Some one give me a good reason to not sell my bike

Due to the recent economical crisis at my house I am considering selling my 650.

After July 1st, if I still have a contract, I will only be working 3 days a week. Which will give me more time to be able to ride, but no money to do anything other than eat and pay the mortgage.

I'm on the fence here... I'm afraid if I do sell it then I'll regret it for the rest of my life and try to find a bike like it again.

If I don't sell it I could be staring at it in the garage because I have no money to insure it or put gas in it.

 

Take it from someone who has been "bikeless" for about 20 years - DON'T SELL IT! lol!

If you can afford to keep it in the garage, but off the road, you'll have a much easier time getting back into it when the economy turns around. If you sell it, you'll need to buy a new bike to get going again. Trying to justify to the wife why I needed a motorcycle was a chore in itself!

Doug

 

Sorry to hear you are considering parting with your bike.

Selling the bike may make it financially easier for a few weeks or a month, but then if the income has not changed you are in the same boat without a bike.

What do you do for a living?

 

I'm very sorry to hear about your dilemma. I moved from high tech to healthcare about 6 years ago. I don't make anywhere near the money but, no matter how bad the economy, people still get sick. No matter if you do or do not have insurance, if you're sick, the hospital is here for you.

In Washington state there is NO requirement for motorcycle riders/owners to have insurance on their rides. None. Not even liability. Not a good rule perhaps but there it is. Could you reduce the coverage on your bike to liability only and save some coin? Maybe insure for the state minimum only?

As for gas, you still have to get back and forth to the store and work. Could you do this on the bike and ditch your car insurance for awhile.

This just sucks. Again, sorry to hear your situation.

Loren

 

If it's paid for and you own it ... keep it. You'll never find another one to replace it. If you do sell it ... sell it whole. Don't part it. You sell a part and have things change ... you won't find the part you let go and the bike turns to scrap.

Easiest thing to do.
Take of the Gas Tank and drain it.
Pull the four Bowl Drain Screws on the Carbs and put them where you can safely store them.
Spray the Bike with some Silicone spray.***
Cover it with an old sheet. Cover the sheet with plastic.
Cover the Plastic with a blanket.
Lay it up.

*** Do all the stuff you need to lay it up right.
Pull Battery, Oil the Cylinders, etc.

 

Sorry about the dilemma.

It probably comes down to what would you get for it and what would it cost to replace it. If Sales Price > Cost to replace, then you can probably get another later. If the sales price is low enough that it does not add to your survivability, then it's probably best to keep it and start it each week until things turn around and you can get back on the road.

 

Don't do it. It took me 30 years to get one, and that was way to long. If you already own it, and the title is yours, then it won't cost anything to let it sit there, and if you aren't gonna ride it, then take the insurance off of it, and there is no cost.

As soon as you get turned around and can afford to ride it, then you will regret selling it.

Besides if you don't have the bike, soon you will stop coming to the site and read all the whitty things that are on the site, and then you will be bored out of your goard!!!

G

 

It is your time alone, no screaming wife or kids. It does not cost much for insurance and taxes, DON"T SELL IT.

 

Take Rick's advice and mothball it. I sold my 81 and have regretted it ever since. Like others said if it got you 10k it would help but the amount you will get will only help for a bit but the bike is gone forever.

The fact your looking to get talked out of selling speaks volumes.

Sorry for your situation I hope things improve quickly.

 

I've been through this. I had to keep my Norton "down" for two seasons because I simply couldn't afford the "luxury" of maintenance/parts, insurance and license at the time. I even considered selling it.

Then I realized it would be completely impossible for me to replace especially since I'm the original owner.

Mothball it if necessary, but keep it. Cover it up so you don't have to look at it.

 

When inflation catches up and gas prices go through the roof. Your bike may be the only thng you can afford to get around on. Don't sell it, When gas hits $4.00 or more You'll be kicking yourself. Just drain the gas and fog the cylinders and put a blanket on it and leave it sit. Becides who is going to give you any real money for it. Remember people are in the same boat as you, so don't end up selling for less then its really worth. Trust me. If you have gone through half of the maintenance and repairs on one of these bikes you can't get what you put into it. Don't take a loss and reget it in the years to come.

Just my .02

 

Nothing is more expensive than regret. The upside now, is not worth the down side later when you wish you had it back.

 

I'm in the same boat and like many have said already, owning it doesn't cost anything, using it does, so don't use it! trust me it sucks but it will suck more when you do have the means but no longer have the bike
Shaun

 

#1 Reason : ITS PAID FOR.

#2 Reason : Its cheaper on gas

 

I HAVE to have a van for work. I'm a self employed independent contractor (courier). In the mornings I have to take kids to school/day care so commuting on a bike just won't work.

Before I did this I was a paramedic. I got burned out on it, and really don't miss it. But I could always go back to school and get re-certified and do that again a few days a week.

I already have state minimum insurance on the bike. Taking it off the insurance will only save me $125 a year. LOL As someone previously stated; it's cheap for plates and the yearly $15 wheel tax.

Everyone but my uncle tells me to keep it. He thinks I should sell it, when I'm making money hand over fist again save up and buy a "Better bike". It has cost me some money to get it to the condition it is now, and still needs some work.

 

If you don't owe money on the bike, keep it, think, would the money you could get for it change your life?

 

Ok Belle,

From someone who not only considered it but had his bike up in the classifieds here and I put my bike on ebay. The story I lost my job due to cutbacks and was w/o work for better than 6 months. It came down to a few things. 1) It was paid for my snowmobile was not(It got sold) 2) I could not replace my bike for anywhere near what I could get for it. 3) It is way cheaper to insure than a four wheel vehicle for me. 4) I ride my bike to work, around town anywhere I go without the wife and kids and it saves me a ton of money on gas I put $5 in and rode for three weeks and just had to fill back up yesterday. No way i could do that in a car. 5) I just like the damn thing too darn much to let all my work go.

It was a hard choice and I came very close I called the auction on ebay off, pulled it off from here for sake(sorry to those that were interested). In the end the bike would have made 2 maybe 3 mortgage payments. and I still would not have been able to keep up the payments on the sled so I would have had neither. Now that I am back riding it barring any unrepairable mishaps she is staying right here with me.

Oh and the number 1 reason for you.......

All women look better riding a motorcycle!!

 

Ahhh ... now is the time to use the bike for a diversion .. there has to be several nuts and bolts with a little rust on them, maybe a little paint. Things that don't cost anything but gives you something to do while things are down.
Good luck .. don't give up

 

So instead of just one reason you have several to NOT sell your bike. Me personally, I spent my whole life wanting a bike and for certain reasons I just couldn't ever justify buying one. I don't think the economy could get bad enough for me to sell my maxim. Chin up take your rides when you can, and love it forever.

Sir macksim

 

That has to be the best advice yet. Do little things to it as I get the cash.

Selling the bike MAY pay off a credit card. Really in the long run it won't make a big difference.

My boyfriend insists I keep it. When he moves in next winter things will get better (we hope). He loves to pick on my bike and it's current non running condition, but he knows how much I love it. We even threw the idea around that if I sold my bike he'd let me have his Triumph and he'd buy a Ducati. (I don't really like the Triumph all that much. )

P.S. pulled the carbs last weekend discovered a stuck float and another not so clean enrichment circuit. So right now the carbs are on the work bench.. not like the bike was going any where soon.

 

Do not sell it. I lost my job in 2002 had a honda CB750 that i had for years. Figured Id sell it pay off a few bills and said I would buy another one. Seven years later I finally got another one a 1982 XJ1100 couldnt pass up the price (free) but still regret selling the 750. I'll sell the wife before i sell this bike lol.

 

Just do a David Copperfield number on that Bike.
Prep it for a Rip VanWinkle and throw the cover over it.
Leave it alone and don't mention it.
Let time go by.
When times are better you buy a DieHard and juice-it-up.
A few hours later you are either pushing 80 mph or leaned-over in a tight turn with one of those crap-eating grins on your face.
It's better than "Make-up Sex"!!!