The motorcycle that roared to notoriety when its highspeed ride along the Trans-Canada Highway went viral on YouTube has been sold in an online auction for $4,651.
Purchased by a bidder calling himself 4x4albert, the blue 2006 Yamaha R1 motorcycle attracted 71 bids on the B.C. Auction site. Privacy rules restrict revealing identifying information about bidders.
The bike went up for sale after it was forfeited in an uncontested action by B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Office, which can seize property believed to have been used for unlawful activity.
Forfeited vehicles and assets sold through the auction site earned a record $10.8 million last year, and have brought in $4.2 million so far this year. Since the office was created in 2006, sales have totalled $28 million, the province said in a statement. Some of the money raised goes to community crime-prevention programs.
The buyer got an "OK deal" for the sports bike, said Jamie Dick, who works in sales at Action Motorcycles on Esquimalt Road, but it was no windfall.
That's because the ignition chip key used to start the bike is missing. If a key has to be replaced, so does the computer system, requiring an expenditure of up to $1,700, Dick said. If Action had a similar bike with low mileage for sale, it would likely be priced at about $7,000, he said.
Footage from a video camera mounted on the bike showed it darting between vehicles, changing lanes and narrowly missing other vehicles. At one point, the speedometer hit 299 km/h - its top speed, Dick said.
The two-minute video posted on YouTube on April 8 went viral, topping 223,000 views by mid-July.
Saanich police seized the motorcycle from an Admirals Road home in April after learning of the video and searching for the bike and its driver.
Randy George Scott, 25, has been charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle. He turned himself in to Kelowna police last month and is scheduled to appear in provincial court in Victoria on Oct. 23.
The bike's owner, who is not Scott, has been issued tickets totalling $1,449, including $368 for driving without due care and attention, $483 for excessive speed and $598 for having no insurance.
