Hi Folks,
My name is Ties and I live in the Netherlands.
Bought a ex police bike ST1100A(Y) 4 years ago and it turned out to be a pig in a poke, big time.
I even appeared on television with the motorcycle in a TV special of a program that investigates fraud and in this case especially motorcycle mileage fraud.
To give you an idea ...
Dutch police sold the bike at auction in 2005 to a first private owner with 115133 km's on the clock. (71540 miles)
This first private owner in 2019 (after 14 years of use) traded in the bike.
The Police sergeant I bought this bike from in 2019 (who bought it a couple of months earlier from a well known motorcycle store somewhere in the center of the Netherlands)
had purchased it with only 33.000 km's on the clock. (20505 miles) ..
So the soon to be my bike .. went from 115133 in 2005 to just 33.000 in 2019 ...
You can imagine the satisfaction this police sergeant must have felt factually being the second owner of a (what he is led to believe) low mileage bike.
Well soon enough he found himself claiming warranty multiple times .. But for issues not really alarming (according to the same bike center) and to make things worse, he knew nothing about the ST1100 so this police sergeant didn't ask the right questions.
Having only owned and ridden a recent enough Honda motor scooter, he was led to believe all was fine after a couple of trips back to this famous bike center.
Anyways after a round trip to Georgia (Eastern Europe) he decided the bike was good but he was given the opportunity to buy a used BMW GS 1150 and sold his ST1100 to me.
Being a total noob myself when it comes to a ST1100 (only having owned and ridden a Honda 650 Deauville) I figured the deal was a sweet one ..
Feeling it already folks?
Directly after having purchased the bike I decided to bring it to a friend for some new brake pads, some new fluids etc.
He didn't notice anything either because he primarily services dirt bikes and cars ...
what I did notice was the exhaust collector leaking and so I decided to have the exhaust pipes and collector replaced all together, stainless or not it looked crappy at best.
I brought it to a local shop with a all-round good reputation and I was told (via via) the folks that run the store are very familiar with ST1100 bikes.
They ended up calling me the same day (late afternoon) and the list of parts worn out and rotten (don't even have to mention the specific parts) was too long.
Within 36 hours the swingarm, final drive and flange (the splines were almost gone) were replaced.
In the weeks that followed the bike was stripped and close inspection showed that the famous cooling fluid knees clearly need replacement, the cooling tubing appeared worn out, brake discs showed to be below minimum thickness, inner front fork legs worn out, showing the bare metal underneath the chrome layer.
Brake caliper pistons needed replacement asap, brake calipers needed revision, brake lines dried out, radiator rusted through, alternator housing torn, thermostat done fore, sparkplugs end of life, carburetors in dire need of cleaning, tuning and ultimately (turned out) needed replacement all together because of rust having damaged moving parts (springs etc) and more, much more was ultimately done.
Having bought the bike (in good faith) from another private individual Legally, I clearly got the short end of the stick.
The motorcycle dealer/trader that sold it to the police sergeant called their lawyers after I pointed out my findings.
Fortunately, they were given the spotlight during that TV show the bike and I appeared in. People still talk about it.
And thus started a 3 year 'adventure' getting the bike back to former glory ...
I also replaced all the fairing parts after discovering it should be B-162M blue, not painted(over) silver.
So name a part of my bike and chances are I replaced it.
Some things I managed to do myself but a lot of replacements, repairs and upgrades were done by skilled mechanics from one or two motorcycle stores and skilled individuals owning (multiple) ST bikes, one in particular > PanAgt.
Another mayor lifesaver turned out to be a Dutch ST bike lover internet forum called ST1100-1300 . eu
They helped me with getting the wanted farkles (led lights, clear mirror glasses, horn etc.) and the national meetings connected me with the right people.
I couldn't have done it without them.
To make long story short .. I invested (more a less) three times the amount of money I paid for the bike originally ...
And yes I am fully aware of the fact I will never "earn" any of it back.
But that was never the motivation to begin with.
I got screwed over and decided the take it on the chin, not wanting to make a wonderful legendary Honda bike the scapegoat in this story.
It would get the TLC it never received.
My biggest revenge (in my mind at least) would be to get it back to perfect running condition ..
So I invested a ton of money and the bike changed from a ugly duckling into a gorgeous swan, providing me with tons of fun and many problem free (and above all) enjoyable miles.
Making lots of friend along the way.
And tonight I joined this forum because I (even more so than from the Dutch ST forum I joined years ago) hope to learn a lot of things about the ST1100, with the help of all of you.
Before:
After:
*Edit*
Recently the front legs (black) the rims (gold) and the head valve covers (silver) have been powder coated.
However this is not showing in the most recent pictures I uploaded. 
