it, but am I likely to get insurance hassles, or will I get any major pain should I decide ever to sell it on ?

Thanks again Ian

Regards

Philip (6X)

AFAIK:

Philip:

On the vehicle register at DVLA it will be recorded as stolen/recovered, only if has been uneconomically damaged and 'written off' by the Insurance company that it will get recorded as a category 'C' or 'D' damage repairable.

It means that anyone doing an HPI check will know the bike has been the subject of the an insurance claim, if you can live with that it sounds a bargain

Thanks Jud9e - I feel a thread for the bollox coming on because I think that's what I heard when I rang my insurers (Carole Nash) and enquired.

Big Nige put a post on a while a go for a place that does good valets in Essex that might be close-ish;

thread link here

You could tell them to get it valeted by them and add the £50 cost to the bill?

Still be an absolute bargain at the price quoted.

You could always track down the last owner off the V5 or via DVLA (£5 I think) and ask them about it too.

Or, if you were a real mate, do all that and then let me buy it

Jus kidding! Get in there and fill your boots if it really is a good-un. And if you decide not to, let me know first!

Close? Not even near!

Just done a multimap route.............

Big Niges place is near Southend on sea!

About 35 miles....................

Some Autoglym or Muc off then maybe?

Good luck with it!

6x, the guy at RS has the V5 ( or so he tells me).

Its is still worth a look.

Ian.

PS I have no conections with RS motorcycles as i'm begining to sound like a salesman.

Jon

I sent you a P.M. but essentially, if you get there first, go for it. I'm probably not in as much of a hurry as you are, and my ability to get there during opening hours over the next two weeks is going to be very limited.

If you do get it, let us all know how you get on. I would also be interested to hear exactly what the situation is with stolen/recovered/Q plates because I think my insurers were talking through their backsides.

And thanks for giving me first shout. And Ian - you're a bloomin' star for going and looking - thanks again.

Cheers

6X

Oops I have only just seen this thread ( bin posting elswhere about it). I am also interested in this bike and went and saw it today after spotting it on the Autotrader web site.

The good news is that you won't be worried if it surges just yet .It looks like the bike has had a slowish spill because the front end is slightly damaged. If you sit on it you can see that the clocks are off center. I could insert 3 fingers (ooer' missus)between the left fork and fairing and only 1 on the right fork. I asked the sales chap about it and he told me that I could push the frame straight when I got home. On closer inspection to the frontal area, you can clearly see that someone has already tried straightening it up as half the cockpit screws are missing. I got them to price up a new spider frame for me. Both black plastic bits on the fairing windshield adjuster are also very scuffed.

The tyres are shot ( squared off from a burnout ), tank needs sorting as there are major dents in it (carefully hidden under a tank cover hehehe), the rear pillion seat is out for re-upholstery and there is a 1" tear in the front seat. A tiny bit of corrosion ( little paint bubbles ) on the cylinder heads and the Touratech engine bars are scratched as if they have seen some action down a tar road ( heavy scratches). The Touratech handlebar stop is also smashed on the right hand side. When the bars are turned full lock they hit the fuel tank. Engine sounded alright but a bit tappety. R S assured me it is the BMW fuel injection and someone else confirmed this for me.

It probally needs around £500 spent on it ( tank, front spider frame, 2 x tyres, front seat, full service and valet )and 2 days of elbow grease to get a nice looking but what I would call "tatty" bike. The trade price for this model is £5200. Since I got back home, I have been searching for cheapish 1150's. I have found 4 around £5500 that also have heated grips or ABS ( the RS one has neither) and haven't been nicked. I reckon that it may work out better value buying one of these as you could be more certain of the bikes history. What worries me is that none of the above faults were pointed out by RS to me and I had to mention them first. What really concerns me is that they must have known about all the little faults and then they acted surprised to each of the above problems as I pointed them out ( except the tyres). The forks may well have suffered damaged - R S are essentially breakers and they have lots of old BMW bits lying around. It looked easy for them to make a runner by replacing certain bits of this bike. The bike comes with a 3 month mechanical warranty.

In spite of all this I am still thinking about it but I am undecided if the bike is worth £4500. It is a cheap price but I doubt you would be able to sell it on in it's current state. It needs lots of TLC and lots of little bits fixing. That's probally why it was sold by the insurance co. as it is on the border of being economical to get back to a nice bike again. I am a BM virgin and there may be other bits that I am not aware of. Overall R S seemed to have lots of customers there -mostly couriers and a good rapour with them. The salesman was able to ask most of my frank questions quickly. Me not knowing anything about BM's however could have meant that he was telling me anything he liked! He seemed quite genuine enough though. I'm spending the weekend researching how much parts are etc before I make my mind up.

Mr Tickle,

just a word of caution. You mention that the tank is dented by the handlebars at full lock. This will not happen, unless the steering stops are broken (this is what the Touratech 'Hard Part' is designed to prevent). If the stops are broken, this will be an MoT fail point (I'm told). I'd also be a bit suspicious of a low speed spill that could do that to the steering stops. I'd be very careful about the whole alignment of the front end. An AA inspection only costs £100 or so (for a car, I assume they do bikes). I'd invest in a professional inspection, from your description....

just my $0.02

MikeO

Mr Tickle said:

I could insert 3 fingers (ooer' missus)between the left fork and fairing and only 1 on the right fork. I asked the sales chap about it and he told me that I could push the frame straight when I got home. On closer inspection to the frontal area, you can clearly see that someone has already tried straightening it up as half the cockpit screws are missing. I got them to price up a new spider frame for me. Both black plastic bits on the fairing windshield adjuster are also very scuffed.
What worries me is that none of the above faults were pointed out by RS to me and I had to mention them first. What really concerns me is that they must have known about all the little faults and then they acted surprised to each of the above problems as I pointed them out ( except the tyres). The forks may well have suffered damaged - R S are essentially breakers and they have lots of old BMW bits lying around. It looked easy for them to make a runner by replacing certain bits of this bike. The bike comes with a 3 month mechanical warranty.

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I think this tells us a lot about RS Motorcycles - their stock list describes this motorcycle as "No damage - ride away". Clearly it has been in a prang - RS, with their experience must have recognised this, but are clearly not too concerned about letting the buying public know about this.

Since I got back home, I have been searching for cheapish 1150's. I have found 4 around £5500 that also have heated grips or ABS ( the RS one has neither) and haven't been nicked. I reckon that it may work out better value buying one of these as you could be more certain of the bikes history.

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I would be interested to know where you find them - the cheapest I have seen is about 5750 - I look on various dealer sites, as well as MCN and biketrader.

Cecil the cat said

Just remember 'If it sounds too good to be true' then it probably is.

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How right you are sir - how right you are.

I said, in a previous post

So: Honest horny handed sons of toil providing good deals to impoverished potential GS owners like me or bunch of sheep-skin clad pikeys selling dodgy written-off tackle to the unwary

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Er, the latter I fear - wouldn't touch this one with a barge pole.

6X

Cheers Mike - I value your opinion. By chance I met someone at a bike park in town today who had just bought a brand new 1150RS. I took the liberty and asked him if I could listen to his engine. It sounded the same as this bikes, so engine wise I think it's sound.

The guy I met in town knew BM's fairly well & warned me to be careful of front end problems on R series. I don't know paralevers at all so cannot definately say that the front end is seriously damaged from a visual inspection. I was not able to test ride the bike. I can say that the bit that the beak and clocks sit on is crooked. If you look behind the clocks and down, there is a thin piece of metal that goes from the headstock to the spider (that's what he told me it's called) frame that supports everything. Well on this bike that bit is bent to one side and has rust forming where the paint has cracked on it. The handlebars have hit into it and that is what has put the whole lot out. It is only slightly out of line ( about 1-2") but I know it would bug the hell out of me. It would feel as if you weren't sitting centrally on the seat.

The uncertainty of not knowing and also the fact that I think R S may be using a little creative marketing on this bike is playing on my mind. The guy there does actually seems pretty down to earth but I have only met him for 30 minutes - and he is a salesman. When I asked him if there were any dents in the tank he said " a few teeny ones the size of a fingernail". I removed the tank harness to have a look and I found a massive dent at the front bottom side of the tank. He told me he hadn't seen it before!! The dent is huge and it is the first thing you notice. It is this, dare I say "dishonesty" that makes me wonder about any other possible problems.

As for an AA inspection, they will probally tell me to F*** off. It isn't a shiny showroom. The best way to describe it is like a British Railways archway unit (I hope you know what one of those is - we have got loads in London) , breaking and selling BMW bikes. They have a lot of ex-police bikes and a lot in various states of repair all stripped down. It is about as far removed from a mainline dealer as you will ever get.

You can tell that he did know all of his customers well, which is good. His service is probally as good as anyone else's and there were certainly lots of couriers there. If I do go for this bike I am probally going stick a big fuel tank and some new shocks on anyway. That is half the appeal as I would be doing the same if I bought one for a £1000 quid more anyway. I am going back on Monday to have another ganders at it. I'll let you know how I get on.

Update

Right, I went back today for a second looksies and with £4500 cash. I get there and tell them that I want to check out a few final things before handing over me wedge. " No problems" I'm told.

I get out me multi-meter, to check that the alternator is working. I am told instantly "sorry you can't do that -it's too much hassle getting to the battery. If the altenator isn't working I've got hundreds of them and you can have one of those". I ask is it covered under warranty and told no it isn't.

I ask if I can take it for a test ride and I get " Oops I appear to have left the keys at home today - it will be 1 1/2 hours before my wife arrives with them"

I ask if I buy it now, can they give me an oil filter ( about 6 quid from Motoworks, trade price about 4 ) so that I can change the grotty oil while waiting for the keys to arrive. I am then told in no uncertain manner " this is not my bike and we are not making any money from it. I am not giving away an oil filter and loosing money". He tells me that if I don't want it, it will just go back up for sale again and someone else will just buy it. The fact I have just wasted half a day to come down and see him doesn't hold any sway whatsoever. I am not getting an oil filter for free. He offers to change the oil and filter for me, at cost but I decline his " generous" offer.

I tell him, that on Saturday he told me that the bike was registered to him personally. He confirms it is registered to him but tells me a long complicated story about his mate owning other GS's and it's really a spare bike for his mate blah blah blah.

I think hmmm, this is sounding more dodgy each minute. I have nothing else to do, so carry on giving the bike a once over. In addition to what I saw on Saturday, I find a gouge out of the rear shaft housing as if it's been sliding down a tar road and also no road tax on it. I tell him I'm leaving.

Needless to say I am now giving this bike a miss. It was just on the verge of being economical to get back into a nice condition. After todays visit, I now feel that this bike is too chancy a purchase for me. I'm off to view 2 private 1150's at around the £5.5K mark instead.

The RS bike is still up for sale if anyone is still interested in it.

RS = Right Shite

I am so relieved you walked away that bike is a certain minger and that sort of dealer serves to highlight why some persevere with the sometimes 'off-handedness' of BMW dealers.

What price piece of mind??? Another £500 quid and you could take your pick of early decent 1150GS's or late 1100GS's. Take a trip over to the Fatherland and it'll go even further.

For everyone else remember they are seriously DODGY!!!!

Mr. Tickle – a very wise decision sir – at one stage I really thought you were going to go for it. It appears that every enquiry you made met with a feeble excuse – whose name was the bike registered in? Where were the keys? Can’t they throw in a free oil filter? Did you ask about getting an AA inspection at all? That might have been quite revealing. Not to mention all the things they omitted to point out like the clocks and the dents in the tank and the gouge on the swinging arm.

I guess there will always be a market for this sort of pond-life at the very bottom of Motorcycle dealer land, but these guys sound like they represent the very worst in dodgy sheepskin-clad pikeys, peddling an array of inert mechanical miscellany to the unwary. Was there an oily Alsatian running around barking at everyone that turned up?

Jud9e – an R1150GS for £5k? where? and don’t say “RS Motorcycles”!

Cheers

6X

Good move Mr Tickle.........

Bilks.