Thinking about buying this... should I?

I realize I'm putting myself at risk of gaining competition on this listing, but I wanted to get some second opinions on this bike...

1982 yamaha xj650

I talked to him briefly, and he says he has a title and he was riding it all summer. I'm thinking I'd like to fix it for fun and to learn a little more, and then sell it for a profit if I can.

 

if I were you, I would get it just for parts. these bikes aren't as abundant and parts aren't as available as they once were.

our local bike dismantler says a bike like that is worth $1 a cc.

CN

 

Even with Len/Chacal around?

 

i try to stay away from spray bombed bikes, even for parts, kills the resale value. I'd give him 300 which you could make some $$ if you decided to say screw it and part it out.

Pretty ugly to be honest

 

even he doesn't have an unlimited supply of parts. there are already a lot of parts that are no longer available.
CN

 

If you think you will fix it up and make money guess again... I have completely redone my bike to make it look and run like new and I would never be able to sell it to make a profit. I bought the bike for $900 and put $5500 into restoring it. I chose to do this because I really like this model of bike and wanted it for myself. You can see here everything I had to do to get it like new again.... http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=31614.html

 

Good lord.











Also, very nicely done.

 

like I said, it is worth it for the parts, but not much more.

CN

 

Hey, it's why I asked! Better to hear it here than from my checking account.

 

if I were in your shoes, I would snach it up.

CN

 

I went and checked it out. It's surprisingly low on rust. Brake lines are original. Headlight bucket looks perfect. However, the mufflers have been sawn off and it's missing the seat/helmet lock. The guy doesn't know much about it and hasn't done much more than put gas in it. He got it as a trade, rode on temp tags all summer, then parked it in October.

 

Headlight bucket and bracket would be worth something. The old brake lines aren't worth anything. There are probably still several parts there that you bring you a profit if you got it at a good price....

 

Heh, I managed to list the highlights in a way that made it sound like I thought otherwise, didn't I? My bad. I was just listing off the major factors I was weighing. Thanks to this site, I'm well aware of the danger of 33 year old rubber lines. I've got nice, new SS lines from Len sitting in the garage for my ride as we speak.

I'm really not looking to get into the parts salvage business, so I told the guy I was going to pass. I looked up what parts I could get last night quickly and cheaply, to see if I could even do a partial restore for a profit. He'd have to lower his price to 100 to make it worth my while, and I'm not going to insult him by asking. If I was looking to keep it, I'd go for it. But, alas...

So hey, if anyone else wants it, dibs are officially called off! And thanks for the input, guys.

 

I would grab it , but then i am a parts hoarder . !!

 

if it has a good title, and you can talk him down a bit, you'd have a good platform to build a nice ride from.

Dave F