another insane craigslister

http://syracuse.craigslist.org/mcy/2730652500.html

I'm trying to figure out where on this bike the gold is stashed.

 

He could have asked for $10,000!

 

To me it really depends on what has been done to the bike. I have fully restored my 1882 XJ550 from the ground up using a lot of hard to find NOS parts that have cost a fortune. Heck I just got the 2 gas tank emblems NOS from a place in Singapore for $220 but they were in perfect condition still in original packaging. I have put over $6500 into my bike and I wouldn't take a penny less. My bike is better than new and to get a bike like mine it would cost you probably close to $10 grand new so I think that some times the price isn't as bad as some people may think if there has been some work done to the bike. Just my 2 cents.

 

Maybe he didn't tell us that all the chrome is actually polished titanium.

 

Seems a bit high to me regardless of what has been done to the bike.

 

You have all missed the most important item of information in the CL listing. This is the rare "dual pipes" version!!!! 8O 8O

As far as putting $6500 into a 30 year old bike: OK to do (actually to be commended) but don't ever expect to get more than a fraction of your investment back. There just isn't a market for a 30 year old $6500 Yamaha. The value to you of having a fully restored, good as new XJ550, does not translate to others.

Think of what $6500 would buy you in a non-restored modern 2 year old bike with just a few thousand miles on it and you will understand why.

Loren

 

Boy, those crash bars really destroy the lines of the bike, don't they? That said, the KBB is... holy shit, the KBB is like $800. From a dealer. In excellent condition.

What this comes down to is that 'worth' is a relative term. Whatever it'd take to get you to part with your (undoubtedly awesome) XJ550 is what it's worth to you. To me, it's worth whatever I would pay for it.

Clearly this Craigslist dude thinks his Maxim is worth triple the blue book value for some reason. It'd take a hell of a lot of convincing to make me agree with him.

 

Loren,
I never said that I would expect to get what I have put into it. However I never plan to sell it so I personally would not take less than the $6500 for it. I also think that my bike rides a lot better than some of the newer 2 year old bikes out there today. My bike also only has 12000 original miles on it so it isn't that high in milage. For me, putting the money into the restore was well worth it. Like I said, to get this bike new today would probably run you closer to $10,000 so I think I got a good thing going.

 

You should have checked with me; I could have sold you a set of NOS tank badges for half what you paid.

The bike in question is worth MAYBE $800 IF it has good compression and actually runs.

 

Tend to agree - $800-900 if it's running. Looks to be a stock bike needing all the requisite "fixes"..... I paid $900 but the PO rode it up to my house..[with 1994 tires/original rear brake/brake hoses etc.etc.]. If you invest a lot in your bike you do it because it's worth it to you...I will put $600 into this one....and if I sell for $1000 - 1200, I'm ok with that....it's more the actual reno that I like [it's a sickness......] then being able to go out for a ride on a bike that you know is safe.......

 

I agree with Oldbikerdude. I too have put a lot of money in a 30+ year old XJ1100. Good investment in my eyes I wanted a practically brand new (and safe) bike to ride and enjoy , not sell.

Who cares what one wants to sell a bike for, you don't have to buy it if the price is too high! It would only make your bike worth more if the market warranted it.

 

PO rode my '81 to my house; I sure as heck wouldn't ride it in the condition it was in. It took me about 6 months to get it to where I could actually RIDE it.

If anyone wants to buy that bike, the first guy with $4500 cash AND the proper skillset can have it.

 

Oh we sure know that you wouldn't have Fitz<LOL>

Just teasing you my friend.

I buy and sell probably as many bikes or maybe a lot more as anyone else here and even without looking at the ad, I can probably guess what it says and what it looks like.

I really hate seeing someone getting flamed for an ad that they very likely, put up with real integrity and in their mind, honesty. I also can understand why some ad's look as if the owner just took several hits off the proverbial crack pipe too.

As OBD said, value is in the eye of the seller and buyer. Some people might have called me crazy to pay 7000 sight unseen for a bike that KBB had a listed value of less then 750. To me, it was a steal....to others, maybe not so much. The public will be the judge...if he has it listed too high, it simply won't sell!

It's just the nature of buying and selling. There will always be thieves, idiots, people who think they have gold when in fact they have junk and also people who don't know they have gold.....but since we rarely can tell all the facts just by reading an ad, try to be nice, guys. If you trash someone for an ad, you might find out later that it was a members bike. Then two people feel bad....to me, it isn't worth it.

BTW- that bike I paid 7k for a year ago? A recent sale on fleabay of the same year and model but didn't have the original good stuff like the stock airbox, grabrail, exhaust as mine has......sold for $12,800. With anything vintage, toss the KBB unless you can use it to get a better deal as a buyer<LOL>

jeff

 

Maybe it's one of those cases where his wife wants it sold so he puts up the ad with a real high price and gets no responses.

He gets to keep his bike and tell his wife he tried to sell it. Win-win.

 

Jeff,
Well said, couldn't agree more. On the other side of your story, I buy and restore vintage Honda 70's. One of my bikes I have almost $14k in high end Japanese parts, it's value in the book is about $1,500. LOL

I ride it and get a lot of looks and fun conversation out of it!
Jamie

 

Thanks Fitz... Now you tell me... hahaha
Oh well these were the only ones I could find on the planet that were still in the original packaging even. I do wish I would have known that though.
Maybe I will start asking you from now on before I go looking just in case.
Oh and by the way. I ended up finding the other muffler and I got everything to completely redo the whole front brake system. Thought this would make you happy.
Later dude!

 

Not NOS parts I hope?! :lol:

 

Check out www.reproductiondecals.com. These guys have many hard-to-find decals, badges, and parts for many different bikes.
Jamie

 

A lot of my bike has been done in NOS parts but no, not the brake lines. I got the real good steel ones from JX4Ever. The rotor some of the bolts are NOS.

 

what kind of insurance do you have on such a valuable 82 550 ?

 

I have it set up so that it is like a classic car that has been restored.
It is covered. Cost more but I want to know that I am good to go if something does happen.

I am one of these guys that doesn't push the envelope anymore. I am an old biker and I haven't laid a bike down in over 34 years. And the one time I did lay one over it was in loose gravel and nothing really got damaged and no one got hurt. I grew up riding old mine shafts and things so I got a lot of experience early on as for as good control goes. And yes I know you need to watch out for the other guy. My rule is always leave plenty of room.

 

OBD, sounds like you wanted to make your bike an "all original". That's means a lot in certain circles. I've done that with most of my vintage bikes since any mods kill the value. I was disappointed when I found that my turbo really had no collectability value, like most other Yamaha's. Heck, even my all original '74 RD350 isn't really worth very much. I think the only Yamaha's that have any decent value are the TDM900 and the GTS1000(been looking for one of these rare bikes for a while now). Amazingly, the "throw-away" Kaw triples are worth their weight in gold even though they were the worst engineered two strokes out of the Zuks, Yammys and Kaw 2 strokes of the 70's.

PO...it's easy to insure vintage bikes although it's a little different than cars. You can call Haggerty or the like and just get a regular vintage policy but it makes better sense to me to get an "Agreed Value" policy and be sure to update it each and every year as the values climb. I insure all my valuable bikes that way under a single, claused policy. If I were to hit someone while riding one of my H2's for instance, my regular liability insurance($41 per YEAR) would cover the person I hit while my "agreed value" policy would cover any damages to my bike to bring it back to "pre-accident" condition.

Thankfully, I've never had to use any of my bike policy's. Trust me, it's amazing how careful you will ride knowing that to replace any part might take you 3-6 months to find NOS, IF you CAN find it. There are a lot of parts that simply are no longer avaiable as NOS, from anywhere. That's why I was so stoked to get a nos front fender for my H2c. The seller did not know what he had(he thought it was a honda fender) and I was lucky enough to spot it and recognize what it was.

jeff

 

To accomplish this, for those who have invested large $$$ in restoring their bikes, you want to be sure you keep all the receipts for the parts you purchased and be certain that they state exactly which part instead of a general receipt that just says you spent $523.28 ... Only properly armed with such information will you be able to go to bat with any insurance company to try to convince them your Clear Book Value $850 bike is really worth $3253. I do not believe you could claim any labor costs (if you paid someone to do it) for an increased valuation, only the cost of actual parts.

Check with your insurance agent.

Have fun.

 

Good point tumbleweed_biff. I have an "agreed value" policy on my bike and gear as well. It insures the bike, accessories, and riding gear. Must have receipts, and progressive asks for updated photographs of everything. Once a year a photo of the gear, and 4 shots of the bike from each direction. It only added a little $$ to the policy.

 

Yep, I have kept every receipt.

 

Loren is correct.

After all the hard work and money we put into these bikes, the best
you can hope for is blue book and a tad more depending on extra
goodies.
Remember that high blue book assumes near perfect condition anyway.
And another thing to keep in mind is all the newer bikes that can sell
for less then we'd like to get for our xj's.

I spend a lot of time on craigslist and see a tons of great deals in
my area that would hinder a sale of an old bike no matter how nice
it looked.

 

Loren[/quote]

Loren is correct.

After all the hard work and money we put into these bikes, the best
you can hope for is blue book and a tad more depending on extra
goodies.
Remember that high blue book assumes near perfect condition anyway.
And another thing to keep in mind is all the newer bikes that can sell
for less then we'd like to get for our xj's.

I spend a lot of time on craigslist and see a tons of great deals in
my area that would hinder a sale of an old bike no matter how nice
it looked.[/quote]


I don't agree with this at all. I know of classic cars that have been fully restored and there blue book value may be $1000 but they can sell for $40,000.
If you saw my bike you would easily pay more than blue book for it.
It is better than new.
This is just my opinion of coarse but I would pay close to $5000 for my bike in the condition it is now in and I would walk away thinking I just got a really good deal. Like I said, you would pay closer to $10,000 for a brand new bike like this.

 

I always go by "It's worth as much as how bad someone wants it".

 

Exactly! I too have an "agreed value" policy and have every single receipt for parts that have been added/upgraded to my bike.

If I were to sell it, the asking price would be around the $5k mark and would be a good buy based on what all has been done to it since I got it. Just my .02.

Jamie

 

Loren is correct.

After all the hard work and money we put into these bikes, the best
you can hope for is blue book and a tad more depending on extra
goodies.
Remember that high blue book assumes near perfect condition anyway.
And another thing to keep in mind is all the newer bikes that can sell
for less then we'd like to get for our xj's.

I spend a lot of time on craigslist and see a tons of great deals in
my area that would hinder a sale of an old bike no matter how nice
it looked.[/quote]




I don't agree with this at all. I know of classic cars that have been fully restored and there blue book value may be $1000 but they can sell for $40,000.
If you saw my bike you would easily pay more than blue book for it.
It is better than new.
This is just my opinion of coarse but I would pay close to $5000 for my bike in the condition it is now in and I would walk away thinking I just got a really good deal. Like I said, you would pay closer to $10,000 for a brand new bike like this.[/quote]

Maybe for a '41 henderson, ' 48 indian etc.
It will be a very long time before an xj is worth $40k.

I think you missed the point of the thread- we're not talking about
classic cars (or bikes) but restoration and value of jap bikes that can still
have several hundred models on the road nation wide.

 

quote]

Maybe for a '41 henderson, ' 48 indian etc.
It will be a very long time before an xj is worth $40k.

I think you missed the point of the thread- we're not talking about
classic cars (or bikes) but restoration and value of jap bikes that can still
have several hundred models on the road nation wide.[/quote]




I think that you have missed the point....
First of all I never said anything about my bike, or any other for that matter, being worth $40k I was using a blue book car reference for that. Which is plain to see had you read my post.

Secondly, What I am trying to relate is that the value should be based on what people may have put into the bike or any other vehicle for that matter.
As for as the original post.... and selling the bike for $2500, well this would depend, if the guy stuck $3500 into it then yes maybe it would be worth it but if it is all original stock with nothing into it in the past 30 years then no I wouldn't pay more than $1000 for it. You are also forgetting that our Yamaha bikes are getting very hard to find some parts for, so there needs to be a line drawn here.

Bottom line.... This guy should ask a lot more questions..... to see if it may be worth $2500. Does it have new tires, does it have new wheel bearings, are the brakes and brake lines etc new, is the battery new, did he have a valve job done on the bike, were the forks rebuilt, does it have a new fuse box , does it have a new wiring harness, were the carbs cleaned and synced, was it color tuned, the list goes on and on. Had all the above been done, then most definitely, I would say it is worth $2500 because you would put an easy $1000 into it doing all this yourself.
I think that this is the original posts point and mine.
Oh and a 30 year old bike would be considered a classic bike.

 

Wow everyone seems to be taking this more seriously than I intended. I will say I see adds like this relatively often with the bikes at $800 or less early to mid riding season. Also if you have done all the resto stuff like OldBikerDude has I would tend to think you would mention it in the add and have the bike polished to perfection in the pics.

 

I think that you have missed the point....
First of all I never said anything about my bike, or any other for that matter, being worth $40k I was using a blue book car reference for that. Which is plain to see had you read my post.

Secondly, What I am trying to relate is that the value should be based on what people may have put into the bike or any other vehicle for that matter.
As for as the original post.... and selling the bike for $2500, well this would depend, if the guy stuck $3500 into it then yes maybe it would be worth it but if it is all original stock with nothing into it in the past 30 years then no I wouldn't pay more than $1000 for it. You are also forgetting that our Yamaha bikes are getting very hard to find some parts for, so there needs to be a line drawn here.

Bottom line.... This guy should ask a lot more questions..... to see if it may be worth $2500. Does it have new tires, does it have new wheel bearings, are the brakes and brake lines etc new, is the battery new, did he have a valve job done on the bike, were the forks rebuilt, does it have a new fuse box , does it have a new wiring harness, were the carbs cleaned and synced, was it color tuned, the list goes on and on. Had all the above been done, then most definitely, I would say it is worth $2500 because you would put an easy $1000 into it doing all this yourself.
I think that this is the original posts point and mine.
Oh and a 30 year old bike would be considered a classic bike.[/quote]

Then why bring up a car at all :roll: