Duke999
Guest
As a newbie, let me buy you a virtual beer and introduce myself. 
I am currently in the market for a 12GS. It will be an addition to the garage (Duke 999 and RVF already in there), used mainly for two up touring (need luggage!), so I have a fairly strict budget, but it is stretching by the day! I am after a fairly new bike, low mileage, for around £8k (I started at 6.5k when considering a brand new Tiger!). My local dealer is offering me a brand new one, heated grips and ABS for £9300 which isn't a bad deal all things considered and suggests they are starting to be discounted. However this is just a price stretch too far.
I have also been looking at a nearly new (under 100 miles) non-abs bike with heated grips, the dealer is looking for £8600 but he tells me that I will struggle to sell it again as it is non ABS. Personally I don't have an issue with a lack of ABS, but if the bike is going to be unpopular I would thinking I might get it for £8k, unfortunately the dealer is only prepared to knock £100 off the asking price.
From experience, how negiotable are the "marked up" prices in dealers on used machines. I know this is like asking how long is a piece of string, and will vary from dealer to dealer but my experience so far has been that a used bike price is not open to negiotation but a new bike is. This tends to suggest that dealers are keen to shift brand new bikes as there is more profit on new stuff, even with a discount (8% seems the limit), than used machines...and this is the opposite of the logic I would have applied to the situation.
From the combined experience of those on this forum, for £8k what can I expect to get, given the number on the used market appears to be increasing? A year old bike with ABS and Grips, and maybe some luggage?
The other question is, in reality just how hard is it to resell a GS without ABS? The dealers are telling me they wouldn't even take it in, and to be honest I don't see any out there without ABS.
And finally, given that the GS12 has been out now for nearly 2 years, are there any batches where reliablity was worse than others. For example are the 2005 bikes better built than 2004 or are they all much the same?
Any GS specific buying advice would be greatly received and hopefully I will be joining the fold fairly soon !
I am currently in the market for a 12GS. It will be an addition to the garage (Duke 999 and RVF already in there), used mainly for two up touring (need luggage!), so I have a fairly strict budget, but it is stretching by the day! I am after a fairly new bike, low mileage, for around £8k (I started at 6.5k when considering a brand new Tiger!). My local dealer is offering me a brand new one, heated grips and ABS for £9300 which isn't a bad deal all things considered and suggests they are starting to be discounted. However this is just a price stretch too far.
I have also been looking at a nearly new (under 100 miles) non-abs bike with heated grips, the dealer is looking for £8600 but he tells me that I will struggle to sell it again as it is non ABS. Personally I don't have an issue with a lack of ABS, but if the bike is going to be unpopular I would thinking I might get it for £8k, unfortunately the dealer is only prepared to knock £100 off the asking price.
From experience, how negiotable are the "marked up" prices in dealers on used machines. I know this is like asking how long is a piece of string, and will vary from dealer to dealer but my experience so far has been that a used bike price is not open to negiotation but a new bike is. This tends to suggest that dealers are keen to shift brand new bikes as there is more profit on new stuff, even with a discount (8% seems the limit), than used machines...and this is the opposite of the logic I would have applied to the situation.
From the combined experience of those on this forum, for £8k what can I expect to get, given the number on the used market appears to be increasing? A year old bike with ABS and Grips, and maybe some luggage?
The other question is, in reality just how hard is it to resell a GS without ABS? The dealers are telling me they wouldn't even take it in, and to be honest I don't see any out there without ABS.
And finally, given that the GS12 has been out now for nearly 2 years, are there any batches where reliablity was worse than others. For example are the 2005 bikes better built than 2004 or are they all much the same?
Any GS specific buying advice would be greatly received and hopefully I will be joining the fold fairly soon !
If they don't sell then surely he should be trying to flog it off for whatever he can get...?
