Second Hand Prices

[Chris Canning]

I've posted a similar message before but it gets worse,in our wednesday motorcycle comic we have here in the UK there's a dealer advertiseing an S for under £4500 at this rate they'll be giveing them away.

Chris C

[Boxer]

I saw that, but check out the prices for Aprilia Mille 99 models under 5000ukp!
Could have something to do with the time of year!



[This message has been edited by Boxer (edited 11-22-2000).]

But why would you want to sell such a good bike?

[JOC]

Yep I know where you're coming from... after all my corrosion probs and complaining to BMW, they offered me 500 quid towards a new one, BUT my part exch offer was only 3000 quid !!! The bike was just 20 mths old at the time, but I admit it had 30,000 miles. It's funny, when you buy the bike they tell you how good they are for high mileage ("ooh, they're not even run-in until 20,000m...")... I've seen 10 year old BMs for 4,500.... I think I'll keep it forever.
JOC

[Gromit]

Hi JOC,

Yes, so true - I bought my 1150GS back in April and did 12000 miles on it until I sold it at the end of August to get my S. All the stuff about 'oh...not run-in etc etc until etc etc' is just bull***** come part-ex time. In many ways, I would rather have a Boxer with 6000 miles on than one which has just had its first service - the engine will be sweeter.

Having said that, I'm going to contradict myself because my S was a year old and had done 1600 miles when I bought it! Still believe I got a bit of a bum deal though considering that 1150GS's are like the proverbial rocking horse poo secondhand and hold their value really well as a result.

Got 5800 quid for it, fully loaded with ABS, luggage, grips etc etc. My S was 6 and a half g's, no luggage, grips or ABS.

Doesn't stop me loving it though! The secondhand value will just make me keep it longer.

Come and join us on http://www.egroups.com/group/Boxertrix

It's for UK S owners, (although anyone is welcome) the membership is growing fast! Would be great to have you aboard.

Regards,

Richard.

[This message has been edited by Gromit (edited 11-23-2000).]

[Malc]

The problem with motorcycles is that they are seen as leisure vehicles and not a serious mode of transport. I think one of the most telling pieces of journalism I've seen recently was Bike magazines strip down of a 900 Ninja with 20K on it. One of the big ends needed replacing and they only gave the gearbox another 10K at best. Also the press have hyped sports bikes so much in the last few years that for most riders nothing else will do. The R1 has been bike of the year since it's launch but would you want to ride one every day all year? And of course as soon as Yamaha launch the updated model for the next season the R1 that was so great last year is now a pile of ****e.

This has happened to the S. The "sports package" with wider rear wheel and different shocks has always been available but now BM have launched it as a seperate model. This has been tested in various rags and has been rated as far better than the standard model, therfore in the eyes of the Jap plastic riding public the standard S is a pile of ****e. You don't have to look far down the postings on this board to find a rider who has switched back to the narrower rim, and I don't recall seeing anything about riders complaining about the lack of ground clearance (except maybe on the track).

Take heart in the fact that when your bike has 80K on the clock it's engine will perform as well it did at 20K and you will still be able to sell it (if it hasn't rusted away).

As I am writing a work colleague has just come up for a chat. He owns a 99 Honda Hornet and does a fair amount of mileage in the summer but the bike has been put away for the last 5 or 6 weeks. This months Ride magazine ran a story on £2500 bikes, one of which was a 99 Hornet. For a bike which was well liked when new they condemed the handling as "quirky". This weeks MCN had a piccy of an Evel Kenevel painted Hornet which they said tarted up the standard bikes "dowdy looks".

I can think of many other examples of secondhand prices being far lower than they should be, although the S seems to be one of the few BM's to have lost so much value so quickly, perhaps because it was pitched to tempt Jap riders.

One of the reasons I buy BMW is because I ride all year round, can expect decent reliability and know I can always sell it when the time comes. All BM dealers will tell you about good second values for high mileage bikes, but remember high mileage on a bike is anything over 10K.

[Gromit]

Malc,

So perfectly described!

Richard.

[Boxer]

One thing your forgetting lads is that, BM's prices have all come down in the last 18 months so people that paid for example £13000 for a k1200rs when it was introduced are now faced with £9995 on the road for a new one. Also BM are trying to move into a more volume related model with the "s", this must push residual values down. To compete against Jap. models you have to price very carefully. I think the days of BM selling their bikes just on name have gone. But isn't just bikes, in the UK the last 24 months have seen second- hand values of cars crumble as more pressure is put on manufacturers in a stagnant/reducing market. One things for sure, I won't be trading my bike in!

[Spiralgalaxy5]

Hi all

A little while back I was going to sell my 'S' (I wasn't thinking straight) and a chap came to look at it. I wanted 5500 - 5200GBP and the bike was in good nick with nearly 20,000 miles on it. It's a 1999 model. I proceeded to point out to prospective owner all the things that pissed me off about the bike - at which point he looked at me and said "you really don't want to sell this bike do you?"

I'm glad I didn't sell my bike! Prices since have gone down again. I think the 'S' has not succeeded (in the UK) in breaking through the mis-conceptions and prejudice about BMW bikes. This is a real pity because, it is the most un-BMW like BeeEm I have ridden to date: almost to the point of losing some appeal (for me).

I almost wish that BMW had made the finish better (yes for more money, I know) and here I'm thinking of things like the rough cast fork legs, (yeuch!), then pitched it fair & square as their best Boxer ever!! As we all know, it's more sportsbike than a lot of other so-called sports-tourers & almost demands to be ridden hard. I don't think I'll be selling mine now until I ride to its limits on the road - i.e. most probably never

Tim

UK

[Chris Canning]

Hi gent

Just to highlight what I'm on about I sold my FJ at the begining of this year admittedly it was pretty trick and had a lot of money spent on it but I got £3000 for it and it was 10years old,and were talking about a S that can't be any older than 2years 3months for £41/2 bottom book is £4750.

Chris C