THE FINDING:
I went looking for a few VFR parts in March '99. By chance, I found an RC30 advertised on Motorcycle Online.

'Ex-Freddie Spencer bike... Serial number 00010. HRC exhaust, steering damper, rims, and rotors. Runs strong, always taken care of, $7,000 or best offer, must go now!'

He's in Hawaii.
I'm in New York City. Shipping will be expensive. That's 5,500 miles!

The guy's eMail address is 'the_shread_king"
He's on hotmail...
He's moving to Australia to become an Aussie citizen as soon as he sells the bike (his last possession in Hawaii).
I call his number, get his roommate... He's at work. He's a chef at a local restaurant, but moving to be with his girlfriend.

He sends eMail that night, about how much he loves the bike, how it belonged to Craig Erion for Fast Freddie (but he gets the timeline mixed up), what he's done to it, and how he's entirely trustable.
He calls back the next day. 'Want to hear it run?'
It sounds good. He's itching to sell. 12 potential buyers have bailed out already due to logistical issues.

THE GETTING:
We talk for a half hour. He sounds like a reasonable, nice guy. My _gut_ says I can trust him and that he would never do me wrong. He FedEx's me a packet of pictures. It's been down and repainted, and down again and the Airtech bodywork was recently repainted, it's all there and looks pretty good. I agonize over it for a week, but I can't do that kind of cash. He comes down to $6,500. I'll bite - I can't afford to pass this up.
So I FedEx him a deposit of $1,000 and a 'purchase contract' which is just a plainpaper fax with his name and my name and the bike serial number and price. Then I start looking for the rest of the money.

He thinks shipping might be $800, but he's in with someone at FedEx Freight, so maybe less. I go looking for someone in Hawaii to act as middleman but cannot find anyone - not even a friend of a friend. He checks in every couple of days... I can hear the mounting nervousness in his voice. He's got to move out at the end of the month and get to Australia. He's riding the RC back and forth to work.

Shipping is a surprise at $1,300, so I need more - another $6,800. I sell my Mac, and some VFR parts, and continue skipping nights out on the town. Two weeks pass - he is worried. 'Is there a problem? I've got to sell!' I find excuse to cause a stink with my landlord and withhold a month's rent. I borrow several $K from a good friend for a 'risky m/c deal'.
I verify his employer and his address and the fact that his name does not exist in alt.news.-----
I talk to him again and again and my gut tells me he's just a good guy with an honest story and a rare bike to sell.
I verify the Harley shop that will be shipping the bike.
But I can't do the deal without a middleman...

Al calls again - 'I'm out of time, man. WHAT are you gonna do? I have to move out at the end of this week and we're not parking this thing on the street!'.
'We?'
'Well, it's already part yours...'
I tell him I'll send a cashier's check the following morning.
That's too late. It's Thursday. Time's up.
I think of how everyone has a story about 'the one that got away'.
So I walk down to the bank and wire $6,800 to a man who is five thousand miles away, who I found via the internet, who I've never met, and who will be moving to Australia once we've concluded our business.
Screw the middleman.

I leave work early, go home and get drunk. I can't believe what I've done.

Al eMails the next day with shipper info and warns that he'll be offline while he moves to Australia. I try to call Al the day after that but his phone is out of service, then later, disconnected.
eMail goes unanswered, then later, bounces.

For two days I walk around in a haze. I want to call the shipper to verify that the bike is out - that it _exists_ - but I can't face the fear of what might not be.

Trust. And wait.

Amtrack Freight Handling finally calls - bike is intact in LA. It was delayed due to haz-mat/FAA inspections in Hawaii, and they're verifying destination address. It's going on a rail car to Penn Station in Manhattan. Title, keys, and stack of receipts arrive via FedEx the following day. I'm feeling better. Included in the pile of papers is a photocopy of the original title filled out to Craig Erion for Fast Freddie.

Three more days and it arrives. I can't say enough bad things about the union-protected idiot running the forklift, but I got it into a pickup, then home safe and sound. Filter, oil, gas, battery, and bbbrrrrraaaaAAAAPPP. It lights up instantly. Amazing. The Dunlop 207 on the extra rim is melted and blue. I cut myself on both footpegs they're ground down so much. I cut myself on the sidestand because _it_ is ground down... Shread_King indeed. He threw in a rasped up set of Dainese leathers, a rear-wheel stand, many misc tools, and another painted Air-Tech upper fairing. Amazing.

Al eMails from his new account a week later. He's in Australia and doing great. Very eager to hear that 'his baby' is ok.

POSTSCRIPT:
I was at Brian Law's shop in September '99, and this RC30, with 38,000 hard track-day miles, put out 106 hp at 12,500 rpm. That's power climbing all the way to redline.
Al and I stayed in touch for some time. I consider him a good friend. He might be buying another RC30 down in Australia - Troy Corser's title winning '91 HRC/works bike. It's slathered in unobtanium. Three cheers for Al. There are good guys out there, and I'm glad I know some of them.

POSTPOSTSCRIPT:
At 47,000 miles, on the way home from a long weekend in Pa, I let it run 'off the leash'. It pulled redline in 6th. This was with stock rear sprocket, 1-down sprocket on the front, and a set of lightweight Marchesinis.

At 49,000 miles I checked the valves - they were all perfect. All intakes were .007' and all exhausts were .011'. Absolutely unbelievable.

The ex-Spencer chassis sits in boxes, in storage, waiting on garage space, fork work, and some other things which I have to finish. It's no longer pristine or stock and hasn't been for a long time so I feel ok with adding some HRC and RC45 bits.
It is not for sale.

- BC Guy
- Dec 2001