RF900 Value

[Bend-it]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...n-73598878.htm

I'm looking at this bike, so had the owner take it in to the Suzuki delaership in Dunedin for a check.

This is what they found:

Problem ..................... Cost to fix
-------------------------------------------
Leaking fork seal ........... $300
Loose rubber mount ...... $50
on handlebar
Rear brake pads worn ..... $60
Rear tyre down to 1mm ... $300

Mileage is 34,797miles or 55,000+ kms. He wants $5300 for it.

What do you reckon? I'm inclined to ask him to fix the "faulty" things, i.e. fork seal and handlebar mount, and I'll accept the "worn" bits as part of buying a used bike.

So what do you think about value vs mileage etc?

[Bend-it]

Also, cylinder compression 185 190 190 180

Is that ok?

[MSTRS:Me]

Mileage is 34,797miles or 55,000+ kms. He wants $5300 for it.

Auction says 20,000k and $5600. Is there something dodgy going on?
Value probably high-4's to low-5's

[Drum]

I'm no expert on the RF900, but from what Ive seen on Trademe the last few months, I'd say less than $5k.

Didn't Colapop get one just recently?

[Cajun]

well if you say tire is down to 1mm he will have to replace it to get the new wof

no idea on prices on rfs few of the rf owners will pop along at some stage and let you know

[Bend-it]

Yeah... in the description, he did say 34+k miles, but the 20k kms in the description does confuse it, making me think he meant 20+ miles, and 34+ kms, which was not bad.

I rang and asked what he wanted, and he said $5,300

[Bend-it]

well if you say tire is down to 1mm he will have to replace it to get the new wof

True... hope he doesn't go "yeah, just the cheapest one will do."

[ManDownUnder]

It's a high price... higher than I'd expect anyway.

By comparison, at the time of purchase:
$6,300
30,000km
9 years old (is a '94, purchased in 2003)
Included high mounted hard luggage and none of the above problems.

It'd been dropped and resprayed but seems pretty good (although the drop and respray wasn't mentioned in the ad... 'twas pretty obvious once you looked)

[NinjaNanna]

$5300 seems a bit high, I would say to him "If your auction doesn't go as well as you hope I'm willing to pay $4500 give me a call after the auction" or what ever you think might be a very good buy from your point of view.

One thing to be careful of though, when I bought my bike I knew the fork seals needed doing and was willing to accept this cause I was quoted $200 to do them, when I had the job done they discovered that an area of chrome had worn away, so I'm just playing a waiting game to see how long this set of seals lasts? If they blow out quickly I'll either be up for re-chroming or finding another inner. Expensive!!! Still got a bargain though.

[Bend-it]

So the general consensus is either knock afew hundy off the price or wit for another one to pop up... Makes sense I guess...

[ManDownUnder]

So the general consensus is either knock afew hundy off the price or wit for another one to pop up... Makes sense I guess...

Yeah there's enough of them around.

FYI I have a spare set of forks up here if/when they're of use. One Staunchion's a bit roungh and chews out seals every 3 months or so, the other's fine, but has 70,000 kms on it

[crazybigal]

$300.00 to change fork seals! god im in the wrong job!!!
seals are like 30 bucks at the most, prob take you a sataday to do, its not that hard onece you figure out how to jack the bike up!, heavy bitch these rf's!
you have to take the side and bottom fairings off, but not the top just the inner plastics and you can get to the clamps.

put it this way, people are paying up to $7500(why i dont know) at a dealer for a good one so i think 5k is prob ok.
If you didnt know rf motors are rock solid! just watch out for worn alternator bushing, they crap out at 60k and can be costly to sort.
Some people have problems with 2nd gear so give the box a good work out before you buy it.

good luck!

[Bend-it]

yeah, just sent a txt to see if I could get the price knocked down some... Changing the fork seal was gonna cost more in labour than anything else... 3 hrs at the shop they reckoned... So, anyone on in Welly have tools I could borrow? I'm quite happy to have a go taking it apart...

Never felt like I properly owned a car till I took it apart and put it back, should be the same with a bike...

[crazybigal]

you could take the fork legs into the shop and have them fit the new seals, thats the shitty part of the job. save heaps on the labour bit of the job.
ive changed fork seals that have had the metal bands inside them go rusty and others i just couldnt get out without damaging the fork you just dont know what you will find untill you get at them.
the other thing you need to do is replace the fork oil, and you need to know how much and weight.

[Colapop]

Why yes, yes I did get one recently...

Mine is an RF900 1996 (first sold in '98) It had the fork sealls done prior to purchase, new oil, brake fluid and clutch fluid. Mine has a pack rack and a Scorpion exhaust.
I purchased it for $5k (down fron $6k) from a shop (so I had recourse if I had issues in the short term) and I got a good deal on a new helmet ($750 down to $450). The suspension needs to be upgraded/replaced and I'll need to replace the chain and spockets before too long. I've probably got about 5k left on the rear tyre.

Rear tyre - dunno haven't priced it yet, probably $200ish?
Suspension - between $900 and $1800 (may get it from Shaun and get it fitted adjusted at the same time)
Chain and sprockets - $300 for a chain, $20 front sprocket and $60 for a rear sprocket (excl. labour)

Good solid runner. Doesn't complain about my fat arse (like the missus does) and is not too greedy on gas... And I have a manual too.