carbonf4 wroteIs there any member here who could call in to MotoStretta for a look and check it out for engine number etc? Maybe give the seller a few slaps? 😉
griff851 wroteNasty one, sorry to here about that. Its a big ocean with lots of sharks. Hopefully thanks to you, other guys will read this and stay away, and old mate can keep his bullshit heap of crap for ever and never make a dime on it.
Griff
Sad indeed, that the world has people like Marc Veld / MotoStretta. As far as I'm concerned Mr. Veld should suddenly have to close the business and be on the mend for several months.
So yes, there's lots of sharks out there just waiting for those of us who still trust and believe. Mr. Veld has now been added to my "do not do business with" list that now includes:
1. Bob Smith, (ex) North America Bimota Importer. For years I watched this slimeball take new bike deposits from customers and tell them their bike(s) would be delayed a few weeks as he sold their machines to impulse buyers he ran into all over the USA. Then the internet came into play the world got much smaller and Smith could no longer play his shell game. I went on lists and forums to warn people about Smith and I was astounded at the typical responses. "Bob Smith is a great guy, he sold me a spark plug on Sunday so I could get home for dinner". Amazingly those who got seriously screwed by Mr. Smith never did come forward year after year as he burnt his bridges behind him from 1994 to 2006.
Then last year I was talking to a few still into Bimota motorcycles only to find out that Mr. Smith seems to be M.I.A. with over a million of investors money. When this hit the net.....all of a sudden there were postings left and right about how Smith had screwed them and they'd never do business with him again. DUH !!!
2. Next we have Bob Miller of Miller Specialties, Clinton, Connecticut, USA. He screwed 2 of my friends out of slightly over $8000 usd and he took total and complete advantage of a young lad who brought his bike in for repairs. Miller asked for $1000 in advance as the lad was going off to fight in the Iraq war. Then 3 weeks later when the lad asked how the repairs were coming, Miller asked for another $1800 so the repairs could be completed.
Hearing this and quite pissed, I drove from Maryland to Connecticut (some 400 miles) and walked in the front door of Miller Specialties to find Bob Miller sitting on the floor having just cut the main wiring harness in half with a set of dykes. He looked up and somehow knew who I was and what I came to his shop for. To this day I cannot figure out how he knew this, but all he said was: "You know all about electrics, so you take this "........ and that's exactly what I did. I put the machine and all the bits into my trailer and drove it all up to BCM Ducati to Bruce Myers and dropped it off for Bruce to make it right. 3 days later Bruce called me and said the bike was ready. I asked what the bill was. $25 for a set of alternator brushes and $250 to put the wiring harness back together".
I posted my experience(s) with Bob Miller / Miller Specialties to warn others. The typical responses were: "Bob Miller is a great guy he adjusted my carbs one day while I waited." Then about a year later, Miller Specialties was no longer in business due to Bob's poor health. Then the stories of how Bob Miller did poor work and had screwed people emerged by the dozens.
3. Next on the list is Steve Monroe of "Loudbike",
http://loudbike.blogs.com/loud_bike/ . A IT type that is quite use to looking customers right in the eye and telling them "we can design you a business running program and set-up your company website to do exactly what you need done" ......and knowing full well he's just lied through his teeth. Then he asks for a 20% deposit which is usually in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, then goes back to his home to take some standard programs, slaps them together with fancy presentations and VIOLA !!....... a 2 million dollar sale. Once the money has been transferred, he's off in search of another customer while the past customers try and make his programs work, which they rarely do.
Now take this mentality and transfer it into building custom motorcycles for well heeled (ignorant) clients. This is what Loudbike is all about. Find well funded customer who wants to quickly get into the latest rage ......Italian motorcycles.......then repeat his IT scam. Some time ago I came across Steve Monroe who had just joined forces with noted Ducati engine builder, Guy Martin who was a long time friend of mine. Seeing an opportunity to have a bike built while I worked on 3 other on-going Ducati projects, I asked them to put together a 750 bevel for me.....and what a mess it turned out to be. I'll not bore you with all the details, but needless to say I smelt the end of my Monroe relationship coming and I managed to beat the man at his own game. I came away with a rather nice machine mostly done, but needed a complete going over, which I can easily do. Thank God Guy Martin built the motor, so this major part of the project is fine.
Last year I started to warn others about Steve Monroe / Loudibke and the responses were: Steve's a great guy and he sold me a pair of shocks and I got a real deal on them. So far, Steve Monroe is still alive and still doing Loudbike business......but without Guy Martin as it seems they've had a falling out when some $6000 usd of on-line sales funds were missing.
I suspect those who have gotten the short-end of Mr. Monroe will come out of the wood-work when Monroe dies....... so until then I'll do my part.
4. Finally we come to David Brown of DB Cycles, Lima New York
http://www.db-cycles.com/ who sells a lot of Ducks and Duc parts on Ebay. Don't trust this guy and don't send any money until you are sure of what you are getting. I've posted a couple of warnings and have gotten the typical "He's a great guy because he sold me a good used tire one day", but since Mr. Brown is still alive... it seems those who he's screwed still might want to do business with him, they aren't saying anything ( I guess ) until the slimeball dies.
Apologies for being long-winded........but I wanted to pass along the present list with a little background on each so you would get a feel for each.
#5 Presently I am trying to persuade one of the largest USA Bevel parts suppliers to stop selling certain bogus parts that either just do not work......or the parts damage motors. This may not sound relevant here, but he's getting into other Ducati parts, so it looks like some here might be tempted to do business with him in the future.
In conclusion......
Air fares are cheap when compared to 10k--50k purchases. Also, there's expertise on both sides of the pond available to ensure one is getting what they are led to believe. Even paying for a full prep and a dyno run would have determined if #002 has anything near it's original spec motor. Personally I believe the motor has been changed out......or even had a strada motor installed........so only a dyno run could tell this, so 1000--1500 euro would be well spent me thinks.
Also there's two SP4s's at
http://www.camamotoren.nl/occasions/...ons-zoeken.php . One is suppose to be #033, which is starting to look like a frame neck transplant and bitsa. The would give the frame stamping number, but not the engine number. They wouldn't give any information about the second SP4S, saying it was not for sale.
All in all, with this Forum and the List...... both will serve to warn perspective buyers of #002 & #033 that both machines need to be completely and fully inspected before funds transfer.
