What's it worth?

Went and looked at this bike today: http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/m ... 04412.html

Guy said it ran when parked, but would probably have dead battery and need carb cleaning. Put a new battery in, turned over and sounded pretty good. Didn't expect it to catch.

Did a compression test, right hand side were both 150psi. Left was 120 (middle) and ZERO on the outside. I'm guessing it had a valve open when parked, which is now probably not closing all the way? Any other common / likely causes? Difficulty to fix if its just a stuck valve?

Thinking of buying as a parts bike and because it has a valid title - what's a reasonable offer on a '82 Seca that may well have a dead engine, but otherwise looks decent? He seems VERY willing to come down on price, just wants to get rid of it (I'd already said I wouldn't pay over $650 when I went to look at it, and only that assuming strong compression readings).

 

As a means of comparison I bought my titled runner for $900, even though it needed a bit of work to be road worthy. There's no harm in offering $500 and seeing where negotiations go. Sadly the days of $350 ready-to-ride motorcycles are gone.

 

The days of $350 ready-to-ride motorcycles are gone because you now know enough to know that even if you find a runner for that money, it's NOT "ready to ride."

What you have there is a relatively complete Seca with a bad cylinder.

Do you honestly TRUST the seller's word that it "ran when parked?" How about "it was only running on 3 cylinders when parked?"

You were wise enough to get a compression test; don't take the guy's word and a wild guess that a valve is stuck open; it could have a hole in that piston for all you know.

Assume the worst and you might be lucky; but I would approach it as having a blowed-up motor. I wouldn't give him any more than $300, and play up the blown motor. It's a parts bike until proven otherwise.

 

Yeah, at this point, I'm considering it a parts bike that has a (hopefully) valid title. Was actually thinking of offering more like $180 - he really seems to want to get rid of it, says it belongs to an out of state dad who collects bikes (gee, wonder why he didn't take that one with him when he moved).

There's a couple parts I want, so might be worth that to me, but like you said, no saying for sure it would run with simple (or even moderately difficult) repairs.

Edit - offered $140 in email explaining parts bike status, will see.

 

I think you're about right. 150-200 bucks would be a good price. The parts are worth that easy.

 

Ended up buying for $200. Figured the title might solve a problem for me, and now I have lots of extra parts to get the project bike working. Project bike needed a new valve cover, among other things.

 

so much for the XJ series going up in value

 

our local cycle dismantler (bent bike) says a parts bike is worth $1 a cc. looks like you scored big time.

CN

 

sebwiers, Good job on finding a motivated seller. Used motorcycles seem to bring a premium in Kansas. Be glad you are there and not here.

Fitz, my particular $350 motorcycle was a '73 CB350 that had just been recomissioned by a trusted friend in '92. Unfortunately my car started dumping oil from the timing case and I had to spend my money on repairing it instead of on the bike