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Old July 17th, 2019, 09:18 AM   #1
Nautilus
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Any advice would be appreciated!

Hello everyone! I stumbled across this forum and it seems like the best place to look for help.

I have a 2005 Ninja that I unfortunately went down on ....3.5-4 years ago on. Got pulled out in front of, had to swerve to avoid, jumped curb, went down. Fun, I know! I managed to ride it home, but the handlebars were/are about 15 degrees off from the front tire. If the tire is straight, the handlebars are not aligned. I kept it at my apartment for a year and then moved into my friend's house and brought it along. He is a car mechanic, and said he wouldn't mind helping me work on it. Cue two years later, and here it still sits . To compound the issue, I just accepted a job in Pensacola that will start in about a month.

I'm curious as to what my options are as far as getting rid of it. I'm assuming I would get screwed by a salvage place, and parting it would take too long. I don't know if it has any value selling it, would Craigslist be an option perhaps?

I also don't want to sell it and it gets someone hurt. The tires would be at least 5 years old now, and the engine SHOULD run, but the gas tank seems frozen shut. I also know with all the redesigns it isn't a sexy learner bike anymore. Also, the key refused to turn when I tried to open it last night. I have a few pictures I took on Sunday (on lunch right now) just to give an idea of its state (not good ).

Thanks in advance!
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Old July 17th, 2019, 11:04 AM   #2
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Glad you weren't seriously hurt.

Well, it is a "project", but it is worth something. CL is one option, as is the For Sale section here. We bought Ninjas from both places, the one from the forum (1990 model) was crashed at 80+ but ran with some minor fiddling. All the fairings were broken and the tank was dented. Nothing was seriously bent. We bought it for $150.

The one off of CL was a 2004 with 250 mi, but didn't run. It sat for more than 5 years. Other than a broken signal lens it was in excellent shape. We paid $750 for that one. It did need tires (other one did too) and some carb cleaning among other maintenance items.

Yours may have bent forks, but it may not. Do you have the Title?

I would say yours may be worth slightly more than our 1990 - maybe $250 as it sits. Typically someone will buy one and fix it good enough to be legal on the street as a "Streetfighter" or take it to the track as an inexpensive trackday bike.

Maybe others will chime in with thoughts on value. Some of it depends on your location as well as miles on the engine.

$150 1990 after some clean-up -



$750 2004 after a few improvements -

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Old July 17th, 2019, 02:24 PM   #3
Nautilus
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Thank you very much for the information! I do have the title. I went and dug it up to be sure.

I would roll it out in the driveway to take some better pictures but it looks like it is about to start raining in a few minutes.

I was hoping to get around $300, and after hearing your estimate (I know, with very little information other than a few pictures) I'm optimistic I could get close to that.

Mileage is just under 15K. Is that good or bad?
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Old July 18th, 2019, 06:18 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by Nautilus View Post
Thank you very much for the information! I do have the title. I went and dug it up to be sure.

I would roll it out in the driveway to take some better pictures but it looks like it is about to start raining in a few minutes.

I was hoping to get around $300, and after hearing your estimate (I know, with very little information other than a few pictures) I'm optimistic I could get close to that.

Mileage is just under 15K. Is that good or bad?
Not low mileage, but not high either. Anyone familiar with the little Ninja will know that the engine is barely broken-in at 15K (assuming proper maintenance) and will run almost forever if maintained.

When we got the $150 beater the gas looked like dirty water and the oil looked like dirty gas. After some cleaning and filling the engine fired right up. Adjusted the valves, cleaned and synced the carbs, and my son rode it as pictured for about 3 years - mostly over 10,000 RPMs. Didn't use any oil. Pretty sure it had about 16K on it when we got it.

We also sold a spare engine in good cond with about 4K on it (without carbs) for $200.

I might put it out for $400 so you have some room to negotiate. If you don't get any interest in a week, drop it by $50. Do that each week until you are just above your bottom dollar if you are in a hurry to sell.

Make your photos as presentable and uncluttered as possible. Set everything in-place if you can.
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Old July 18th, 2019, 12:16 PM   #5
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Your mileage is about average. A little time spent on cleaning up will fetch you more $.

I bought two pregens (2002 & 2003) couple years ago from storage sale for $300. They came in boxes!




I fixed up one with best parts and sold if off for $1300 and kept remaining frankenstein bike. Had to get some 300 rearsets and punctured tank for free as boxes weren't complete.



I recommend you at least jack up front-end, loosen all triple-clamps and straighten out twist in fork. That way it's at least be ridable and will worth more.
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Old July 19th, 2019, 03:43 PM   #6
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How does one straighten out twist in fork?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DannoXYZ View Post
I recommend you at least jack up front-end, loosen all triple-clamps and straighten out twist in fork. That way it's at least be ridable and will worth more.
How does someone straighten out a twisted fork?

It seems most likely that one or both fork tubes are bent near the lower triple clamp. (I'm guessing or hoping the stanchions aren't bent and that bent bars wouldn't make the direction of the bars and the front wheel differ by 15°.) If one's very lucky and the two fork tubes are bent the same amount but in opposite directions, rotating a fork tube after loosening the triple clamps could align the forks with the triple clamp and just change the trail or rake. That seems very unlikely and straightening would require replacing the bent parts unless one had the tools, experience, and confidence to straighten fork tubes or bend one to precisely match the bend in another.

How can one straighten out a twisted fork?
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Old July 19th, 2019, 09:31 PM   #7
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Note that twisted forks isn't same as bent fork tubes. With bent tubes, you can only fix by getting straight ones. Unless you have this special tool and know how to use it.



Twisted forks are caused by upper & lower triple-clamp being out of alignment with each other. Upper clamp holes aren't inline & concentric with lower ones. This is caused by leverage of long fork tubes twisted by wheel on offset impacts. This twists triple clamps and fork tubes are no longer parallel. Similar to chop-sticks, when you change their angle, it rotates the object your holding in yaw direction. In this case, it's front wheel.

To "relax" fork:

1. Put bike on centre-stand or swingarm stand

2. Use jack under engine to lift front-end off ground, or use front stem stand, or hang from rafters (my preferred)

3. Remove front wheel

4. Loosen upper triple-T fork-tube clamps

5. Loosen upper triple-T centre bolt and remove T

6. Sight down fork-tube and look for bends and parallelism

7. Loose lower triple-T fork-tube clamps and waggle fork-ends to remove any last twists

8. Rotate fork-tubes to get both parallel if they're slightly bent.

9. Install upper triple-T

10. Sight fork-tubes and ensure they're still parallel, wiggle ends as necessary

11. Adjust fork tube heights

12. Tighten lower fork-tube clamps

13. Tighten upper triple-T centre bolt

14. Tighten upper fork-tube clamps

15. Reinstall wheel and lower bike


That's it! If I have crash at track, I always do this fork relaxing procedure before heading out again. If I have time, I'll even do string test to align wheels as well.
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Old July 19th, 2019, 10:59 PM   #8
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Thank you. I don't know why I failed to think of the triple camps moving relative to each other. This is very helpful.
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Old July 20th, 2019, 11:28 AM   #9
Nautilus
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Thank you very much for all the advice. I'm going to get it out of the garage tomorrow and take some better pics, see if I can fix the forks, and tidy it up to be more presentable.

I will keep you guys updated on the results
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Old July 25th, 2019, 10:01 AM   #10
Nautilus
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I posted some pics online, and have gotten two replies on Craigslist. One of them is asking for more info. The second one is what brings me back here as I'm not sure if what he is asking is legal or not.

He threw out a lowball offer of $100, and said he does not need a title or bill of sale because he is going to part it out himself. Is that legal? I do not intend to take his offer but figured anyone purchasing would want the title and a bill of sale document. It sounded shady, but I'm not sure if I am just being overly cautious. Thanks!
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Old July 25th, 2019, 11:52 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nautilus View Post
I posted some pics online, and have gotten two replies on Craigslist. One of them is asking for more info. The second one is what brings me back here as I'm not sure if what he is asking is legal or not.

He threw out a lowball offer of $100, and said he does not need a title or bill of sale because he is going to part it out himself. Is that legal? I do not intend to take his offer but figured anyone purchasing would want the title and a bill of sale document. It sounded shady, but I'm not sure if I am just being overly cautious. Thanks!
That is totally legal.

Give it some time if you can.

What did you decide to ask for it?

You could post some of the new pics here, and in the For Sale section, as well. You never know.
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Old July 25th, 2019, 12:59 PM   #12
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Feel free to share a link to your Craigslist ad. Where are you and the bike located?

States each have their own laws about titles, vehicle sales, and taxes. Some states don't require a title even to register a bike with a small engine like ours or old vehicles. Even if a state doesn't ask someone parting out a vehicle for to obtain titles, in many states when an individual brings a title to their RMV after a probate party sale the RMV will ask for them to pay the sales tax for that purchase. In short, it depends on the laws of that state.

I wouldn't worry about that any legal risk too much, but I do hope you can get more than $100.
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Old July 25th, 2019, 01:18 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nautilus View Post
He threw out a lowball offer of $100, and said he does not need a title or bill of sale because he is going to part it out himself. Is that legal? I do not intend to take his offer but figured anyone purchasing would want the title and a bill of sale document. It sounded shady, but I'm not sure if I am just being overly cautious. Thanks!
Should be legal. However, verify with procedures in your state. Here in CA, seller still has to submit "release of liability" form indicating you no longer own bike. That way, even if buyer does not transfer title to their name and gets into crash, you're not liable for anything that happens after sale. He would only need title if he intends to sell frame and next buyer wants to build bike back up completely to register and ride (not likely).

Parting out bike can collect over $1000. Just plastics alone are going for over +$300/set on fleabay. Good rust-free tank is $200+. Some people are even parting out perfectly good engines and nickel & dime every little part. Early pre-'95 cams have more aggressive profile than later models and can be quite valuable to racers. I've even seen clutch-cable adjusters on levers going for $10 and lockwasher-ring for $5. Complete lock-set (ignition, tank, helmet-lock) with keys can go for $100.
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Old July 25th, 2019, 05:44 PM   #14
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Wow. If only it were easy to part out a vehicle I think I've just found my calling or at least a profitable business.

I've often been impressed at how expensive replacement parts are even for a vehicle that's still being produced. A professor told us that one old study found that the sum of the parts of many cars are over 800% of the price of that car. A package deal brings the buyer a huge discount as well as free assembly, painting, finishing, and warranty. Another possibility is the parts are horibly overpriced. The third and most likely is that it's harder to sell hundreds of parts separately than one vehicle, raising the distribution and retail prices. With internet sales lowering these costs somewhat, parts sales may be more profitable until the parts process fall further.

With car parts I've often been astounded by the differences in sellers asking prices and how many salvage yards crush many parts for which some buyers are paying high prices.

I've sometimes suggested buying an entire vehicle on copart or such when one needs lots of replacement parts for one vehicle. It seems that there's some economies of scale in specializing in one or a few vehicles, buying many old n old ones, swapping parts till one has m<n good bikes to sell, some left over probably good parts, and some scrap and trash. One could them decide whether to continue. There is some money in it as well as lots of mechanical and restoration work, as well as lots of diagnostic, picking, purchasing, and sales work. Behind it. It could be difficult as someone doing this for a living to compete with others who enjoy it and are happy to do it as a hobby with little reward.
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Old August 14th, 2019, 08:13 AM   #15
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Hey everyone, been incredibly busy packing! I had a guy respond to my ad and come over and look at it. He said he was going to buy it as is, and he had previously requested additional pictures. He comes over, and starts complaining about the parts, the condition, etc. Specific things I had responded to when he asked. Yes, the tank is rusted. Yes, the key does not work in the fuel tank, yes the left side is banged up, etc.

He said he would only give me $100 (far lower than what he came over for), and then said he would only pay by check . I said thanks for your time and am now going to re-post the ad.

When I get home from work today I will post some additional pictures. Feel free to comment on them, make fun of me, or give advice!
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Old August 16th, 2019, 02:28 PM   #16
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A couple days late

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Old August 18th, 2019, 02:20 PM   #17
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I would assemble it as much as possible.

Might be in the $250 range.
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Old August 20th, 2019, 04:21 AM   #18
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Heads up you want a bill of sale if you're in a state with property tax on vehicles so you can prove to your town that you no longer own the vehicle.
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