I'm in a bit of a quandry.......

[FatAl]

I have a love-hate relationship with my 1990 R100GS. Since owning it I only average approx. 500 miles a year, and have spent a fair amount of cash on it. In the last few years it's had a new timing chain and tensioner, Nippon denso starter motor, battery, stainless push rod tubes, Keihan stainless silencer, new valves, springs and guides, tyres and the seat recovered, and very recently a Migsel side stand.
I often consider selling it because it doesn't get much use, but then usually change my mind after returning from a ride on it. Each time I take it for an MOT the mechanic and owner of the shop always remarks on how nice a bike it is and how he would like something similar. I took my Triumph to him last week for it's MOT and the guy asked me what I thought my GS was worth and would I sell it to him. I told him I wasn't sure what they go for these days and that at the moment I was enjoying the bike, but would give him first refusal on it if I decided to sell.
I got home looked at the GS and thought long and hard, I had a quick look on the web and could only find one GS for sale, that was at a north wales bike shop (Colwyn bay motorcycles I think) and they were asking an incredible £4000 + for it.
So what would be a realistic price to ask for my bike, it's in very good condition but far from mint, the MOT guy once advised me not to restore it, he reckoned old bikes looked better with a patina of age about them.
I could certainly do with some extra cash as my wife and I are considering buying a new car.
Any advice gratefully accepted.............I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.

 

[solidstate100]

I doubt this will help you but.......given what you have done to it, given that every time you ride it you dont want to sell it, given that it doesn't NEED restoring and is largely original, given that its likely an appreciating classic, and given that if you did sell it and then tried at some point to replace it it would cost a s*it load more - I wouldn't sell that.

What I would do tho is use it a bit more!

Maybe sell something else instead!

 

[solidstate100]

Altho if you DO decide to sell it, can I have the Migsel stand???

 

[B Murr]

You can sell and buy that car with the cash. that car will be a heap of junk in 5 to ten years timer and that bike will still be worth whatever you sold it for at least. Theres no easy answer though if you really need that cash and there are no easy alternatives, if its just sitting in the garage its a bit of a waste. Nice to have it though and nice to be able to take it for occasional ride, but thats a luxury if you cannot afford that car you think you need. If you think you really need the cash now and that you might have the cash again if not too distant future you could sell it and look forward to the prospect of being able to buy another in a year or two

I've owned two of these in past, first one sold to buy something more practical for year round commuting. Second one sold for a number of practical reasons but I do look forward to buying another in next year or so. Theyre not the fastest of bikes but they do have great character and I think thats what gets people hooked.

 

[Mongolian Explorer]

I have a love-hate relationship with my 1990 R100GS. Since owning it I only average approx. 500 miles a year, and have spent a fair amount of cash on it. In the last few years it's had a new timing chain and tensioner, Nippon denso starter motor, battery, stainless push rod tubes, Keihan stainless silencer, new valves, springs and guides, tyres and the seat recovered, and very recently a Migsel side stand.
I often consider selling it because it doesn't get much use, but then usually change my mind after returning from a ride on it. Each time I take it for an MOT the mechanic and owner of the shop always remarks on how nice a bike it is and how he would like something similar. I took my Triumph to him last week for it's MOT and the guy asked me what I thought my GS was worth and would I sell it to him. I told him I wasn't sure what they go for these days and that at the moment I was enjoying the bike, but would give him first refusal on it if I decided to sell.
I got home looked at the GS and thought long and hard, I had a quick look on the web and could only find one GS for sale, that was at a north wales bike shop (Colwyn bay motorcycles I think) and they were asking an incredible £4000 + for it.
So what would be a realistic price to ask for my bike, it's in very good condition but far from mint, the MOT guy once advised me not to restore it, he reckoned old bikes looked better with a patina of age about them.
I could certainly do with some extra cash as my wife and I are considering buying a new car.
Any advice gratefully accepted.............I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.

Colwyn Bay had one @ £4995.00 and they got it. It is an immaculate 1 owner original german bike that I now own

 

[DrFarkoff]

Keep the Bike ! Get a lesser "New" car

Yup maybe you don't get to ride it very often these days

But as we say over here "Its not eating any Grass!"

Its not costing you anything but the insurance and tax while its sitting

If you sell it you will be gutted the first time you want to go for a ride !

 

[tuftywhite]

Keep the Bike ! Get a lesser "New" car

Yup maybe you don't get to ride it very often these days

But as we say over here "Its not eating any Grass!"

Its not costing you anything but the insurance and tax while its sitting

If you sell it you will be gutted the first time you want to go for a ride !

What he said.

 

[the civil one]

I hear ye

Everything i own is for sale .
Some of it i want to sell , most of it i dont .
I always price it accordingly .
If i want to sell , Price it to sell , If you dont . Dont .

 

[Rob Farmer]

You aren't getting the most out of it and it would run a lot better without the Keihan Y piece and what looks to be Keihan downpipes without the balance pipe. The Hagon shock will be cocking up the ride quality as well. If it was mine I'd never be happy until it was running at it's best and handling better than it will at the moment. No wonder you have a love hate relationship with it. You should either sort the poor thing out properly or sell it. I'd think you'd get just over £3k for it if somebody didn't know what they were buying.

You will need to spend the best part of a grand on it.

And if you fitted the new camchain without changing your crank sprocket it wont last anywhere near as long as it should.


Apart from that...

 

[FatAl]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Rob, Roy Gardner Motorcycles did the timing chain and tensioner for me, he reckoned nothing else needed to be done. I never considered it wasn't running as well as it should, when I got it back from RGM the thing was flying along with over 100mph showing up easily (on a private road of course) I don't really want to spend more money on it so I may well offer it for sale.