buying bikes...wins and losses.... (typing fest)

[suprize]

this will be one of those treads that will finish here with this post or go 10 pages....

looking for basic summaries on the wins and losses of buying bikes and selling....

hopefully help people in what to look for and or avoid when buying.

a mate was looking for a 400 twin shock about 15 years ago and found one that had been used to ride to work and back but the guy said he had stalled it and the kickstarter was jammed. bike looked good so ol mate payed reasonable money. kicker was fine, po had forgotten to put oil in the fuel and the motor was toast...entirely seized...mains, rod piston...very ugly. luckily found a good bottom end at a wreckers and all was well....except for some extra $$. lose...

same guy was looking at a wr 250 97 model. wouldn't run right, missing backfiring etc..po said he washed it and it had water in it. ol mate wasn't fooled again, walked away. po rang a few days later and said make an offer...he did..50%. bloke accepted. looked at the wiring behind the flywheel, taped up the worn insulation, bike still going today. win.

 

[justintendo]

stalled and kickstarter jammed? lol, thats a good one!

 

[NCSteve]

I think we've all had mixed luck buying used bikes.
I hadn't been riding much for a few years when I decided to get another XR. Saw this 2002 250 on craigslist and went to see it. All original with only a few hours on the rear tire. Guy said he traded a car for it with the original owner when it was still new, then he crashed on it and put it away for years. Took it back out, got it going and crashed again on the pavement ruining his shoulder. Babies came, years passed and now he wanted to sell. It ran like shit and was very hard to start, so talked him down. I replaced the float and all jets and been running fine for years. Now I'm gonna sell and from looking around it's worth more than what I paid for it

 

[Bigbill]

I got bamboozeled a few times. They told me it ran. It had that famous dry squeak seezed noise when I kicked it by hand.
But the buying cost was low. I had a 24' X 28' shop full of parts with 10 parts bikes plus 15 runners. Plus tons of husky parts from 250, to 430's. I got to the point I could make anything run I had parts.

When I buy a non running bike I consider,,,,,,

Maybe be needs,

Crank
Cylinder,
Tranny
Kick start system,
Fork seals
Rear shock rebuilt.
Sprockets,chains.
Tires, tubes.

When I go through a bike I fix everything.

Then let's talk price?

 

[Jeff B]

It's almost best to assume you are buying a core for rebuilding. Three years ago I bought a "race ready" Yamaha TY175. When I got it home and rode it again...well lets just say there aren't any flying insects for 3 years. All this bike needed was handlebars , seat, front tire , tube, cables, bore job , new piston, crank seals, carb seals, rear shocks, foot pegs, and more, you get the idea. But I was led to think it was ready to ride. The best bet is buy from someone you know and hope for the best. A Husky is more likely to be a good deal because they bring good money. My Yamaha now that it is ready to ride is about a $1500 bike . I paid $1250. Do the math of what I put in it. We do it for the passion, the thrill, the love. Did I get stiffed? Yup.. And I will get stiffed again on another day. My wife loves to knit. She got stiffed on a ball of yarn. She paid $15 but was only worth about $12. I haven't lost much sleep.

 

[Bigbill]

Out of all my used huskys three ran, a '78 cr390, a 86 400 wxe, 84 250wr. The rest were beat.

It keeps me home. I can see where my money is. Plus it kept my son out of trouble.

 

[1982 XC 430]

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[/URL][/IMG] 1984 Husqvarna WR 250 $ 300.00 Still had the original Tires on it. A Diamond in the ruff. Was missing the Air Box and Carb. Motor Turned over and had good Compression. Restoration found Shock Rods rusted. Forks rusted inside. Main Cases rotted out. Crank and Rod shot. Wheel Bearings corroded so bad Axels and Hubs got replaced. Huskydogg really helped me out sending a large rescue kit. Built a 82 Works replica.
1980 Yamaha YZ 465 $300.00 Rear Tire worn all the way to the cords. PO said they would do burn offs wile hosting party's. PO bought from pro racer. Zero Compression. All Plastic missing. Everything else bent broken or missing. This is the kind of bike You should run away from, but I had driven a long way. Engine tear down showed bad Piston-Cylinder. Brand new Main Cases with no serial number stamped yet, New Crank, New Clutch and New Trans Gears. Somebody spent 1000's on this Engine and then had a bad day with the Piston. Frame, Rims and Bearings were all good. Suspension nice and clean Oil inside. New Piston, Paint, Plastic and Tires and I had a Marty Moates replica.

 

[87husky500xc]

I bought an 83 500 Xc for 500 bucks that had no spark. Took it home popped the kill button spring out and about 5 kicks later it fired off and went like hell on top of that. Good comp and nice shifting trans. Win. I almost lost big on a 78 390 that a friend ended up buying and the bike was pretty clapped out and had a bad trans. You win some, ya lose some. If you want one bad enough you might pay more than something is worth and have the ol beer goggles on until you tear it apart. But if you pass one up it might be along time until you come across another especially if you're after a specific year/model. I believe it's all about if you're happy with what ya paid for it.

 

[jimspac]

In 2007 I bought a package of basket cases that included a 1982 250WR with a bad crank There was a good 250WR engine that was stuffed into a 1985 KX125 frame that needs a piston. The frame from the donor 250WR had the cradle cut out of it and abortively grafted into the KX125 frame to accommodate the 250WR engine There is a stray 1982 WR frame that is not accounted for with the titles I have . I was told there are complete parts to put together the 1982 250WR and a 1986 400WR. I found an unaccounted for 1982 430WR in the jumble but not enough wheels to build more than the (2) I mentioned. The was also a 1988 KX250 with no top end, a 1986 KX250 lower end and a broken frame. I paid $500 for this pile and after selling off the KX parts I was able to build up a cache of 250 Wiseco pistons.

I also purchased in addition a 1984 250WR and a 1985 400WRX. I got both of these for a price I could not pass up for bikes that actually started up and ran when I got them. Both needed TLC and the 250 I decided to replace the crank seals. Found someone had previously run a piston to the point of no return. There was skirt damage in the crank well but did not perf into the transmission. Explains why the piston looked good when I tore it down but had .008" clearance explaining the mere 100 psi compression it was running on. The 400WRX had the least to repair as it is a one season machine that was well stored. The only issue with that was the coolant corrosion in the clutch case. Being a magnesium case it would have been cost prohibitive to have welded and machined. So it was built up with JB Weld and I was able to restore the impellor side seal pocket.

In short the end result will be a resounding win even after some of the hard core repairs that made these bike bargains are completed. There are swingarm pivots to be restored and tanks to massage back into shape. The tanks at least better than some of the trainwrecks I have seen restored to showroom quality.

 

[Bigbill]

My 86 400 LQ WRX the PO had the clutch cover off and didn't align the shifter return spring in the slot for the pin. Two second fix she had all six gears, good compression, fired up ran like a bear, all I could say is next????

I usually didn't find running bikes. Most were non running complete parts bikes.

 

[ruwfo]

Ok, here’s my 2 cents on this subject, and this served me well for 20+ years of buying, some times keeping or selling motorcycles and sometimes cars. And I usually come out even or make money on everything I’ve sold.

NEVER EVER LET YOUR HEART ENTER IN TO THE MIX, and what I mean by that is, if you see something you had it as kid, or owned once before and let it slip out of your hand, don’t let your emotions guide your buying anything. Think of it as a business, would you buy anything , without looking in to it 1st, hopefully NOT.

If it’s a bike, unless it a full restored bike & you know the guy your buying it from, figure his is miss informed, about what it needs or what’s been done to it. Most people are honest, but plenty of people, can pretty anything up & get your juices flowing about how rare it is, or how they hate to sell it, etc.

I’ll never fall into the high end $ buyer category, so I’m not ever worried about losing the farm over buying anything.

Ok so here’s my couple golden rules for bikes:

1. If it runs, it’s worth $500, and if you can test ride it, more the better.
2. If is complete and mostly intact, and you paid less then $300 for it consider it a steal.
3. Buying project bikes, can get expensive, here’s where not letting you emotions play into it, comes to play. Unless the $ of the spare parts equal close to or half of the value of said bike,
   Sadly walk away.
4. Stick with bikes models you know, why do you think there’s Corvette experts out there. Cause they’ve been burned before.
5. Bring a buddy, or someone who knows little about, what you looking at, they’ll give you a honest opinion about what a turd you plan on buying.
6. And once you bought your gem, work on the mechanics 1st and all ways, get it running and sort of rideable before you buy New tires, seat covers, body work/plastic/graphics, even if it needs a clutch, top end or exhaust.
7. I have a buddy who I’ve know for long time who sells everything he’s ever bought at a loss, usually a big loss. Why cause he’s buying stuff to make it look pretty before it even runs. He usually buys something at the end of the riding season & instead of cleaning it & polishing what he’s got , cause he can’t ride it with snow on the ground or it’s too damn cold anyway, he collects all, the lets make it, pretty parts 1st, dumb. So along, comes the Spring and he realizes the thing needs a total motor rebuild, which he needs help doing anyway. So he’s got a $500 bike, $500 in new parts & project end value worth valve of the bike maybe worth $1500, without figuring in the rebuild of whatever, which costs another $1000. So he sells it for $600 & moves on to another diamond in the rough .

He always never follows my rule of sticking with bikes he worked on before, so he’s goes from Maico’s to CZ’s to Yamaha’s to Montesa’s , never
learning from his mistakes .

And Yes I’ve been fortunate to have been able to learn from mostly other peoples mistakes, looking at this as a never ending drain , that never clogs up.

Hopefully some of these words will help someone, along the way..

They call me "Husky John" cause, that's what I usual stick to (following rule #4)

 

[juicypips]

I've got a mate that's always landed on his feet with everything he's bought.
I from the last Van I bought, have promised to give him the criteria of what I want and give him the cash to buy.
I know what to look for i know how much stuff is worth but he always gets a good un.

Frustrates the hell outta me.

 

[Dirtdame]

I've bought old "rescue bikes for 300-400 dollars. I always know that it's probably going to take another thousand dollars to make the bike into a well tuned, reliable 800 dollar bike.

Vintage bikes are even worse. I bought a running Hodaka Super Rat for 1500 dollars, put another 1800 into it and then it tossed the righthand main bearing the first time that I took it to the track. Another 500 into the engine should get it ready to romp, but I'm sort of not too excited about the project anymore, and also don't have the funds to finish it off. Once it's all fixed up, it will be worth about 2500 bucks tops. But it sits in the front hall of my house, waiting for me to find the enthusiasm to finish fixing it.

 

[Bigbill]

My dad was a gambler and a alcoholic and he enjoyed life, had nothing to show for what he spent. I have hobbies and can show exactly where my money went. It's the cost to buy and repair but when we throw a leg over the seat for that very first ride it's priceless. It keeps alive with hope.

 

[suprize]

ive got a mate who is a "Gladstone duck". went to a police surplus auction to buy an xr 600, the auctioneer mistakenly started on the repoed and stolen gear pile and ol mate bought a near new 998 or 918 ducati for 7k. put a right side fairing on it and it was brand new ...20+k bike. never happens to me, im always a week behind

 

[86 400 XC]

 

[87husky500xc]

I hear ya surprise. Either that or something better that costs less magically appears a week after ya pay to much for a heap o $h1t

 

[disonny]

I bought a wr400 a couple years ago. I had been looking for one for a while. I found one that was seized and went to look at it. It was a little rough but not real bad. The PO said it ran when it was parked. I didn't really believe him but I bought it. After taking it apart to see why it was seized, it turned out that mice had a nest in the air box and the urine ran into the carb and lower end and rotted the cases. Turns out it probably did run when it was parked but the mice ruined the motor. I sold it for parts at a loss.

 

[NCSteve]

mouse piss that's freakin' amazing

 

[2premo]

haven't bought anything Husky in years, but had pretty good luck overall
recently found and bought a pumpkin 380, great bike fair price