DAMN Riders - No rules, Just ride!

The bike is an '07 XR650L with a bunch of upgrades I put on to go on the Trans-AM Trail from Tennessee to Utah last summer - skid plate, bars/riders, hand guards, big tank, luggage rack, pannier supports, etc., etc. I looked at KBB.com and picked a mid-point between the 'retail' and 'trade in' price and compared to what I saw for sale (of course I don't know what they sold for or even if they sold) and it seemed to be in the right range. I then added about 50% of what it cost me to do all the upgrades (parts only, no labor costs).

After all that math, my brain hurt, but I barely got any emails, even from the scammers...

Would I be better off returning to 100% stock – do people prefer to see that? That's how I bought it, but I wouldn't take any of the upgrades off if I was keeping it. Even if it was to use as a commuter the only thing I might change is to put less dirt-oriented tires on. The only reason I'm selling is so I can something smaller (plated KTM 450 or 525) that I can also use for woods riding - to allow me to go from 2 bikes down to 1, currently have this and a KTM300.

What's it worth? Whatever someone is willing to pay! I'm just looking to put on a number that's in the right ballpark so I can generate some interest without losing a ton of money... I’m not desperate to sell, I just don’t get much use out of it these days.

this is a good discussion. I've seen bikes for sale where they are asking 50-75% of the price of the farkles. I've seen others where they strip the most expensive farkles and sell those separately. The logic being you saved yourself money by not having to buy it. That assumes you would have bought it anyway. "It" being the farkle in question.

Personally I think it depends on the cost benefit of how much work is involved to remove the farkles and what you would get for them.

IMHO, if the farkle has been on the bike a long time or is a cheap item, I'd expect to get it for little or nothing over the cost of the stock bike.

For the most part, I think you are better off removing the most expensive farkles and selling them separately.

I pretty much agree with everything Kyler said. The truth is, farkles generally do almost nothing to affect the selling price of a bike. What they do is add desirability of the bike and make it easier to sell. (Yes, some have pointed out this could raise the sale price, but my experience makes me disagree with this notion, assuming "non-motivated, need to sell it right now seller.")

When I sell a bike, I pretty much do what you did -- somewhere in the middle between trade in and retail price. And I remove all expensive farkles and leave just enough farkles to make my bike better than the others. And I'm a bastard -- I'll remove parts that are nicer than what's in my parts bin and swap them out for my spares.

When I buy a bike, my starting price is the trade in value. Farkles allow me to go up a little, rough condition makes me go down (or more likely pass). More likely, it's good condition that allows me to go up in price some than the farkles. I mention this, because the way I approach selling is to think about how I do the buying and go the other way around.

One last thing about price -- usually I'll just figure out how much I absolutely want for it then add $300-500 because sellers always want to haggle on price and they feel like they're sticking it to you by getting you to drop your price. ;)


~Patrick

Kyler - Removing the farkles is pretty simple (this is an XRL after all!), but some of the items are pretty big or heavy so selling them separately means they are probably going to be expensive to ship. I agree, anything cheap enough should just stay on, it may help the buyer decide, but isn't going to be worth the trouble to remove just to say it is 'stock'.

phoo - interesting point, you're saying all these upgrades aren't necessarily being seen as adding $$$ but maybe just increase the interest level. The 'pre discount' price is what I'd started at last fall, when I put it on a few weeks ago it was closer to what I'm really looking for.

I'll be taking a look this weekend and see what the 'new' almost stock bike would look like and figure out a new price. The other thing I see is that prices in general seem low, so in theory as long as I'm buying something else, my bad luck in selling lower than I'd wanted is balanced by being able to buy a replacement at a similar 'discount'. Ideally I would find my 'new' bike first and then I'd know what my bottom line price on selling this one is first, but after last time when I bought the replacement before selling the old bike I think my wife will be less understanding...

Having bought and sold about a dozen bikes in the last couple of years maybe I can add something useful.

You can sell a bike for what the market will pay, and that changes on a regular basis.
KBB and NADA mean squat. Search the net, CL, Ebay, ADV, TT, etc for like bikes and see what they are going for. That will give you a good idea of where to start.

Farkles depend. As noted, shipping can be a pain. But, if you have a $200 thingybob, you might consider selling it separate. Hand guards, etc are part and parcel of any well set up bike add to the allure.

If you aren't desperate, throw it out there and wait.
Remember, a bike is never worth as much as you think it is.

Good luck.

I agree with phoo. I think your pricing mid way between retail and trade in is spot on. You may want to even price it a bit closer to retail. The extras you have added only add to the chance that someone will be more interested in your bike.

A lot of times, I see where people have "upgraded" wheels or brakes and they add that to the value of the bike, but they don't account for the cost of the stock bits that have been removed.

The bottom line is, if your bike is priced right for the market, it will sell. If it isn't selling, you are asking too much. MHO.

Part of the problem is those Honda run forever so you have many on the market that are much older with tons of life remaining in them and selling for far less than your newer bike.
If the bike done well for a TAT ride and you have it sorted out why not keep it. It will handle asphalt and dirt road detail much better than a high strung euro bike. You have a smoker for anything off road.
Can you plate your smoker?
Now if you are looking to freshen the stable then you are faced with accepting what ever the current "market value" is for the bike.

Also, if I notice a seller has stripped off all the cool parts and is selling them separately, I think the seller is a cheap bast@rd.

A bike is never a good investment, you always lose money. Think of the aftermarket goodies as rent you paid to enhance your enjoyment of the bike.

A bike that has done the TAT is always going to be less valuable than one that has sat in the garage or has only been ridden on the road on Sundays.

> but they don't account for the cost of the stock bits that have been removed.

That's a very good point that I hadn't thought of before.


~Patrick

mdubya wrote:Also, if I notice a seller has stripped off all the cool parts and is selling them separately, I think the seller is a cheap bast@rd.

A bike is never a good investment, you always lose money. Think of the aftermarket goodies as rent you paid to enhance your enjoyment of the bike.

A bike that has done the TAT is always going to be less valuable than one that has sat in the garage or has only been ridden on the road on Sundays.

Of course we all really know a bike that's done the TAT is worth more... right...

Not looking at it as an investment - purchase of the bike was required for the trip, which was a true investment, but not one that pays off in $$$.

Boom Boom wrote:Part of the problem is those Honda run forever so you have many on the market that are much older with tons of life remaining in them and selling for far less than your newer bike.
If the bike done well for a TAT ride and you have it sorted out why not keep it. It will handle asphalt and dirt road detail much better than a high strung euro bike. You have a smoker for anything off road.
Can you plate your smoker?
Now if you are looking to freshen the stable then you are faced with accepting what ever the current "market value" is for the bike.

No plating for the KTM - came with a bill of sale and no title and I can't get anywhere with the DMV on it. Plus, I like it for woods riding, but wouldn't be willing to spend the money to put lights and stuff on it for any significant road riding - I take it about 2 miles on asphalt/gravel to and from the place I ride at when I'm too lzay to load up the truck, but I wouldn't want to go any distance on it.

dirtygrunt wrote:Remember, a bike is never worth as much as you think it is.

Good luck.

Maybe that's why all the bikes I'm looking at to replace it seem so overpriced...

All great responses so far. Thanks for all the feedback.