What is your XS worth?

[Capt_Zoom]

When I was moving from Minnesota to Louisiana about a month ago, some trucker offered me 9k for my wife's just finished bobber. I'm not sure how serious he was but I said no way...two years of me and the wife's blood and sweat working on it make it priceless to us. Felt pretty nice getting an offer like that though considering I got the bike for free.

Same guy thought my raider (also on the trailer) looked better than the 35K Indian he recently bought.

 

[Spades]

I personally get about the same rate of return on the money I spend on old motorcycles and table dancers.

But I get to ride the old motorcycles.

I love it!

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[Spades]

What is the most that you have seen a custom XS sell for? I'm sure that some of these builders are making $$. They don't work for free.

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[Capt_Zoom]

Considering Mine cost me nothing and I only put about $800 and time into it I'm sure I could make a buttload off it. Makes me want to start making them for extra cash.

 

[GreasyC]

Richard Pollock of Mule Motorcycles used to do XS650 trackers that probably sold for a lot. Of course by the time he's done with them the only xs650 parts left are the engine, frame neck+down tubes, and maybe the front hub. Pretty much everything else including the rest of the frame and all suspension/wheel/brake components is custom work.

edit: scratch the downtubes, just looking back at his bikes and those are out. Looks like it's the neck and swingarm pivot area that he keeps.

 

[Mister Mellow]

i bought my '77D for $300, and will probably have $2000 or more into it - that's without touching the engine. But I bought it to ride and because I like how it looks. I have no hope of making money on it.

I've made a few bucks flipping cars over the years, but not bikes. My rule is: buy cheap runners only, for half of what you can sell it for. Wash it, vacuum it, change the oil and sell it. Period. There's always a high school kid who needs a cheap car.

My biggest fuck-up: Bought my '83 Jaguar for $6,000. I was fooled by the fact that it has a $5,000 custom paint job on it. Nobody cares, and I should have known better. I'll be lucky to get $4,000 for it.

My other big fuck-up was trading away my '72 Triumph Daytona for a rifle. I sold the rifle for $1,700, and I got the bike for free, so that's something. But I recently saw a restored one sell for $10,500 on eBay.

 

[jd750ace]

A good friend of mine that can afford anything he wants said if you ever want to give another man heartache for a gift, give him a used Jaguar!

 

[Mister Mellow]

Yep. You can make things stop working on that car by just looking at it. Boats can be a royal pain, too. You've probably heard the saying, "The two happiest days in a boat owner's life are the day he bought it, and the day he sold it."

 

[Capt_Zoom]

Yep. You can make things stop working on that car by just looking at it. Boats can be a royal pain, too. You've probably heard the saying, "The two happiest days in a boat owner's life are the day he bought it, and the day he sold it."

Depends on the boat. I have a 1957 14ft Alumicraft that's been in my family since 1957. Never a single problem with it. Boat motors...they're another story.

 

[jd750ace]

Yep. You can make things stop working on that car by just looking at it. Boats can be a royal pain, too. You've probably heard the saying, "The two happiest days in a boat owner's life are the day he bought it, and the day he sold it."

Always heard the definition of a "boat" was a hole in the water you throw money into!

 

[gggGary]

IMHO For stock bikes an upper limit is what period "real British" bikes go for.


1978 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE - $3250 (stevens point)

Date: 2012-09-23, 2:07PM CDT
kc5gh-3291308309@sale.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
twin carbs 750 14,000 orginal miles STOCK never been dumped or layed down 715-341-2830

 

[ReycleBill]

If I'm trying to sell it then my bike is generally worthless but when I want to keep one for myself people start offering me stupid money for it. So from now on none of my bikes are for sale but some of them can be bought.

It's all weird. I give a guy a dirt cheap deal on a bike I really wanted to keep for myself and the first time he has a little problem with it he's bad mouthing me. WTF, it's 30 years old?

I once bought a jeep for scrap metal. The previous owner had signed the title and left it open but I didn't care because I planned to crush it. I was hauling it to the yard on the rollback and this guy flagged me down saying he wanted to buy it. I told him it was a parts truck, I had never heard it run and that it had an open title. He said all that was cool, he still wanted it and asked if I would deliver it to his house. I negotiated a price that would cover costs, fuel, an hourly wage and added in a $100 profit for my boss. He seemed fine with that, paid me and I put the jeep in his driveway. A week later he came to the shop demanding his money back, said the engine was blown and I had ripped him off. We ended up having to have the cops remove him from the junk yard.

The next time I charge some sucker so much for a piece of crap that I can't sleep at night and every time I run into him he shakes my hand and tells me what a great motorcycle I sold him.

They're worth whatever someone is willing to pay on any given day and the faster you need to sell it the less it's worth. All of mine are worth at least 10K each just because I say they are.

 

[jdizon]

My xs650 is a complete money pit. I should have just bought a scooter!

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[Tron]

3250 for a bonnie! Id buy that right now if It was in my town.

That bikes rad! Just needs some superbike bars and a lower headlight and id ride the shit out of it

 

[Scrambled]

I am old enough to remember when British bikes were dirt cheap , like $400-$500, and , at least in my area you can still find a decent Triumph or BSA for around $3000 - $5000 . Eventually the price of an XS will go up once they become harder to find. Look at the prices they are getting for vintage Hondas , the price for an XS has no where to go but up.

 

[jd750ace]

I sold my '93 S-10 blazer for 1400 after I flipped it behind the house on Christmas eve. Couldn't get an offer on the damn thing before I flipped it! It's all what the market will bear. Nobody wanted a runner, they wanted a parts truck!

 

[XS1961]

A decent XS over here will fetch around £2000-£2500, about double what they were 15 years ago & about the same as a Brit twin was 20-odd years ago,a good Bonneville is now anything from £7000-£1200 ...Similar thing with Laverdas..Wont be too long before XS650's are sky-high.
Someone offered me £3000 for the one im riding at the moment but even though it cost me next to nowt to build from spare parts I had , a lot of work went into it & I really cant be bothered again , times short..
Im holding on to all mine for now(if I can) as I dont have a pension...

 

[weekendrider]

The XS gets double the mileage of the car and 4X's that of the farm truck.
At least a savings of $20 per week. A minimum of $1000 per year.
So it is worth that much right now, sentiment and desire value aside.

 

[retiredgentleman]

I am old enough to remember when British bikes were dirt cheap , like $400-$500, and , at least in my area you can still find a decent Triumph or BSA for around $3000 - $5000 . Eventually the price of an XS will go up once they become harder to find. Look at the prices they are getting for vintage Hondas , the price for an XS has no where to go but up.

Yup, prices are going up. As the sawsall gang do their work, nice stock bikes are becoming hard to find................especially 1978 Specials

When I go to local biker meets, I keep running into this one guy. He owns 6 bikes, and he keeps asking to buy my bike, and I keep saying no. No price mentioned, but he's lusting after my ride.

 

[BruceDeuce]

I am old enough to remember when British bikes were dirt cheap , like $400-$500, and , at least in my area you can still find a decent Triumph or BSA for around $3000 - $5000 . Eventually the price of an XS will go up once they become harder to find. Look at the prices they are getting for vintage Hondas , the price for an XS has no where to go but up.

Your rite man! Until this whole Cafe Racer explosion, all these bikes except for the Trumpets and Norton's were dirt cheap. Years ago I used to see CB'S and XS'S laying in the garbage.