K1 values

Budweiser

Well-known member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Dec 20, 2007
Messages
786
Reaction score
2
Location
Essex, England
Saw a K1 in red and yellow today. The owner has recently passed away and it's been in his garage for some years.

His wife will be selling it together with an old Triumph Trophy.

Question is what sort of money does the K1 command? I appreciate it's condition related and whist it looks ok from what I could see until it comes out of the garage there's no way of saying accurately what it's condition is.

I know some of you guys know about these things so say average condition/mileage what's it worth? I just want to give her an idea to start with.

Thanks :thumb2
 
£3k to £5 k depending on all the variables you mention above. MikeP (or MikeO can't remember which one :rolleyes:) is the resident K1 valuations expert. :bow :bow
 
The K1 my mate advertised at 4350 didn't sell but only advertised here so maybe not the best site.

HTH

A
 
As per Luke Scott......MikeP of this forum is THE man on these bikes. Might be worth PMing....:thumb2
 
As Luke says, values are around the 3.5 to 5K for average condition at the moment. Tired, tatty K1s aren't worth more than a couple of Grand (at the moment) and you'd need to spend the same to sort them out. Some really good ones fetch 6K and over but for that money they need to be very good indeed.

There has been an upsurge in K1s coming onto the market in the past few years, most are cosmetically tired when you look close and cosmetics are the expensive part of ownership/restoration.

The mechanical parts are typical K-Series in that they are very robust and under-stressed, so mileage isn't that important alone. Mechanical parts are nearly all available new still and are reasonably priced because much is shared across the K-Series product years. Specialist suppliers are good but don't rule out BMW for surprisingly good prices.

The plastics are the expensive bit. To begin with you need to remember that BMW tried to keep to the voluntary 100BHP limit and not only was the low coefficient of drag one of the ways to produce a 150mph top speed but keeping the weight down (relatively speaking of course) was an aim. The plastics are very thin, so thin that in Germany the bike was nicknamed the yoghurt pot as it cracked so easily if the fixings were even slightly over tightened.

The nature of the design means that it's prone to minor damage. The steering lock is seriously limited and it's all too easy for the unwary to find themselves laying it down in minor manoeuvring incidents. It's hard to find one that doesn't have such damage and stress cracks. All but one small panel is available from BMW in primer. The graphics are prone to damage and will spoil the overall condition if not aligned correctly.

This was BMW's "flagship" model in the late 80s early 90s and as such it's not built down to a price. The quality hasn't been matched since it was dropped from the range. This is a good factor as restoration often means nothing more than a good deep clean and polish with some new fasteners here and there. The yellow powder coat is high quality but if damaged badly it's hard to repair short of re-powder coating (good outfits will match the yellow exactly).

I'd buy a good cosmetic conditioned K1 with high mileage for average money but I'd not pay the same for a low mileage tatty example.

As the prices are increasing and I doubt they'll ever be lower, a cheap tatty K1 is worth the effort if you have the time and resources to sort it out, just don't pay over the odds for it.
 
Thanks all, especially MikeP, for the in depth replies, appreciated. I will pass the information onto the owner who can now make a more informed decision on its disposal.

The bike is covered so I'm not sure how good or bad it is cosmetically and as for the engine etc, who knows :confused:

Anyway thanks again :thumb2
 
The bike is covered so I'm not sure how good or bad it is cosmetically and as for the engine etc, who knows :confused:

Just so you know . . . . . . When I sold my mint condition K1 to MikeP he then spent weeks stripping it down and cleaning it. Then he made it mint. . . . Really mint. There is a thread here somewhere if you search for it. It's a seriously interesting read with lots of pictures.
 


Back
Top Bottom