During lockdown August 2020, I was sat at home in Spain on a rainy Sunday, bored to tears, the TV held no interest for me, I'd run out of DIY supplies and enthusiasm, I couldn't even get out on the bike. So there I sat scrolling through Milanuncios.com, Ebay.es & finally Ebay.co.uk, looking at bikes for sale, its always a bad idea or good idea depending on your point of view, it's certainly an expensive pastime.
During my search and scrolling session, I came across a couple of cheap GS's one in the Canaries and one in Palma de Mallorca, not impossible to deal with as they are both Spain but transport from the Canaries would be expensive and I wasn't 100% sure about the one in Palma as the dealer was a bit vague and the pictures poor. I made my wife a cup of tea and discussed my findings, she had known about my hankering for another BMW for a few years now and didn't poo, poo the idea so the search continued, at this point, it was theoretical anyway and she knew I was bored.
A little later on a bike turned up in the list that I had lusted after since it came out in the mid-2000s and especially after a trip with my brother and a couple of friends in 2015 when one of them turned up on a GSA. Ziek's bike was a 2006 model in silver with aluminium panniers, auxiliary lights, and all the trimmings, the listed one was from 2008, very similar in looks with an improved ABS system amongst other things.
I scrolled through the listing, 2008, aluminium panniers, manual rather than electronic suspension, heated grips, auxiliary lights, some service information, original books, documentation, and only 3667 miles from new, on a 12-year-old bike, wow this was the one. There were two issues at this point, firstly convincing my wife that it was a good idea and secondly, it was in Doncaster in the UK, which could become a problem considering the Covid-19 situation.
The first issue was overcome quickly, as my wife is very understanding and knew that I had been looking for years, the fact it was in Doncaster could be overcome in a number of ways, so no issue. Next, I rang the dealer J & S Accessories in Doncaster and spoke to John, who was very helpful and gave me a bit more detail about the bike, sent me some additional photos, and confirmed the mileage was accurate, they had previous MOT information and some ownership info that confirmed it was a genuine 12-year-old 2 owner bike with just 3667 miles from new. After a further discussion with my wife, I rang John back and paid a deposit, now the fact it was in Doncaster was the only stumbling block.
We looked at a few options for collection including, having it delivered to my parents near Scarborough, until the end of the pandemic, having it transported directly to Spain, or travelling to the UK to pick it up. Flying over wasn't my first choice, but the airlines seemed to have got their act together and it would be much more fun than it arriving in a van.
A plan was hatched, I just had to wait a couple of weeks, until everything fell into place.
Read Rucksack And A Credit Card to find how we got the new bike home.
