[ballinlikeabeave]

I am new to the Ninja community and it just so happens that I have recently stumbled upon a pregen 250.. It is owned by a co-worker who rode it and let it sit.... My immediate guess is the carbs are gunked up from sitting for 6+ months. I have been doing some research cleaning the carbs...
Before I get to my question it is a 2004 250 with close to 9000 miles. It is in overall great shape... It needs a new set of turn signals and a brake lever (got dropped.

If I were to purchase this and fix it how much could I realistically expect to profit if I were to buy it for 700$ or should I let this pass.

Through a little research I would probably ask around 1700$ but easily come down to around 1400$ or Am I absolutely crazy for thinking this? ANY AND ALL HELP WELCOME THANKS!

 

[Felix]

If you're doing it just to flip a profit, I wouldn't do it. But if it was for a friend or yourself it might be worth it.

Too messy in my opinion.

Felix

 

[ballinlikeabeave]

We are planning on doing it to make a profit... What is a reasonable price to sell it for?
We are kindve testing the waters on buying and reselling bikes... we are looking into possibly purchasing wrecked bikes from the insurance companies and rebuilding to resell, and this would kindve be the first one to "test" the waters.

 

[spooph]

Erm, pics? What's the rest of the body work in? With the newgen becoming more available on the used market, pre-gens are going to be difficult to turn a profit on, I mean, the 250 has never been known as a profit maker in the first place.... You could ask $2200, that would be fair, considering mileage and general condition, but if it's not absolutely perfect cosmetically, be ready to come down. I wouldn't quite go as low as $1700... But that's my area. Your area might have many more 250's on the market and so the price might be significantly affected...

insurance auctions: www.ridesafely.com

I dabbled in this idea as well, and unless you find somebody who's desperate to get rid of their bike (as this person seems), or completely stupid/ignorant, it is a very difficult business to get started...

HOWEVER, if you offer classes learning to ride/wrench on bikes, and have bikes for sale, which you have fixed up, which can you can sell for a marginal profit, but you're main source of income will be the classes.... Plus, you'd have to probably finagle a deal with the local MSF provider, not just to get certified as instructors yourselves, but also to get your name out there... Just another idea.

I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just saying be realistic about it... But, if you can pick up a 250 for $700, don't hesitate man, regardless of what you're going to do with it, that's a good price for a great bike. Fix the brake lever and sell it as is for $1000, that's easy math there! 15min to replace lever, new lever = $15 > $285 profit... that's like $1140/hr...

 

[Felix]

I can't speak on what that bike would be worth. It's simple economics with a splash of successful marketing methods thrown in.

If you have a product that is priced well, not over supplied in your area and advertised well then it will sell. You need to have a look at what else is out there in your area and for how much. To really make things work you need to find a great buys, so hitting auctions where no one has a personal interest in the vehicle is a must. Then you need to decide how much money you can put in before you over spend. Essentially, you only want to spend the min required to get the vehicle roadworthy and attractive to buyers.

Then number one thing in making a sale is the 'sell', advertise the vehicle well, and targeted. Use a good camera, nice lighting, nice background. Good pictures do half the work. Also a good simple but thorough description is a must.

Felix

 

[ballinlikeabeave]

I know a bit about the selling part.. I have been buying broken/used cellphones and reselling them for some time now... but this will be the first time I have invested 300+ in something

 

[spooph]

Good pictures do half the work.

Felix

I agree with everything Felix said, but that is like +Eleventyseven Billion!

 

[ballinlikeabeave]

Sorry spooph I didnt see your post up there....You addressed one of my concerns.. the pregen 250s are fugly compared to 08+ and I personally wouldnt want one when I can get a newer one for relatively cheap. Howver here arent many 250s around my area and commute times are rather long (30 minutes from everywhere.) Huntington is a decent sized place but many people live in rural areas and commute every day.
I dont think that I mentioned that a friend is going in on this with me, were both in college and just looking to get a little cash flow going other than our jobs waiting tables.

 

[Slimer08]

We are kindve testing the waters on buying and reselling bikes... we are looking into possibly purchasing wrecked bikes from the insurance companies and rebuilding to resell, and this would kindve be the first one to "test" the waters.

One thing I can tell you, from a consumer's perspective, is that I have never bought something that was once wrecked (in terms of mechanical items). As this would be something that you'd have to disclose (unless you want to get sued). Nobody wants to drop $1400 on a 2004 Ninja 250 that was rebuilt, privately, without any kind of warranty service. Especially now, as some other have already hinted, that the new gens are EVERYWHERE.

I think you're going to find that selling bikes is absolutely nothing like cellphones. Everyone has a cellphone...so right from the get-go your consumer base is not really limited by anything. Most folks would drop $200 on a refurbished iPhone cause $400 for a new one is ridiculous (it is...for a phone). But bikes? Most folks would do the opposite...they'd spend a few hundred more on what they really want.

I'm not trying to steer you away from doing this, it's a novel idea, just don't get your hopes up :-\

EDIT: If anything...the impending costs of gas are an advantage to you...especially if you're dealing in the market of smaller bikes.

 

[spooph]

no worries Beave, I was just trying to emphasize the pictures thing.... Let us know how it goes, eh?

 

[ballinlikeabeave]

Will do, I just ordered about $50 worth of odds and ends to fix it up.. I plan on breaking it down saturday morning and let the carbs soak in pine-sol over night and clean/reassemble sunday, but that is just the plan. Im sure I will start and something catastrophic will happen because I have found when working of anything mechanical nothing goes as planned.. but Ill definitely be taking some before and afters.

 

[spooph]

sweet! Can't wait! Yea for Pinesol!

 

[ballinlikeabeave]

Sorry Felix... I keep missing people's posts on here... No worries though man.. I wouldn't have made this thread and asked for opinions if I didn't want peoples thoughts on it. I appreciate your input.

Officially going to pick up the bike tomorrow... Got new plugs and a bottle of seafoam to try before I disassemble anything. However, I am highly skeptical as to how much this will help if at all..

 

[ballinlikeabeave]

Just an update... Bought the bike, new turn signals (one was broken) new clutch and brake lever, cleaned carbs(bike actually runs now), and new plugs all for under $50, so I have about $800 in it... Im kindve busy with school right now, but I am planning on taking a few pictures tomorrow and I will try to post them on here.

 

[Felix]

Sounds good! How does it run? Clean through the rev range?

Felix

 

[ballinlikeabeave]

At first like crap.... but I made the mistake of listening to the parts guy when he told me the spark plug gap... looked it up myself made the correction and it runs awesome now... Also did a little tweaking to the idle mixture... However I must admit that I spent the day wondering why it wouldn't start after I regapped the plugs... went and took a break and when I came back I realized I had spent 3 hours trying to start the bike without the fuel or vac lines attached to the tank... I felt like the worlds biggest idiot..

 

[Felix]

Hahah, we've all been there

Felix

 

[ballinlikeabeave]

By ballinlikeabeave at 2011-04-11

here is a crappy pic ...I was bored and out in the garage

 

[Zandit]

That looks neat! They really need to do yellow for the New 250R

 

[spooph]

That looks quite spectacular for the price! Well done Beaver!