After spending almost two years on a 125cc scooter and a CB350, I finally pulled the trigger on my first sportbike, a 1999 Honda CBR600 F4. I got the bike from a couple of guys off Craigslist who gave off a very shady vibe and who’d been using the 600 as a stunt bike. Consequently, the bodywork was beat up, but the price was right. I factored a new cheap set of plastics off eBay into my purchase price, so I bought it. I rode the bike for a few months before I ordered new bodywork for it, and then waited a few more months for it to arrive from China.
A few weeks after it got here, I decided it was time to tack on the new bodywork, so I broke out the tools and started removing the fairing, then the belly-pan, then the ductwork, then finally the tail. When I removed the final screws and lifted the section off the bike, I could immediately sense that it felt strangely heavy. Duct taped to the inside of the tail of the bike, a bike that I had registered to me and had been riding around on for months, was a large quantity of what appeared to be methamphetamine. It then dawned on me that had I been pulled over, and the meth discovered, me saying something along the lines of, “Oh no, that’s not mine officer,” or, “I had no idea that was there I swear,” probably wouldn’t have been sufficient to get more out of that one.
If you purchase a motorcycle from a person who looks shady, chances are they are, so make sure you thoroughly inspect your purchase.
Photo: KSAT