I sold a motorbike to a young guy the other day.
He turned up with his fresh new learners motorbike licence, money (probably from a student loan), and not a lot of knowledge about… anything.
He had got dropped off at our place out in the country by a taxi, which promptly ran away and left him to it, meaning he was sort of commited to buying the bike regardless without actually having a decent look at it yet, such was his naivety.
So it was really up to me to show him the bike as objectively as I could, and make sure he was happy with what he was buying.
To that end, we went for a ride with him on the back to show him the ropes of how to ride it.
Then I let him have a solo test ride. He came back with newly bent gear and brake levers, which meant he had probably dropped it at a low speed, probably just turning the bike around.
The more I spoke to him, the less he seemed to know, and it was obvious he was way out of his depth.
So I spent quite some time showing him how to maintain the bike (check the oil, chain tension, etc) and lots of riding tips. I gave him one of our old jackets because he didn’t have one, and he was going to ride home 100km (60 miles) in a T shirt and track pants…
It felt like a huge responsibility at the time, making sure he would be OK.
In retrospect, I was like him 40 years ago, trying to find my way in life with seemingly lots of immoral people on the side taking advantage of my lack of knowledge if they could.
I hope he does well and finds himself.
Uncoffined 