@xionite and @rockrz: Both of you have made very good notes here. I used the word "innocent" with reference to my friend. He did not know the formalities involved with superbikes buying/selling, and neither did he know of custom percentage, bill of landing, and DRI before he got the bike.

But yes, I will admit that he was "blinded" by the desire to own one of the bikes. When the broker told him that its better not to transfer the bike to his name, my friend harish foolishly believed him. I won't deny that! The broker put up such an imaginary scenario, you know, "how dangerous these bikes are and if you kill someone by means of an accident, you would be in so much trouble." As you said xionite, "my friend was trying to get out of hot water, before he got into it." But the REAL truth is that brokers don't want you to transfer bikes to their names!

Why?

Because if you want to transfer bikes to your name, you will obviously enquire the legit papers, and you wouldn't purchase the bike if it doesn't have clean papers. how will brokers be able to sell grey market bikes then? they can do it, only by targeting young, innocent, unwary buyers, and my friend harish was the perfect victim. Its two birds in one stone for the shady brokers because on one end, they are making a profit out of a grey bike, and on another, they leave no trace! once they collect cash, they disappear into oblivion. And because of a paperless transaction, you can't even hold these brokers liable for any legal purpose!

and as rockrz aptly said "its not that running away from the scene is the main motive, many times the excitement of getting a supersports or dream machine is so much that all you want is the machine.. by hook or by crook. its a big risk but at that time, most ppl fail to realise the consequences.." you are absolutely right buddy! Thanks for understand the crux of what I meant by "innocent' buyers. And thanks for your compliment rockrz, because it hurts me just as much my friend in losing his bike. That is one of th major reasons harish and I wanted to express this outside. Let this not happen. Let people educate themselves with the intricacies involved in transacting a superbike. I too, have a dream of owning a superbike, but looking into the depth of the situation, it is one shady are unfortunately. All because of what? our stupid goverment duty!


Thank you n_aditya. Good work there! nothing is worth the peace of mind. I EXACTLY KNOW what you mean, when you say, you bought a ninja 250 with clean papers and now ride with a peace of mind. I am exactly trying to express that thought to other also. The logic behind the hit and run, police record etc, are all correct. I just wanted to express how young sbk buyers are mislead without knowing the truth. The initiative of starting such a post is not only with the hopes of getting harish's bike back, but also because another event like this shouldn't happen. Moreover, as rockrz expressed it, my our initiative is to educate others.

Thank you for the compliments xionite. appreciate it buddy. You're right, not many people are "that" excited in owning a superbike. But that is why I kept emphasizing about certain young (teenaged to early 20's guys) people who are mesmerized into owing an sbk. Ask anybody among your friends who own superbike, how many of them have clear papers, please try it.

Everybody will say "yes." that their bike is legal, as they have smart cards, and/or registration certificates. The thing is, by bribing anybody in the RTO, you can easily get an RC. This is why recently, the DRI cracked down the MH06 RTO where a few officers were suspended for taking bribes and giving RC to superbikes.

A grey market bike is one that is brought down as "parts." why? because parts attract only 24-25% duty. While a CBU (completely built unit) bike will attract over 100% duty. Among any of your friends who have sbk's ask if they have a 'bill of landing" this is THE important paper that justifies your bike was brought in legally! The bill of landing is a huge paper, with many accompanying invoices and bills that has seals and signatures of officials at every transaction kiosks, from the ship container to port, to RTO, to finally at the road when you ride it home. you'll be shocked xionite, by how many people who own sbk's don't even know such a thing called "bill of landing."

If someone is trying to sell you an sbk, ask for "bill of landing." The very instant, you will find that the broker will cease to call or get in touch with you. You don't even need to see the bike!

@dhairya: I understand your confusion, and you're not alone. many members in xbhp were terribly confused by this whole set of events. I suggest that you read the posts from the beginning, slowly, one by one each, and it will take you more than 1 hour to understand the crux of the situation.

And yes, I totally agree with you when you say my friend wasn't being smart. Many people have said that and I don't deny it one bit!! While I am talking of being careful in buying a bike, because of people like my friend harish, who gave away the bikes without getting full payment, there is another shady world that wants to exploit young innocent buyers by making a quick sale and money. This may sound strange, but this has definitely worked for superbike thieves. I am sure there were others who got duped like my friend, by giving proper DD at the beginning, and then giving fake checks. It is evident that many people got fooled because the thieves followed a specfic set of protocols such as playing a DRI intervention stunt, lawyer notice, etc. I suggest that you read from the beginning, very slowly, and I assure you, it will make perfect sense.

@smokey: thanks buddy, for your concern. But I doubt that the konica minolta bike will come out in public again. as per previous posts, it was being ridden outside for a while and the thief did get alerted that it was posted on xbhp. The poor bike is in hiding now, somewhere, in good old hyderabad city.

@fireblah: I won't deny your confusion. you seem to have the same confusion as dhairya (look above). If you have been reading this from the first post, it will take you more than an hour and you will understand completely. We are trying to leverage xbhp as much as possible, not only with the hopes of getting the bike back, but in also highlighting others of the scams involved in an sbk transaction.

As far as I know, xionite, whiteunicorn, and rockrz are the 3 members who completely understand the situation. I am sure that many others still have confusion.

@All, I will keep you posted in the event of a miracle happening. As already noted, I am happy that others have learnt a lot from this. Cheers!

Make that three birds... usually a 'dealer' is also involved in giving leads of such bikes which dont have valid papers... they are then duped, bought back and resold... usually as limited editions with custom paint polish jobs....

PS: Where did you get the reference from for this guy who wanted to buy the bike?

@Bking: agree with you about most SBKs not being squeaky clean.
(thats prolly putting it lightly)

there's sumone selling a 2008 ZX14 for 5 lac. soooo tempting!

it reminded me of this thread.

Forget the G2G's, as mentioned by me in an earlier post, why doesn't your friend hire a good detective & start kickin some serious A**. If you really want the bike back, else you can just let it GO. You have all the details you want, you have his pic, you have his latest mob. no., still why the delay ? I was offered a CBR 600 RR grey market piece about 2 years ago by my friend, who himself was the 2nd owner, & he hadn't transferred the bike in his name, he said nothing will happen, let the RC be in the 1st owner's name itself, but I told him dude I need to sleep peacefully even if I have to let it go it is okay, he then sold it to someone else. It is quite evident as to why the grey market pieces don't go for change in ownership.

CHEERS,
G D

My friend advertised in cartradeindia.com satyen.

Exactly xionite! That's how the words spread. I know its hurts when you have to call off such a thing buddy, but nothing is worth the peace of mind!

Yes GD, again, thanks for emphasizing the importance of peace of mind. My friend just wants to have an amicable settlement, as I already noted, the thieves have been contacting him for an amicable settlement. No updates yet.

The problem is on our side too. The bike is not in his name. How will he justify that its his bike? Clearly, this works to the thieve's advantage. Even if you were to use force, such as hiring a detective, it is adding more expenses with a very vague outcome of getting the bike back. Rest assured, I am typing all this because I am certain the thieves are reading, and I want them to!

Even if you hired a private person to hunt for the bike, it won't be easy to find, because, the bike is definitely under hiding now. The thief realized he was too stupid to ride it around city. And ofcourse, he rode it so that others can see it and ask him about it. And the thief then would eventually quote a small price and make quick money.

But thanks to xbhp, this didn't happen. This was my friend harish's intention. Highlight this matter and another bike stealing will be very, VERY hard for the thieves. Moreover, as I said time and again, the thief did pay my friend 1.1 lakhs. Given that its a special edition bike, it will be very tough for him to sell it. A thief thinks only of the quick money. He already realized that it is better off that he give the bike back to my friend and collect his 1.1 Lakh advance back.

My friend is just patiently waiting. Its in the best interst of the thief to get the bike back. If not, as I already noted, he can get away with it for now, but the hyderabad police know his face. My friend's Harish close relative is a top police official. The fact that the bike is not in my friend's is what is taking things slowly. Rest assured, the theif will invariably get caught for other crimes in the future, and that time, his a$$ will be nailed for sure. There was never a thief who managed to completely escape. Some of the top dons in the sbk grey market have been caughted and sentenced. For this thief, it is only a matter of time. If he is clever, he will give the bike back and not do these things in the future. He can still get away saying that he is returning the bike due to lack of clean papers, and he will be a free man too. My friend is just waiting for him to take this decision. Just want things to settle amicably and peacefully. I hope this explains it to you GD.

We are all just playing the waiting game.

Cheers.

Why do you call it a special edition bike? Do you have papers to prove the same?

A LOT of grey market bikes are just custom 'paint jobs' being passed as a limited edition...

This is so very confusing, amidst all this what i infer frm this is "Want an SBK?, go to the nearest showroom and book one, never ever settle for second hand ones" 80% of SBKs for sale seem to be unclean.. "Don't have the money to buy a new SBK? then settle for a Bike like the NINJA"

I had the idea of buying a second hand SBK, but after seeing this, a BIG NO... I hope the bike's alright poor thing, is caught up in this mess and is suffering...

@ Bking - What was the reason for the seller to actually put this bike up for sale? Cuz, the bike seems to be in a very good condition and i can't think of any reason to sell this baby that too a 08 edition for such a low price of 3.10 lakhs. If it was me, i would have never ever sold this baby off...

that's more or less the going price for a 600RR without proper papers.

i think its 6.1 lakhs..cause i read somewhere in the thread that the guy gave 1.1 L cash and 2.5L x 2 cheques which were false

3.10 for a grey konica minolta is cheap.

If buying a 600 ask for bill of lading not landing
There is no document which gets called as bill of landing.

can anything be done???

a distant relative of mine in delhi is also having a 600 rr he got it about 3 to 4 yrs ago as a brand new bike. but he got it for about 7 lakhs so i expected it to be legal since at that time that was the actual pirce of a new one.

however, last week i had just casually called him up and asked bout the bike papers, he replied - IT IS REGISTERED IN THE NAME OF HIS FRIEND IN TOKYO. and i was like . and when i asked him why is it in your name, he said the same reason that he did not want legal hassles..

strange.. cos i expected him to have atleast some common sense.

the question is can anything be done now??? i mean can he pay up the difference now and get the bike in his name.. currently, except for the pics of him with his bike for the last 3 yrs, he has no proof that it belongs to him.
can anything be done???

getting registered is an RTO thingy.
Getting the bike legal by paying the duty is DRI thingy.

You can have a clean duty paid bike but by now its impossible to get any foreign vehicle registered at any RTO !

They will not entertain any imported bike..

My legal CBR1000RR wasnt passed. I furnished bill of lading and it was deemed fake...then I furnished a letter from Honda and that was deemed fake.
I repeat again...you CANNOT get anything imported registred at RTO anymore.

what??? so u still haven't registered ur Blade??

coudn't that have legal implications for u sometime down the line?

How do you get a registration number then?
Are we missing something here