slow mo is some cool sheeeit. You never really notice how much of this crap is soaked up by your bike in the rough spots until you break out the vidya camera, lol.
Mine would have bottomed out three times Too bad I’ll miss my highlight of the year, the Death Valley Noobs Rally. I probably won’t be ready for all day in the boots by then. It’s really the only good big chunk of dirt riding this father of two gets to do. I’m still planning on going, though. I run radios and do bike recovery.
I think this one bottomed a few times as well. My uncle has a good 45 lbs on me so the bike was a little undersprung for him.
Get the mileage - If under 15K, I'd say 2000, if over, I'd say 1750 for a DR in generally good condition.. The DR can sit for years and start up easily, so I wouldn't worry about the sitting time if he says it ran well. Check to make sure that you can't smell gas in the dipstick hole - the petcocks can slowly leak the gas into the engine. Check again when you get it running, and the oil (+gas?) is getting pumped around. Check the cam chain tensioner before you rev the engine.
IMO.... Those prices might be ok for a good running "94 - "97se. Maybe a little more for a really low mile "98/"99se. A supper clean one might bring close to $3k. But one that's been sitting up for 5 years with unknown history and won't run might bring $500. Not much more.
Got my DR with 3k on the odo and the head was trash and had to be replaced. Miles don't mean much if it was mostly dirt and the oil has been forgotten about. So many variables that make it hard to tell without pics or anything. I'd tell him $700 in its current state, or 1.5 to 2.5k if he gets it running and it has no large problems. The 1.5 to 2.5k depending on the overall condition. I think $700 for a non-runner will allow you to not hate yourself too much if you have to start replacing a bunch of stuff. Don't let the fact that it "ran when parked" convince you there's hope. Make no mistake, it's a non-runner right now. My last bike "ran fine when parked 3 years ago" and needed like 500 to 700 bucks in just parts to get it to acceptable condition, but even then, the forks were rusted and ate up seals like candy and it wasn't worth getting new forks for it.
agreed. Get more info. Get pics. Clean title? $700 seems like a good ballpark unless you see something that stands out as either really clean/well taken care of to up the price, or a big red flag. Was it stored with fuel in the carb? Is the paint worn through above the pegs? Is there a 5 year old encrustation of grime coating the engine? Forks leaking so much that the front brakes are slippery? What's the spot where it's been parked look like? Even if it's totally stock, clean, low miles, you're probably looking at tires, chain, battery, fork flush, oil & filters to budget in right off the bat. $250 here would probably cover all of that if you're going entry level stuff, doing the work yourself. Then possibly fork seals, carb clean(and refresh important o rings), fuel tank & valve clean, seat recover, cosmetics if necessary, refreshing wiring/connectors. Getting to worse case scenarios, toasted head from oil starvation, bad steering/wheel bearings, dropped shift drum bolt(symptom: weird shifting problems), just missing parts, etc. Then you can consider cosmetic and functional upgrades. All of this applies to any barn bike that's been sitting. You will very likely love the bike. I've had 8 of them. Flipped, camped, serviced, rebuilt, big bored, and upgraded them, so that's my frame of reference. I even ride them once in awhile. This is a biased forum though, YMMV. Kenda k270 4.5x18 rear is a great all around budget tire for the rear, for your shopping considerations.
On the paint wear above the pegs, when I got my DR, the PO poorly spray painted the frame right there to cover it up before selling and got overspray on everything. It wore back off in 100 miles.
Personally I see that paint wear as a badge of honour - means the bike is getting used the way it is supposed to....now rust above the pegs is not good!
I'm no longer enjoying finding unnecessary wear on the DRs. Frame guards are nice. But these bikes are so reliable, I'd say the frame paint wear is really not a useful indication of anything other than whether the PO was wearing proper boots.
Fair enough - I wasn't really suggesting it was a *good* indicator! :) However, to each his own with regard to "unnecessary wear"....a trail bike without scratches for me is indicative of too much time spent polishing and not enough riding...as you might guess I am not a fan of too many farkles, unless they enhance usability. But that's just me.
Agreed. My current 99 SE looked pristine inside and out when I got it. I think it still had the factory brush guards even. No wear on the frame, no dings on the skid plate. The guy was using it to commute. I don't think he ever waxed it, but with no visible wear* at 10k miles, I was very happy to see it in such great condition. In the last 500 miles, I put more visible wear on it. Hehe. * Except for the piston that was melting away and broke off a piece of ring that was bouncing around in the combustion chamber.
Hello all, I'm alive! I'm slowly reading through posts, I've been in CA for work. Currently on winter break, DYING TO RIDE. My next stop after this is CA for another week then Montana for 12 weeks so... I saw groups of DRZ's and XR650L's, it hurt me so. Every time I saw a dual sporter at a gas station I wanted to stop and chat but was working haha. This is where I left off in October... Stored bike in garage, battery tender conveniently died beforehand. Gotta a bum a ride to buy an overpriced lead acid (it's all that's available) OR see if I can charge old bat just enough to get there myself. AND while I was gone my buddy bought a CRF250L!!!! I picked up a gopro so I can finally share some video here. It's good to be back (for now)! I've missed my steed dearly. One of the best decisions and purchases I ever made which lead to some of the best experiences and you folks helped me out TONS in the beginning and beyond. Can't thank you all enough.
Yeah I'm not exactly worried about it. It's never rusted right there after I leave it for the winter so I don't think it's a problem.
Sounds like a great find. Hopefully it's a 98 or 99 with the upgraded suspension, but you can have a great time on ANY DR that you can get running.
