Bear in mind if you do go after the guy, that even if you do get a judgment against him for the value of your bike, enforcing it could still be problematic, that is if Canadian law is anything like U.S. law. If I remember correctly, here, if you prevail and are awarded a judgment, you are provided a fieri facias or Fi Fa. (pronounced Fie Faye) which is the legal vehicle for facilitating/enforcing/implementing the judgment. You file said Fi Fa. against whatever assets the guy has and when he goes to sell that property, he is forced to pay you off in order to provide clear title. Of course, if that person has no assets or declares bankruptcy then you are SOL, and only your attorney got paid. This is an over simplification but is the basic concept. You might check with your attorney first to see if that's a reasonable scenario where you are. If you've got a friend in real estate, or if you've got the time, you might go to your local courthouse and do a property records search on the guy and you might then have a better idea of if he's got anything worth going after. This is a rather cold-hearted approach to the matter though and you've said the guy is a friend. Sorry man, as the saying goes, "The path to hell was paved with good intentions." Your friend sounds like a good guy, just maybe not terribly responsible as a business person.

A lesson here for all of us. If you're dropping your bike off to your favorite local indy who operates out of a barn, whatever, you might ask to see the deck sheet on his property/liability insurance and check the dates and insurance coverage amounts.