Good afternoon everyone. I have the opportunity to pick up a '98 VTR from a guy here in Dallas. The bike is different than most VTR's that i have seen as it has different front end and alot less plastics. Either way the bike was recently low sided but did have frame sliders so will need a new shifter and brake lever.

The downside to all of this is that the bike has 50K miles on it. The right side of the motor was just rebuilt and the bike is used as a commuter bike. The guy tells me that he is the second owner and a title search verifies this. the bike was put up 3 months ago and started a few days ago.

I currently have a cruiser but want to pick up this bike, repaint the plastics and fix the damage from the crash, rebuild the carbs and buff out a few scratches on the primary cover (all done by me) and try to resell the bike. The guy has it listed, as is, for over 1500 but has negotiated a deal with me for an AR-15 (worth about $1,000) plus $200 cash. So my all in would be about 1200 plus about 3-400 in repairs if i do them myself (i know i am high but trying to figure worse case).

The question is If i tried to resell the bike for about 1800 would anyone bite or are the miles too high to a point where people would not look at it? Worse case, would i be able to even get out of it for what i have in it? If there were 20, even 30, thousand miles on it i would have bought it 3 days ago, the miles are just bothering me.

Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated...> I am supposed to do the deal tomorrow. I can post pics but have no idea how to do that, if i can figure it out ill put them up.

Thanks for your help.

 

 

I'm overseas, so my take on your prices may not be accurate...

Buuut... The VTR's are rare or at least uncommon... That makes them rather price sensitive, ie owners that like them will rather hold on than sell them at a loss, and potential buyers will rather buy something else than spend high end of the range where they believe the bike is worth...

Ie, bottom line, it's not really the type of bike to speculate in, as people either know what it is and are willing to spend top dollar for a bike that never needed fixing, or just stumble on to a low cost one, not knowing what it is... So a fixed bike falls somewhere in between those areas, and you need to press the price to compete with a worn bike that didn't need repair, or one the new owner will fix himself...

50k miles are just barely broken in, in terms of the VTR... Honest to god... But, if the miles are bothering you, well... Then odds are it will be bothering the un-informed potential buyer as well...

 

You would be in for $1,600 plus your labor, for a '98. This for a bike that is in an undesireable condition to start with, is out of production, has a limited aftermarket for farkle and in the resale mode would have to compete with pristine examples from later years for about the same money.

Unless you have lust in your heart for THAT bike, walk away. (Truth is: "'Tis always more important for the seller than the buyer for the deal to be made.")

 

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