advice on price for selling 82 XJ550

i'm thinking of selling my 82 XJ550 to a friend. bike has not run in a year and a half. there's a dent in the tank thats rusted some. rust on some of the pipes as well. was always a hard started when it did run. last time i managed to get it started it kept stalling when riding. wouldn't idle. tried to clean the carbs but that didn't seem to help. may have done it wrong as i'm a novice.

anyway my friends a good guy and i'm reluctant to sell him a dud. he's very good at fixing stuff, his father was a mechanic, he seems to think he can get it running. i want to be fair. what do you think would be a good price??

Nathan in NJ

 

I hate to be the one to tell you this...I got my '81 (Seca) for $800 and it was in WAYY better shape than what you describe, overall, and ran fine. To be honest, you probably shouldn't ask more than $500.

 

Look at it realistically, it's 26 years old, in bad shape, you don't have the skills to fix it, you don't have the money to pay someone else fix it, you don't really care about this bike, it's rusting up a little more as you read this.
Take whatever money he gives you, and/or barter for a favor.
Bill

 

if I were buying, I'd offer $300 or $400, but that's me... not running means the buyer is taking a chance of it being a major repair

 

thanks. considering bike condition and circumstances i had the number $200 in my head. maybe thats fair.

 

I think you should be able to sleep nights if you sell for $200.

 

when i was buying my bike i only wanted to pay a dollar a cc and that was for a half way running bike, the price goes up on the way it looks.

 

$200 does sound fair - he will need to put $200 or so in it- I would assume carb rebuild to get it running and battery maybe tires....

 

got mine pretty mint for 550