would I be a fool to buy this bike?

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I would not buy a salvaged bike unless I knew for SURE why it was salvaged.
You can't believe what a stranger says.
You know if you think about it most of us are strangers. Very few of us ever have or ever will meet.

However, I 100% agree with everything you said. We (the forum) have nothing to gain but a potentially wonderful and useful member. The seller of this "Salvage Bike" has real dollars to gain. The seller's motivation to bend the truth is more pressing than ours.

 
It appears Floridalawdog has decided to keep the powder dry. It's still winter and there are some FJR owners out there who would like to get that un-used bike out of the garage before spring cleaning time. Keep your eyes open and you will find a clean titled bike at an affordable price. Unless you have a handicap that makes pulling a clutch difficult, I would suggest you stay away from AE's. That will bring defensive comments from AE owners. Just me opinion.

 
I had an accident in April '12 on my '09 that damaged all the plastics down the left side of the bike including the windscreen and left baggage. I was lucky there was no chassis or forks damage. Repaired by my insurance for $5500. Very close to be declared totaled by GEICO. If it had been a year older it would have been totaled. Dealer stored the bike for me until I got out of the nursing facility and could arrange to ride it home. Pretty much missed all of the '12 summer season.

I don't think I would touch any bike with more than repairable,minor road rash to a couple of panels or one with more than one broken panel.

 
My bike is from a salvage auction. I paid $1600 for it with fees.

Found out it needed a frame and some plastic bits. Total invested: $3500. And that was paying an experienced mechanic to do the frame swap.

That is how my forum moniker came into existence. My bike is reconstructed from at least 8 other "donor" FeeJeers.

 
Keep looking. I just sold my 2004 w/ ABS for $5000 and it only had 18,900 miles. Plus it had several extras. Good deals are out there if you are patient.

 
I would not buy a salvaged bike unless I knew for SURE why it was salvaged.

You can't believe what a stranger says.
You know if you think about it most of us are strangers. Very few of us ever have or ever will meet.

However, I 100% agree with everything you said. We (the forum) have nothing to gain but a potentially wonderful and useful member. The seller of this "Salvage Bike" has real dollars to gain. The seller's motivation to bend the truth is more pressing than ours.
I agree Red.

Also an insurance adjuster told me a salvage of any vehicle is worth 50% less than whatever Blue Book is....ouch!

 
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FWIW, After I decided what I wanted (08 + FJR) and what I could spend, I used a google filter search of craigslist to search nationwide.

That was about this time of year 2 years ago. I found the best deals in the Tampa area.

My how time flies.....

 
I just bought a 2010 FJR with only 1,551 miles on the odometer, and I found it on Cycle Trader. And I scored a pretty good deal, I think.

Look around and if you have some patience, a good deal will come along. Waiting for a once-in-a-lifetime great deal, well, that takes longer. Just look for a good deal, and you'll find one.

 
Law Dog

After looking this thread over, I'm going to disagree with the forum here. I work in New Port Richey, just a few miles from Tarpon Springs. I could take a look at this thing with you if you need some help.

The bike is probably worth an additional 1500 if it were in perfect condition - because of the low miles. But this is debatable. It does, after all have a salvage title. And low miles don't automatically mean great condition. It's been sitting somewhere a long time, being 8 years old and averaging a few hundred miles per year. That means it's value is in YOUR eyes alone, because you'll never sell it for "what it's worth" with that title. The pannier can be had for about 150-200 on this forum if you are willing to wait. You can take the other pannier off and ride it that way, many guys do. It just takes a few seconds. The bike actually looks great without them, so it's not that big of a deal. You don't need another fairing, IT HAS ONE. You need to get it painted. Taking the fairing off is time consuming, but doable. I would figure about 1000 dollars in time and cost for getting this done properly, but that's from a cheap body shop. Many cheaper shops can make a bike shine, but paint quality would become a factor due to the Florida sun's ability to fade and oxidize a cheap paint shop in a few years. I would doubt that you could replace it for that cost. Remember I'm factoring in the "cost" of your labor to remove it. A better quality shop would probably get 800-1000 for the paint work alone: paint that shined like factory paint and would not oxidize in a couple years (think economy paint jobs)... remember these prices as gues-ti-mates. If you plan to keep it for many years, and drive it till it's got a zillion miles and only worth 2500 bucks when yer done... then the salvage title won't matter much, you will have indeed gotten your money's worth out of it. But only if you keep it. So if you do indeed buy it, you'll do so with this in mind. Is it worth it? Maybe. I'd like to see about a 4k price, but that's only if the bike checks out. Just replacing a fairing doesn't always fix underlying damage, and that's a factor. The seller's "story" would matter as well. I'd need to know exactly was was done, who did it, and what other damage there was/might be. Remember that the asking price is just that.

Another IMPORTANT factor: how's you wrenching skills?

Now, that said: There's a bike just like (the AE, or automatic clutch model) it in Lutz with 11k on it for just over 7k... a pretty good price: CLICKY Maybe he'd come down?

There's another in Orlando, an 05 for 5k. CLICKY HERE Looks pretty nice, might just have about 30k miles, though they didn't quote the miles, they did say that the valves were just adjusted so I'm guessing. With the extra farkles, this might be exactly what you want. Don't be afraid of a few miles on these bikes, they'll go WELL over 100k easily.

Here's an 07 in beautiful black cherry in Sorrento for 6900 with 21k on it. CLICKY HERE.

Knowing the prices on similar bikes in the area can be a good bargaining tool for squeezing a better deal out of the seller. Hope that helps.

Gary

darksider #44

 
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I would not buy a salvaged bike unless I knew for SURE why it was salvaged.

You can't believe what a stranger says.
You know if you think about it most of us are strangers. Very few of us ever have or ever will meet.

However, I 100% agree with everything you said. We (the forum) have nothing to gain but a potentially wonderful and useful member. The seller of this "Salvage Bike" has real dollars to gain. The seller's motivation to bend the truth is more pressing than ours.
I agree Red.

Also an insurance adjuster told me a salvage of any vehicle is worth 50% less than whatever Blue Book is....ouch!
I think your adjuster friend was high. A bike, like anything else in the world, is only worth what someone else is willing to pay you for it. Most people are smart enough not to bet their money on a bike that has already been deemed financially unrepairable by an insurance company for unknown reasons. And you will never know the full reasoning for the total, regardless of what the seller tells you.

 
I think the OP has already said he'll keep looking, but in case he has any doubts (or is swayed by Gary) I will add my $.02.

I think pretty much everything I would need to know if I were shopping is in the pics and this line: "$4900.00 salvage title due to all plastic having to be replaced , however bike has been completely restored."

My thoughts:

  1. What kind of a crash results in all plastic having to be replaced?
  2. Looking at the pics, if this is what the seller considers to be "completely restored" then I'm not going to put much weight on his assertion that it "runs wonderful, rides like a dream."
I agree with Gary that it's probably not completely beyond saving but in my mind anything over $1K is too much.

 
I think the OP has already said he'll keep looking, but in case he has any doubts (or is swayed by Gary) I will add my $.02.
I think pretty much everything I would need to know if I were shopping is in the pics and this line: "$4900.00 salvage title due to all plastic having to be replaced , however bike has been completely restored."

My thoughts:

  1. What kind of a crash results in all plastic having to be replaced?
  2. Looking at the pics, if this is what the seller considers to be "completely restored" then I'm not going to put much weight on his assertion that it "runs wonderful, rides like a dream."
I agree with Gary that it's probably not completely beyond saving but in my mind anything over $1K is too much.
+1000

Anything can be fixed as long as you dump enough money into it. The question is do you want to find a bike that is already good and pay up front or go with the unknown with some crazy "fix" and pay as you go figure it out?

I couldn't agree more with G-MAN. The person who says that bike is "completely restored" minus the one hard bag and with the plastics all different colors is high as a kite. I definitely wouldn't trust his "runs wonderful" statement.

I would never sell something that looks like that- all half ass and subject to speculation. Even if you have to explain the salvage title, at least make it look presentable and have some receipts from a qualified place to certify that the thing is ok and has been put back together correctly. Just my $.02 FWIW..

 
I would not buy a salvaged bike unless I knew for SURE why it was salvaged.

You can't believe what a stranger says.
You know if you think about it most of us are strangers. Very few of us ever have or ever will meet.

However, I 100% agree with everything you said. We (the forum) have nothing to gain but a potentially wonderful and useful member. The seller of this "Salvage Bike" has real dollars to gain. The seller's motivation to bend the truth is more pressing than ours.
I agree Red.

Also an insurance adjuster told me a salvage of any vehicle is worth 50% less than whatever Blue Book is....ouch!
I think your adjuster friend was high. A bike, like anything else in the world, is only worth what someone else is willing to pay you for it. Most people are smart enough not to bet their money on a bike that has already been deemed financially unrepairable by an insurance company for unknown reasons. And you will never know the full reasoning for the total, regardless of what the seller tells you.
So why do you think he was "high"?? What you said obviously lowers the bikes value considerably. He's in the biz, I would think he'd know about the value but whatever.

I heard before that some insurance companies won't even insure a salvaged vehicle.

AS far as what you said about a vehicle only being worth whatever a person will pay well that's a given.

There's a guy on the other FJR board that just bought a new 14 and paid $23,000 for it! The total with financing was $28,000...his payments are $370.00 a month for 84 months!! And he put $4,000 down!

To HIM it was worth it and he's happy....but it's not worth that much.

 
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I meant he was high with his price estimate of 50% valuation (not that he was high, as in stoned).

I would value a salvage-titled bike much lower than 50% of a non-salvaged one.

 
I meant he was high with his price estimate of 50% valuation (not that he was high, as in stoned). I would value a salvage-titled bike much lower than 50% of a non-salvaged one.
I would never buy a salvaged bike unless it was for parts only.

 
The thing is that some folks thrive on rebuilding things like salvage bikes. There are folks who would do nearly anything to save a dime and would take great pride in the fact that they paid less than everyone else. That conversation usually starts with, "Yeah, it cost me a bunch of time but..."

Then there are those who actually wind up spending more money and time on the bike/car/truck/boat/house than it was ever worth but they enjoyed the project. They get their enjoyment in tinkering with things. When they are done they know more about the project than anyone else. Those are the ones that are considered experts.
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I am lazy. Unless "The Project" involves an attractive woman I don't like losing money on the deal. I would rather pay up front for the best that I can afford and enjoy it for a while before it starts costing me money.

 
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Unless "The Project" involves an attractive woman I don't like losing money on the deal. I would rather pay up front for the best that I can afford and enjoy it for a while before it starts costing me money.
With women, I'd rather just pay up front for the best that I can afford and enjoy it for a while.
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SkySoldier wrote:

"I would never sell something that looks like that- all half ass and subject to speculation. Even if you have to explain the salvage title, at least make it look presentable and have some receipts from a qualified place to certify that the thing is ok and has been put back together correctly. Just my $.02 FWIW.."

Yes, but the owner undoubtedly does not want to put any more money into the bike than he needs to.

 
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