So I have been clearing out my garage and property of projects and sold a parts R6 last week. It wasn’t much more than an engine that needed rebuilding plus a frame and swingarm but there was more interest than I was expecting.
At any rate the guy that showed up to buy it pulled into my drive with a 2 door coupe cobalt. I asked him ‘You’re planning on putting this in that?’ and he replies ‘I’ve done it before’.
Okay - color me befuddled as that car is a two door with a tiny trunk opening.
The bike is already on the dolly so I wheel it over to the car. He slides both seats all the way up and then looks at the bike and the opening it leaves and there isn’t enough room to put it in the back. I walk around to the back of the car and confirm the trunk opening is comically small.
His partner has the idea to put it in the passenger seat, so he slides the seat back and lays it all the way back and it looks like there is enough room.
This guy was large, 6' and 300# and he picks up this thing (which weighs close to 200#) and puts it in the passenger seat. The damn thing fit.
His passenger climbs into the back (where there is no seat) and he gets in and they drive off in this tiny cobalt he managed to put a bike in.
I was befuddled - it has taken me more time to but a bike in the back of a pickup (I hate doing this btw for a myriad of reasons) than it did to get this in his cobalt!
There were no pictures taken as I was just struck by the whole thing.
Here’s a pic of a similar ‘use what you got’ mentality dude I sold another bike too.
He drove down from Wisconsin to St Louis in snow to drag home a 74 GT 380 parts bike. That CRV was squatted bad with that 400# bike hanging off the back like that. He had to drive 55 the whole way home, but made it.
This bike is pretty uncommon and cool being a 3 cylinder 2 stroke street bike. I bought it hoping to find another and rebuild them. He was doing the same and this was his parts bike to finish a nicer one. He still drove 700 miles in one day to get this guy.
At any rate both of these interactions help to remind me that sometimes instead of getting the new shiny thing you want, you can make do with what you have plus a little ingenuity.