It was...kind of an odd story actually.

The seller had the auction go off mid-day on a wed., with no reserve and no minimum. Generally that's a recipe for disaster with a smaller name bike like this...it's a limited market and you can't count on two people to drive the price. I threw out a bid I didn't think would win...it didn't win. The seller almost definitely had shill bids entered to raise the price. I figured I'd get a second chance offer and, an hour or two later, i did. I sent a message saying I didn't appreciate the shill bidding and I sent a low bid offer because I was annoyed. We ended up exchanging some nastygrams...he told me he wouldn't sell it to me for any amount. I felt like being a smart arse, and I really liked the bike...so I clicked accept on his second chance offer. Not the best beginning to the transaction. I was anxiously awaiting how he'd respond at that point, but he behaved himself and we both settled down a bit.

Afterwards we straightened things out...he's a decent guy, I decided to let it go because I still thought the price was quite fair (I did bid that amount), though i do think he shill bid it. Still...I can understand why. The bike really is a beauty...it's hard to capture that in the photos because it is quite subtle.