Dealers taking the piss

Been browsing several dealer websites looking for a nice used bargain, maybe a
ZX9R or a Thunderace around the 2K mark. I thought it would be a good time of
year. Apparently not. I've noticed two things:
1) Dealers tend to advertise prices /way/ above book[1].
2) The book is pretty high anyway. (IMO)

So what's going on? Are they actually selling used bikes at silly prices to
mugs, or are they discounting the sticker heavily? (Or are they selling
nothing at all?)

[1] Check out the 'Busa http://www.thebikepavilion.co.uk/sportstourer.html.

 

TD says...

So buy private.

 

Don't bother with dealers; make me an offer I can't refuse for mine
instead...

 

Tell me more, I'm all ears. (Email address in headers is valid.)

 

I was browsing in a dealer this afternoon. Had a black ZX9R C1, R-reg, about
35000 miles, nice enough for the year. Asking a "mere" 2500. When I enquired,
he said he could do it for 2300. When I suggested that this was a shit deal,
he sort of shrugged his shoulders.

You're not the first person to say that in this thread, and it's exactly
what I'm going to do. I was looking as I originally thought that dealers
would be desperate to shift stock at this time of year.

 

There's always a chance that someone fresh from Direct Access will come
along in a few months and buy it on finance for full price, plus a load of
gear.

A dealer will punt the bike out to another trader for a cheap price before
selling it to you at the price you think reasonable. The worst the dealer
will lose is a few hundred quid. Selling it to you means the dealer has to
fix any defects and offer some sort of warranty, which may cost loads.

 

TD says...

Way way overpriced - lower mileage C2s were hitting that figure in
private sales 3 years ago.

 

My R-reg '98 9R-C1 was put up for 2250 by Carl Rosner, after he'd given
me 1700 for it PX on the Sprint ST.

This was in May last year, so probably a slightly better time to be
selling.

 

That's less then I'd want for my blue C2 on a late S-reg, with less miles,
and better condition.

 

You need to come down from cuckoo land.

 

Indeed. I'd say £2k tops.

 

Switters says...

I paid less for a 2000 W plate C2 in late 2004.

 

Shan't. It's nice here. Anyway, although it's what I would want, I know
it's nothing like what I would get. Which is probably why I've done
nothing about selling it.

 

Used bike prices are just a way of making us all own more bikes.

"That's cheap, I'll have it." or "That's a shit price, I'll keep it
as a winter hack."

Come to terms with it and buy a house with more garage space, we've
got six bikes between us and I can't see that reducing.

 

Good plan. I'm seeing a man about a 690SM tomorrow.

 

Excellent choice. Get a set of Akros for it asap because the standard
cans make the front end look stylish.

Mine's great fun to ride and I really should go out and get enough
miles on it for the first service, I'm averaging not many miles per
month at the moment but now the elefantentreffen is out of the and the
K100 has illegal tyres (1) the KTM is my only legal bike.

(1) They were fucked before we went but I didn't want to waste money
on it and then dump it in a foreign field miles from home. Even Burnt
thought I should at least have changed the rear tyre.

 

How loud are they? I've found most KTMs to be quite loud enough already.
I've not ridden the 690 yet though, that's the plan for tomorrow, so I'll
check the standard cans then. No purchasing decision has been made, but
I'll likely not be doing a full darsy.

 

" "

 

They're not stupidly loud, you can run them with the baffles in or out
and mine have been out since I collected the bike. They give a small
power gain once the bike's been mapped to suit and you don't need a
power commander to do the mapping, just take the bike to any KTM
dealer and they'll plug it in and do the changes straight away.

I'm not sure if KTM actually own Akrapovic but there's some kind of
link between them so you don't screw your warranty by fitting them.

 

Akrapovic is owned by a Slovenian of the same name. Apparently he was a
motorcycle racer who competed in F1 and SBK. I'd never heard of him before
visiting Slovenia in 2005. He was named their businessman of the year.
http://www.ukom.gov.si/eng/slovenia/publications/slovenia-news/2766/2769/