How hard is it to sell bikes with over 100k miles?

[scorch]

It seems alot of riders on advrider have bikes with over 100k miles on them. Alot of the bmw gs's have over 100k and still fetch pretty good prices. But here is an example of a DL650 on the flea market.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1001582

a great price. But how many of you would shy away from examples like this?

I have a ninja 250 with 85k miles, and i shrug when i think if i want to sell this bike the price ill get. At a certain point they seem better to keep than to sell for super cheap.

What is the best mileage to let go of bikes from? Specially for riders who use them alot and accumulate alot of mileage?

[Sirref]

I feel that people start to consider mileage to be high on sportsbikes very early on and once you hit 20-30k miles you're best off riding the wheels off, if your intention is to use it for super high mileage then most people will just lowball you when you try to sell it.

personally if I'm buying a bike I care more about condition than mileage but I know if I were to sell my 300 (which only has 90xx miles) a lot of potential buyers would nag me on the mileage to bring the price down, luckily I intend to keep this bike a very long time anyway and if/when I sell it I'll lowball myself to give it to someone who is just getting into riding or give it to my older bro

[dcj13]

Originally Posted by scorch

It seems alot of riders on advrider have bikes with over 100k miles on them. Alot of the bmw gs's have over 100k and still fetch pretty good prices. But here is an example of a DL650 on the flea market.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1001582

a great price. But how many of you would shy away from examples like this?

I have a ninja 250 with 85k miles, and i shrug when i think if i want to sell this bike the price ill get. At a certain point they seem better to keep than to sell for super cheap.

What is the best mileage to let go of bikes from? Specially for riders who use them alot and accumulate alot of mileage?

The best time to get rid of a bike is when you've flat-out worn it out and can't repair/rework it for what it would cost to get a better, excellent-condition bike with much lower mileage.

My thought is that a well-cared-for water-cooled vehicle should be capable way more than 100K miles without too much effort. But watch out for used bike where the owner has messed around with stuff (exhaust, carbs, airbox) without knowing WTF they were doing (most owners who do mods).

My 20 year old BMW has 84K miles but is still pretty tight. But I have rebuilt the oil/water pump, done the suspension a couple of times, brake work, and changed lots of tires. I really don't care about what it's worth: its value far exceeds its price.

[adouglas]

Simple law of supply and demand. Bikes are toys. Many get bought and sold (in good condition) with far fewer than 10k miles on them. So there's a big supply... and you know what that does to demand.

If resale matters to you, then the best thing to do is return the bike to stock and sell before it's got 10,000 miles on it. Age also matters... parts get hard to find after awhile.

Personally I'd buy a bike with, oh, 15k on it... but there's no reason to go higher than that when I've got dozens/hundreds to choose from with less wear in equivalent condition. The only thing that would make me look at a high-mileage bike is a screaming good deal or super rarity if I were a collector.

[coolbreeze]

It's not hard to sell if the price is right. Unfortunately, on most sportbikes, by the time you hit 30k, no one really wants to pay more than $1k.

Originally Posted by adouglas

there's no reason to go higher than that when I've got dozens/hundreds to choose from with less wear in equivalent condition. The only thing that would make me look at a high-mileage bike is a screaming good deal or super rarity if I were a collector.

Depending on the bike, you can add $500-$1000 more, and get a bike with less than 10k on the clock.

[MrAtom]

I only care about high miles if the previous owner seemed like a dumbass or not. If I know they took care of it and loved it and maintained it, I don't care a lot that it's got some miles on it.

[Hero Danny]

Miles matter, I'm almost considering buying a brand new 300 just so it will say 0 instead of like 2000 (from previous owner) but that's kind of stupid since 2000 is super low and not worth spending over a grand to get it to say 0. lol

When I sell Amy she'll have close to 15k, honestly I'd love to get 3k for her (in the spring when prices are high) but I would understand if she sold for 2.5k I mean, I bought her for 2.8k rode her 6k miles for a year and only lost 300, that's nothing...

I would advertise my bike as something that was USED, a very low mileage 250 shows that it was stored, and I'd much prefer a bike that was used rather than stored (especially if it's a carb'd bike!) Also i'd sell her completely stock and sell my after market parts on here.

[NevadaWolf]

I think a lot comes from your market,

If I was on ADV Rider, part of the community enough to know about the gear and bikes for sale, and had a feel for the other inmates, you can bet I would jump at grabbing those bikes if the price was right. Those riders want their bikes to get them to their destination, get them home, and be ready to go the next ride. Overall I'd trust them taking care of their bike.

Random bike on craiglist with no real connection to the bike or owner? I'd be highly skeptical over maintenance records and frequency, any mods, and the exact condition of the bike.

The trouble with the 250 is so many owners are simply using it for a gateway bike to something bigger. Learn the basics, then ditch the "baby" bike for something bigger. As mentioned, this floods the market with a ton of newer, low mileage bikes that have had little to nothing done to them. Why buy new when you can pick up a year old bike with a few thousand on it for a third of the cost? Heck, there are three pregens on our local CL now for really cheap that have been listed awhile.

I know my bike is less that worthless price wise given the excessive mileage for the year and the Rebuilt title. If I were going to sell it on CL to just anyone, I seriously doubt I would get many folks interested and I doubt I would get anything over a grand for the bike.

But if I were selling to someone I knew, who also knew me and how I maintain my bike, I may get more interest though less money. But hopefully she goes to a good home where she can live out a few more years at an easier pace.

When would I sell my bike? When the cost of a single repair exceeds the cost of a slightly bigger bike. Until then, I'll run her into the ground and take care of her enough to prove all those saying the egine dies at 50k wrong. Plus, since her cost is so worthless at the moment, nothing I do will degrade her value further, so I'm happily modding away to make her mine.

[NevadaWolf]

WHY DID I CLICK ON THAT LINK?!? That's the bike I want!!!

ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH

[verboten1]

The KLR has around 34,000 miles on it. About 15,000 of that on my new bored over high compression top end.

With all of the parts and farkles I have thrown at it over the years, it's worth around $5,000 to me.

The problem is, it's most likely not worth even half that to people that don't know the bikes.

[Finesse]

scorch how much are you looking to get for your ninja? I agree with all the responses... if I was browsing craigslist and saw a really cheap bike, and then saw that it has 84,000 miles, I'd immediately dismiss it, because that's a LOT of mystery miles (did they change the oil? are the wheel bearings/steering bearings still good? are the rubber hoses dry rotted or worn through? etc) but if it was someone I know, and I know they've taken care of the bike, it would scare me a lot less. Either way I'd expect to pay a really low price for a bike with 80k+. A new-gen with that many miles in otherwise fairly good condition, clean title, maybe $1,200

[scorch]

Yeah i bought the bike new. Its kind of hard thinking of the depreciation. But i guess ill keep it and just get a new engine when this one fails. So far the engine is strong.

[Finesse]

It looked and sounded good

[verboten1]

Originally Posted by Finesse

if I was browsing craigslist and saw a really cheap bike, and then saw that it has 84,000 miles, I'd immediately dismiss it, because that's a LOT of mystery miles (did they change the oil? are the wheel bearings/steering bearings still good? are the rubber hoses dry rotted or worn through? etc)

The thing is, it should be the opposite, because the bike with tons of miles, if it LOOKS nice, and still runs, it's most likely been taken care of

[Finesse]

True, but things that are well taken care of can still be worn out and break without showing previous signs of wear and tear. Things like cam chains, bearings, hoses...

[scorch]

Originally Posted by Finesse

True, but things that are well taken care of can still be worn out and break without showing previous signs of wear and tear. Things like cam chains, bearings, hoses...

the cam chain on my 08 is worn. But the process for removing the chain is pretty difficult that a new engine is probably better than just the chain.

[ninja2007]

Grin... At 85k miles, I'd say swap in some new wheel bearings and take her for another 85k...

[wardie]

It's not uncommon in the BMW world to have and sell 100K bikes. If a guy has a sport bike with 30K it becomes relatively hard with but a few mitigating factors.

If the bike is clean, owner has all service records then that might be a good selling factor. I'd say most young people who look at sport bikes never ask about maintenance. I've never had a young person ask me about maintenance other than maybe an oil change question mostly how fast can she go.

It also depends in your market and if your bike is a high demand model. There you go that's about it.

[scorch]

there is a 2008 r1200gs adv on craigslist with 144k ! miles for 7000

I wish the 250 has a good resale value lol