Beware of Bike Bandit

[TIMMYDUCK]

After 23 years the company has gone insolvent and filed for bankruptcy protection.

Although they left their website up and still continued to accept orders they had no intention of filling .

Makes me sad to see fellow motorcyclists getting the shaft .

Sort of fitting now that they have bandit in their name .


https://jalopnik.com/motorcycle-part...HW5TiEu9eZSdmM

[Stoneman]

Oh yeah, lookit that. Their website is definitely still up & running...

[number9]

After 23 years the company has gone insolvent and filed for bankruptcy protection.

Although they left their website up and still continued to accept orders they had no intention of filling

SteveM can correct me here but I'm fairly sure that trading while insolvent is very illegal.

From the article:

At the time of the bankruptcy filing, BikeBandit claimed to have $705,300 in assets — just $632 of which was in the company’s bank account — and over $19 million in liabilities. The company claimed to have $3.1 million worth of inventory, though elsewhere in the filing, the company anticipates the liquidation value of the inventory at a mere $400,000, a surprisingly low number even given the circumstances.

$705K in assets against $19M in liabilities! Fuck me sideways.

[SteveM]

SteveM can correct me here but I'm fairly sure that trading while insolvent is very illegal.

From the article:

$705K in assets against $19M in liabilities! Fuck me sideways.

In theory, there are pre and post bankruptcy filing activities. Money collected post filing for a pre filing sale becomes part of the bankruptcy for the benefit of creditors.

If they're reorganizing Ch11 and not liquidating Ch7, then money collected on post filing sales is probably legal, assuming the order is eventually fulfilled.

Regardless, if the credit card is charged prior to a shipping confirm, that is a big red flag.

Steve

[e30addict]

They filed chapter 7

[OneCheekRider]

I was close to buying from Bike Bandit a few weeks ago but a friend told me about a site in Japan that comes out a little cheaper overall and ships super fast. Sure enough, I got my giant box of fairings and parts from Japan within 2 days of it being shipped. Glad I went with them and not Bike Bandit!

[Gixxer]

I was close to buying from Bike Bandit a few weeks ago but a friend told me about a site in Japan that comes out a little cheaper overall and ships super fast. Sure enough, I got my giant box of fairings and parts from Japan within 2 days of it being shipped. Glad I went with them and not Bike Bandit!

What site did you go with?




I remember seeing Bandit advertised in bike magazines, I think I checked the website out once and wasn’t impressed.

[OneCheekRider]

What site did you go with?


I remember seeing Bandit advertised in bike magazines, I think I checked the website out once and wasn’t impressed.

Bike Bandit actually has great parts diagrams. I actually used those diagrams to source the parts I bought on japan.webike.net

[SteveM]

They filed chapter 7

It appears that these credit card charges happened after the company knew it was insolvent and could not fulfill the orders, but before it actually filed for bankruptcy.

This money is going to be lumped into the overall bankruptcy asset pool. I don't think the customers who got screwed have any special protection, but it is California and it is a very consumer friendly state.

Either way, I would not want to be in this position.

A few snippets from the Jalopnik article

On May 31, 2022, Jalopnik published a brilliant piece of investigative reporting by Mercedes Streeter, and you really need to take some time (and probably some caffeine) to read the whole thing, which we’ll link in our Sources. It also includes links to the full text of the bankruptcy documents referenced here. In the piece, Streeter unravels the following publicly available facts:

> That Vey’s Bandit, LLC (the name of the business entity that has owned Bike Bandit since 2017) filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the Southern District of California on February 7, 2022
> That, according to the bankruptcy filing, the company owes sales taxes for 2021 in 36 states
> That, according to the bankruptcy filing, the creditors to which it owes the most money are its owner and its CFO; assorted other creditors mostly include a host of service providers and vendors
> That, according to the bankruptcy filing, Bike Bandit has taken approximately $646,000 from customers for orders that it knowingly had no way to fulfill, and has provided them no recourse to get their money back

2 "bangers" included in the Petition of the Bankruptcy Trustee, who is appointed to oversee the bankruptcy.

“While additional discovery is needed, there is already ample evidence that the Debtor's sworn bankruptcy papers filed in the case are factually untrue in material respects. Many creditors were omitted from the Debtor's sworn bankruptcy papers. For example, all of Debtor's consumer creditors, many (possibly thousands) of whom deposited money with the Debtor that the Debtor later absconded with and others who purchased gift cards or earned "points" in a rewards program Debtor operated prepetition are altogether omitted from the Debtor's sworn bankruptcy papers,” it reads.

“It remains unclear why the Debtor continued to operate its business well past the point of insolvency and, even worse, continued to accept online orders when it was apparent the Debtor would not be able to fulfill those orders. The Trustee is informed and believes that the Debtor contemplated filing bankruptcy as early as February 2021 and was unable to pay its debts as they came due no later than by that time. Despite these facts, the Debtor continued to accept online orders and charge consumers credit cards at least until weeks or days before the petition date, for orders that it was knowingly unable to fulfill from its available inventory. The Trustee also believes that the Debtor collected sales taxes on these phantom sales that were never returned to the consumer or remitted to the proper taxing authorities,” it continues.

[number9]

“While additional discovery is needed, there is already ample evidence that the Debtor's sworn bankruptcy papers filed in the case are factually untrue in material respects. Many creditors were omitted from the Debtor's sworn bankruptcy papers. For example, all of Debtor's consumer creditors, many (possibly thousands) of whom deposited money with the Debtor that the Debtor later absconded with and others who purchased gift cards or earned "points" in a rewards program Debtor operated prepetition are altogether omitted from the Debtor's sworn bankruptcy papers,” it reads.

“It remains unclear why the Debtor continued to operate its business well past the point of insolvency and, even worse, continued to accept online orders when it was apparent the Debtor would not be able to fulfill those orders. The Trustee is informed and believes that the Debtor contemplated filing bankruptcy as early as February 2021 and was unable to pay its debts as they came due no later than by that time. Despite these facts, the Debtor continued to accept online orders and charge consumers credit cards at least until weeks or days before the petition date, for orders that it was knowingly unable to fulfill from its available inventory. The Trustee also believes that the Debtor collected sales taxes on these phantom sales that were never returned to the consumer or remitted to the proper taxing authorities,” it continues.

As we say in business school: oh no baby, what is you doing?

[SteveM]

As we say in business school: oh no baby, what is you doing?

Well, the CEO and CFO are among the major creditors, and if the “customers” were never brought in as creditors, they could have improved the likelihood that they would walk away with something for themselves.

[number9]

Well, the CEO and CFO are among the major creditors, and if the “customers” were never brought in as creditors, they could have improved the likelihood that they would walk away with something for themselves.

Yeah it's.. I don't know what it is. Besides being almost certainly criminal!

[MUZ720]

Bike Bandit actually has great parts diagrams.

Used this feature quit a bit Revzilla has the same parts fiche...

[Spooler]

Wow, a fitting end to a company that has always been awful to deal with.

[SteveM]

Wow, a fitting end to a company that has always been awful to deal with.

A fitting end? With $640K in payments from customers who will not get their money back?

[Spooler]

A fitting end? With $640K in payments from customers who will not get their money back?

Poorly phrased. Let’s say an unsurprising end.

[SteveM]

Poorly phrased. Let’s say an unsurprising end.

I agree, unsurprising.