Musings on Thinking of Selling the 250

[krbreton]

All-

I wanted to throw this out to the lions, and see if anybody had suggestions, or thoughts. I have a '97 250 that has been giving me some problems. I was tired of dealing with it, so I bought a 2006 650r. But now that the time has come to get rid of the 250, I can't decide what to do.

I bought the 250 a year and 9k miles ago for $1900. The bike now has almost 21,000 miles on it, and it is 13-14 years old. I'm guessing, especially with the used bike market nowadays, that I would be lucky to get $500 if I don't fix the problems, and $1200 if I do.

I've dumped a fair amount of time and effort into the bike prepping it for the track last year, so I'm thinking about keeping it, but I'm just not sure how often the urge to ride the 250 is going to strike me, when I have a very similar feeling, more comfortable, more powerful bike sitting next to it in the garage.

The things I've added
* New Pirelli Diablo's (Rear is just about gone now, front at 50-60%)
* SS Front Brake Line / RBF600 fluid
* Zx-600 Rear Shock
* Racetech front springs (.75kg/mm)
* Front and rear suspension are set up for me, which took some time
* EBC Brake pads F/R
* DID ERV3 Chain
* Flushmount front blinkers, integrated tailpod rear blinkers
* Fender removed
* PVC throttle tube mod, for about 1/5 turn throttle (and new throttle cables while I was at it)

I also adjusted valves, did all the work myself, etc, so I've really put some time and effort, as well as money into this thing.

However, the age is starting to show
* Right Cylinder is running super-rich (un-rideably so). Needs carbs cleaned, and probably an O-ring or needle replaced.

* There is oil down the front of the engine, which seems to be coming from the valve cover gasket, so that will need to be replaced (might as well adjust the valves again while I'm there).

* Plastics are in kind of half-assed shape. The top fairing connectors to the bottom fairing (two screws on the right side) are broken, so on the right side of the bike, the top and bottom fairings are not connected. None of the fairings are new-looking, but they're all basically passable

* If I keep it, it's primary job would probably be track duty. I have some concerns about the age of the frame and the structural bits, not to mention an engine seizing on the track seems like a not-fun experience to me.

It's also worth noting that I have 3 month old twins at home and I recently started my own consulting business, so my free time is pretty minimal.

What would you guys do? Keep it (will I actually fix it to rideable condition)? Sell it at a huge loss? Scrap it?

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated.
Keep the rubber side down.

-Kyle

[nate-bama]

track bike...you got your money out of it sell it or fix it how much time you got? track bike with motor issues id say 600-700