First, I apologise for carrying on the off-topic conversation regards the blue recycle bin. That was unfair of me, and I see my comment was removed, which is good.
Im going to echo Gremlin here a bit.
This is honest feedback, from a real buyer, and your bike was one of the bikes I looked at. At that point, it was in Wild West. Being in a shop, OBH, it obviously had higher $$$ on it then than it does now.
From my point of view:
1. Its a 2004. The 2005 model was a fairly significant upgrade (unusual for Honda), meaning that, effectively, it is now 3 major models old.
2. Some of the visual customisations weren't to my taste, some of them were done reasonably nicely. I thought:
* the spikes werent my cup of tea
* the paint / chroming was reasonably nicely done, though again, not really to my personal tastes.
* the screen hard to see through when crouched down
* the machined bar-ends were a major turn-off for me. They certainly would not pass scrutineering at a clubmans race (and potentially track day scrutineering as well?). I also cut myself on one of them while I was looking around the bike, which didnt help my opinion of them any either
3. As with cars, mods/customisations basically never increase overall value. They are a black-hole when it comes to money. You would possibly be better putting the standard stuff back on, and selling the mods separately, or offering them as additional options.
I personally see mods as a de-valuer as they are often not done properly (I am NOT implying this in your case, just as a generalisation). And mods often have negative implications relating to 'boy-racers' and the likely associated wear-n-tear on the machine.
The only way I personally consider mods is if they were easy to revert to stock (and original stock bits came with the vehicle as well, that way I know the mods were done for the right reasons), or if they were done (and documented proof of such) by a well-known and reputable firm.
One of the things I keep in mind when buying something is potential resale and difficulty of resale. I felt your bike would probably be problematic for me to resell later on as it would not have as much general appeal, and would therefore restrict me to a smaller segment of potential buyers.
At the end of the day, keep in mind that anybodys comments are in relation to their OWN PERSONAL PREFERENCES. And no, its not fair for them to slag your pride-and-joy in a public forum.
As Gremlin states, if you are willing to hang on to find the right buyer, then you will likely get the right price for it.
Good Luck!!
PS. Once you have read this, Im more than happy for it to be removed if you would like. I just wanted to give you some hopefully helpful feedback.
Bookmarks