The other day I scored a CP3485 monoblock 40mm on eBay (*´ω｀)
I’d say most people probably don’t know about it? = I’d wager 90% of people show absolutely no interest in this caliper…
Anymore… you won’t find it on Yahoo Auctions or Mercari.
That feeling still exists somewhere in the world.
When it came to buying parts, it was all private sales (*’▽’)
As a high school student making 7 to 800 yen an hour, even working after school didn’t add up to much.
I wanted to buy stainless steel mesh brake hoses, but…
something close to 10,000 yen was out of reach when you thought about the hours you’d have to work.
The back of magazines had private sales pages, and I used to buy and sell through those back then.
There was no concept of market price with fixed pricing—it was purely matching what the seller wanted with what the buyer wanted to pay, so it was a wonderful world.
It was built on 100% trust.
I really believe there are no bad people among motorcycle riders…
*Though there are plenty of weird ones…
After all, you’re exposing all your personal information, so why would you do anything wrong? That was the kind of transaction.
You’d transfer money to a stranger and only get the parts after confirmation—a system you couldn’t imagine today.
I’m getting off track, so let me refocus (*´ω｀*)
As you probably know, there’s eBay, a world-famous auction site.
I’d guess most people have never used it, right? What do you think?
Of course, since you’re dealing internationally, there’s real risk of packages getting damaged or not arriving.
In my experience, there was one person who never sent the item, but since all transactions go through PayPal, PayPal handles all the hassle.
If you’re thinking about getting started with eBay, I’d recommend getting a PayPal account first.
*When I started, everything was in English, but it’s much easier now.
PicClick · Search eBay Faster—use it!
↑This is super convenient.
You can patrol eBay across 8 countries with just this one tool (*’▽’)
Old parts are especially great (*´ω｀*)
The image above is what I found searching for KZ1000 on UK eBay.
You can sort by new/used, price, and more, so it’s a really excellent tool.
A slightly more creative search can increase your chances of finding ultra-rare items
This monoblock caliper was listed as
AP RACING PAIR OF 40MM MONO BLOCK CALIPERS CLASSIC 250/ 500 GP TZ DUCATI RGV
—with a title like that, it would easily get buried. In reverse, I’m glad it didn’t sell even though it’s been up for a while!
