Strip, Sell or Part Out?

[Siman00]

Help!  I need your advice.  I have a 2009 R1200 RT with 108.5k miles.  It has been maintained as required. As the high mileage would indicate, it has many, many miles from long-distance rides.  All synthetic fluids it's entire life.  No leaks and does not use oil.  Many farkles on bike.

 

I'm trying to decide whether to sell the bike as is, whether to strip the farkles off and sell separately and then sell the base bike as is, or whether to part out the bike.

 

I'm an old guy, 73, and realize my strength, stamina, reflexes and balance aren't what they used to be.  I've ridden more than 250k miles with no moving falls or injuries. I've ridden in all 50 states plus several areas of Europe and Canada.  But my riding days have ended and I'm selling my beloved RT as well as  a 1200 C Phoenix.

 

On my last ride, returning to our cabin in the mountains on a half-mile dirt, gravel and crushed asphalt driveway, my wife and I, on the bike, took a tumble down a 15' embankment.  I simply lost my balance on the loose asphalt, stopped to regain balance, and the shoulder of the driveway gave away under my foot and, with no support, we tumbled down the embankment.

 

We were extremely lucky; both wore Roadcrafter suits and ATGATT.  No scratches, no bruises, no fractures, but lots of sore muscles from tumbling.  We landed on thick vegetation, loose ground, and no rocks or trees.  As we tumbled, the bike somehow flew over my head, catching the back of my helmet and slapping it fairly hard.

 

The bike ended up on its left side, pointing up the embankment.  It had a broken windshield, a bent bracket that holds the mirror (mirror not damaged), a shattered front turn signal lens, scratches on front fairing, side cases, and top case.  The topcase is essentially destroyed; the lid will not shut properly and the front-bottom has a break in the fiberglass.  That's it.  When we got it back up to the driveway, I rode it on to the cabin.  It ran and operated normally.  I've attached a few pics "as is" and can send more to anyone who wants to see more.

 

Most people are afraid to but a motorcycle with >108k miles on the odo.  However, if I were going to continue riding, I'd simply patch it up and hit the road with no worries.  But I've decided I don't want to press my luck and have already replaced my riding hobby with a bright yellow Honda S 2000.

 

So, I'm soliciting advice on how to best dispose of it.  I have an appropriate place to dismantle it and store parts, so parting it out is a real possibility.  My goal is to maximize my return without killing my time.  What do you think?

[dirtrider]

27 minutes ago, Siman00 said:

Help!  I need your advice.  I have a 2009 R1200 RT with 108.5k miles.  It has been maintained as required. As the high mileage would indicate, it has many, many miles from long-distance rides.  All synthetic fluids it's entire life.  No leaks and does not use oil.  Many farkles on bike.

 

I'm trying to decide whether to sell the bike as is, whether to strip the farkles off and sell separately and then sell the base bike as is, or whether to part out the bike.

 

I'm an old guy, 73, and realize my strength, stamina, reflexes and balance aren't what they used to be.  I've ridden more than 250k miles with no moving falls or injuries. I've ridden in all 50 states plus several areas of Europe and Canada.  But my riding days have ended and I'm selling my beloved RT as well as  a 1200 C Phoenix.

 

On my last ride, returning to our cabin in the mountains on a half-mile dirt, gravel and crushed asphalt driveway, my wife and I, on the bike, took a tumble down a 15' embankment.  I simply lost my balance on the loose asphalt, stopped to regain balance, and the shoulder of the driveway gave away under my foot and, with no support, we tumbled down the embankment.

 

We were extremely lucky; both wore Roadcrafter suits and ATGATT.  No scratches, no bruises, no fractures, but lots of sore muscles from tumbling.  We landed on thick vegetation, loose ground, and no rocks or trees.  As we tumbled, the bike somehow flew over my head, catching the back of my helmet and slapping it fairly hard.

 

The bike ended up on its left side, pointing up the embankment.  It had a broken windshield, a bent bracket that holds the mirror (mirror not damaged), a shattered front turn signal lens, scratches on front fairing, side cases, and top case.  The topcase is essentially destroyed; the lid will not shut properly and the front-bottom has a break in the fiberglass.  That's it.  When we got it back up to the driveway, I rode it on to the cabin.  It ran and operated normally.  I've attached a few pics "as is" and can send more to anyone who wants to see more.

 

Most people are afraid to but a motorcycle with >108k miles on the odo.  However, if I were going to continue riding, I'd simply patch it up and hit the road with no worries.  But I've decided I don't want to press my luck and have already replaced my riding hobby with a bright yellow Honda S 2000.

 

So, I'm soliciting advice on how to best dispose of it.  I have an appropriate place to dismantle it and store parts, so parting it out is a real possibility.  My goal is to maximize my return without killing my time.  What do you think?

 

Afternoon   Siman00

 

I don't have much advice for you other than to say that I have parted out a few motorcycles over the years & it is a REAL pain in the ass to do so. Shipping motorcycle parts gets old in a hurry.

 

If it now runs & rides OK then  maybe start by seeing what it is worth as it now sits.

 

The high miles will lower the amount offered but that will also happen when selling the parts. 

 

 

[Hosstage]

I would get rid of it in the easiest way possible, and not worry about losing a few hundred bucks in the process. Removing the farkles will make it even less desirable selling it as is, and selling those separately, as mentioned, is a pain in the butt, and will not sell for as much as you think they are worth.

I'm not sure how a service like Cranky Ape or Crashed Toys works, may or may not be worth the cost of doing business there. A realistic determination of worth is necessary no matter which way you go.

One way to look at it, selling it someone who can appreciate it and is excited to get it back on the road might make a little financial loss worth it to see someone really enjoy it.

 

[Siman00]

I talked with one guy who, I think, buys fixes and sells bikes.  He offered me $600 as is.  I feel that was an insult and told him No.  But I actually have no idea what it's worth.  

 

Any thoughts on worth of an 09 RT with scars.  I can fix the windshield (I have several), the mirror, and the turn signal lens.  As I said in OP, I think the topcase is trashed.

 

On the stripping, I installed each farkle (almost all were used), and I've sold a fair amount of stuff over the years, so I know what's involved.

 

I'm not concerned about losing a few hundred dollars; it's thousands of lost dollars that concerns me.

 

Oh, BTW, I've attached 2 pics to show where we tumbled and how the bike landed.

[w2ge]

A friend of mine sold his 2008 with abt the same miles (however pristine shape) for $2800.  He’s on this forum, he sometimes lurks... I don’t think he’s ever posted.

[Skywagon]

siman....sorry about you fall.  glad you and wife are ok.  Lot's of opinions so here is mine.  I would put the bike back together, maybe find a used top case on ebay or craigslist that is in better shape, then sell it.  I'm not sure what value it would have been worth precrash with a 100K plus...but certainly more than $600.  If you aren't in a hurry, and I suspect you aren't, I would fix and sell.  Sounds like it has been a real sweetheart of a bike for you.  Good luck.

[wbw6cos]

Glad you folks are okay.

 

To add to the part-it-out scenario, you may get lucky and sell some key parts, but not all of it.   You will still have a lot of the bike left, depending on how long you keep it for parting out.  It may take quite a bit of time to sell most of the parts, unless you make a concentrated effort to market them.

 

The big question is at what point do you call it quits (parting it out) and what do you do with what is remaining?

 

Good luck to you.

[9Mary7]

I am in the 'get it back on the road and sell it" camp. Used parts can be found at bargain prices...... a lot of those bikes out there. I think it's a $2500 bike all day long when its cleaned up. (the blue ones are sweet lookin)

Selling off major components will get you some money..... more than the $600 offer but, you will be left with a bunch of stuff that there is very little need for on the used market.

Shipping is expensive and most don't want to pay what it actually costs.

I still have a bunch of R11xxRT parts including 4 new OEM windshields and I haven't had one for years!!

[Hosstage]

Good advice given to replace and repair, find cheap parts on line if possible, then put up for sale. You could pull and sell the more popular accessories that are easy to sell and bring the most money. I agree that $600 offer was insulting, but I can see his point as well, he's in it to buy wholesale and sell retail. It's just business.

I'm also glad to hear you and your wife are ok, that looks like it was quite a tumble.

[AZgman]

Where is the bike located? I would advertise it on this forum. You have been honest with it's condition, and you should be able to get more than $600 for it.

[szurszewski]

You said you want to maximize your return without killing your time. 
 

If you had NOT said anything about time, the above advice to fix it up is good. But since you’re worried about time, you need to figure out what that’s worth. While I think you could get more than $600, I don’t know why you’d be insulted, particularly if that guy is trying to make money. 
 

I think realistically, assuming you’re honest about the tumble, with the mileage you have a $2500 bike - once it’s fixed back up to riding condition with nothing more than minor scratches showing. If you omit the tumble, maybe $3500 to the right buyer. 
 

Do you enjoy the idea of spending more time working on this bike? If so, then don’t worry about the time and have at it. If you’d rather be running around in the Honda, estimate how many hours of work you’ll need to do (include time spent listing the bike or parts, meeting buyers or schlepping parcels to the post office), and how much cash you’ll spend. If you could do it for $300 and twenty four total hours, and your time was worth $40 an hour, your investment would be about $1200. 
 

If you sold it for $2500 then, you’d be about $700 ahead of selling it to the $600 guy. If, though, he’d pay $1000, you’d only be $300 ahead. 
 

I don’t think you’d be leaving the thousands you worry about on the table regardless, so it comes down to what’s more fun: selling it cheap and easy to do other stuff, or grinding out the work to keep a few hundred more. 
 

If I didn’t have a strong feeling one way or the other, I’d ask my wife what she thought or would prefer I do, and then do that. At least then if I later felt I’d made the wrong decision, I could blame her

[WILDPIG]

the resale value for bmw's is beyond poor--even when they are pristine., irregardless of the model imo. It is quite shocking giving the image bmw trys to project that of a luxury m/c, quality build, well engineered --which i know is a bald face lie-- mal engineered is a more accurate term--- but in terms of dollars made or lost-welp when it comes to bmw its -- dollars lost.

[uncle fester]

pm sent

 

[Scott9999]

Well, this is a pretty old topic.  It would be interesting to know what Siman00 choose to do.  

 

I would have pointed out, that besides the effort and pain in parting out the bike, shipping fees are now brutal.   I was set to sell off a sport screen to another long time forum member, but the shipping came to over $50.  (I found an untried broker which supposedly would get me the UPS label for maybe $29, but, who knows?)  Now I'll probably keep it until I sell the bike, or just hand it to a friend. 

 

What a part or the bike is worth is one thing if someone's standing in front of you, and a whole different animal if you're shipping it.  All the companies now get discount rates that allows them to ship at 1/3 or even 1/10th the price of retail, but unless you can ship it through your company (some corporations will allow employees to do that), you're paying through the nose.  I have a whole box of stuff that will eventually wind up donated or at the dump, because the value doesn't exceed the shipping costs.

 

So, I would have just advised the gentleman to advertise it as is for a few months on Craigslist, maybe here too, and if no takers, contact beemerboneyard for quote, and take whatever he can get for it as scraped.  Just not worth parting out old bikes.   (I haven't done it, but my son when he was a teenager spent hours buying wrecked bikes and restoring them, made a pretty penny, but put lots, and lots of hours into doing so.  Teenagers are driven like that, when they want their first R1, and later, a Ducati.  🤣😖 )

SSimSiman00an00

[Siman00]

Thanks for the reminder.  I've decided to remove the easy-to-pick farkles I added and sell separately, basically bringing it back to OEM.  Then sell it as is, which is still a good bike, for whatever it will bring.

 

I also have a 2001 C (Phoenix) bike in great shape that I need to put on the market.  

[bimmers]

When i got my new 21 1250RT i was offered between 1,000 and 2,000 in trade for my 09 and 06 RT with 30k on them and in pristine condition. I chose to keep both and donated the 09 to a friend and still have to 06 that Ive had since new. 

I plan on  selling it after Thanksgiving but given what the dealer offered and adding their margin or considering auction price + margin I dont know if it is even worth selling just get space in garage.

I also had a 1200 Montauk earlier that I traded, donated all my spare parts to a random guy riding a 1200 C, would likely do the same with spares for RT if price selling it is low. 

 

Since you have decided to give up riding, period, I would sell it at a competitive price and just move on. As a hobby you can of course sell parts over time, while the 2000S gets its farkles...... It is a great car but make sure you rev it up to high rpms to get the joy of the power range as it is up there in the higher rpms.  Many years ago I was looking at one but got a Z3 instead. 

 

Be safe and enjoy the discussions with potential customers.

H