2005 sale values?

[Bellerophon]

Thanks all for the advice.
I've had it listed for three weeks now without a serious bite. The cheaper to keep her route may be best, or give it away and move up.

I agree with your "cheaper to keeper" sentiment. While your 2005 is a Gen1 and no doubt there have been many notable improvements to our FJRs, keep in mind that is essentially the same bike as a 2016. In my estimation your bike is worth at least $4K, and if no one is willing to pay that, as you said, "look forward to hitting 100K".

The only caveat, I'll throw in is that if you have "new paint fever", and trust me I can totally relate to that, then you get what you can, and go buy that 2016.

 

[juniorfjr]

I'm in the same boat, my 05 is at 70k. Lots of farkles, custom seat, gp suspension upgrades, and more. We know the bike could go another 100 k most likely, but to the uninformed the miles seem daunting. I've been thinking of trading for a gen III but don't want to give her away. Will be watching to see what your outcome is. GLWS.

 

[SacramentoMike]

This is "sort of" on topic, especially since the thread's title is a sort-of-generic "2005 Sale Values." It's a little depressing to read about the values of other '05s here, comparing them to mine. I wouldn't mind having a younger FJR in better shape, and it's sort of a possibility, but for two things. First, I'm a whisker from 100K and the bike's got a number of other value-lowering issues too. Like the ABS is non-functional. The pipes have been modified ("Trooper mod"--I like it but my dealer let me know a couple years back they didn't even want it in trade based on only that--at least without replacing the muffs).

Worse, I know the tranny is suspect--sometimes slips under hard acceleration, so I just avoid doing that. Oh, and the front seat won't catch in the latch, so you can just lift it off. That could just be interference from the Bagster tank cover, but I'd rather keep the cover and have an unsecured seat. It's also got a bunch of scratches and blemishes all over, and it's dirty as hell.

But on the plus side, the engine still runs great, the brakes and suspension are almost new, it's a lovely Galaxy Blue color, and it's loaded with tons of Generation I-specific goodies, only some of which could be transferred (like about a grand worth of lighting). The tires are new and the gas tank is full.

But the biggest unknown is the rider. That guy has his own issues--non-functional parts, several modifications, some slipping under certain conditions, and of course plenty of scratches and blemishes. If the bike fell apart tomorrow, I'd have to make a move, but if I can coax just a few more years out of it . . . who knows?

 

[wheatonFJR]

My 2004 I could have kept till it dropped dead. It is that awesome of a bike. However, I saw a steal of a Gen 3 and bit, glad I did.

Gave my trusty 04 with the aftermarket suspension to my riding son...because I would NOT give my 04 to just anybody.

 

[audiowize]

For these very reasons, I don't think I'll ever trade my '03, I'll just make my garage a little bigger so I can hold another bike.

 

[kieefjr]

As bad as I would like to just moth-ball it, I've been there, done that and now with less space, less desire to maintain I don't care anything about it.

I sold a nice R90s because of it and now someone else can enjoy it and its not my worry. Doesn't bother me the least bit.

It does bother me that the value has dropped so much but that's how it is.

 

[Fred W]

I say go for 100k on it. It is still a hell of a nice bike, and you already have it all set up the way you like it.

And FWIW, I am the NERD that ionbeam mentioned who decided to keep my '05 w/ 100k for my son when I upgraded to a new 2014 ES. The dealer offered me 4k for it with all of the same farkles that you have. I thought that it was worth more than that in the right hands and sold it to my son for that same $4k.

While I love my ES, if I were to do it all over again I very well may have kept the '05 and gone for 200k on it. The new models do have some nice refinements, but those differences are not like night and day.

 

[Big Sky]

Maybe it's up to us (FJR owners) to start educating the public, that 100K is not a lot of miles for a modern, water-cooled motorcycle. My wife just bought a 2014 Toyota RAV4 with truly low miles - under 14K. Her '06 Corolla had just 122K miles - yes, JUST 122K. That is considered quite low for a 10-year-old car. Fundamentally, the difference between a 100K "high-mileage" FJR that is 10-years old, and a "low-mileage" 100K car that is 10-years-old, is mostly a matter of perception...and to some extent, previous experience. Perception: plenty of used motorcycles out there with 1,000-3,000 miles-per-year on them, so 100K is perceived as "high,"whereas, just as with the Toyota, 100K may be just one-third of the machine's potential life. Experience: many of us came up on 60s, 70s, 80s air-cooled bikes, or came from modern air-cooled bikes. Indeed, we hoped they'd maybe reach 30K before "needing the top end done." With care and luck, 50K was possible. Now there's not a helluva lot of difference between an FJR engine and the one in my wife's gone Corolla when it comes to longevity if other variables are about the same (was the FJR hot-rodded? I don't think anyone hot-rods a Corolla!). As an aside, my wife sold the Corolla to our niece for twice what the dealer offered for trade-in...and my niece got a pretty sweet deal.

 

[DezzertRider]

While I love my ES, if I were to do it all over again I very well may have kept the '05 and gone for 200k on it. The new models do have some nice refinements, but those differences are not like night and day.

From time to time, I think about trading in my 04 in for a GEN-III, however I'm reminded everytime I ride it how great it is. So, how much better can a new one really be? My 04 runs like a dream and paying $15K for some refinements doesn't make sense.

 

[Morecowbell]

Not dealers that I'm aware of, ive had three spammers already and it sounds like they don't know what you have, just that it's a motorcycle on CL.

That sounds similar to the response my buddy got when he listed his spare FJR for sale on Cycle Trader. No phone calls, just text messages. Not one of them seemed legitimate. Several texts asked "what's your price"(it's listed in the ad!), or "is the bike still available", and then the usual scam: "I'm stationed on an offshore oil rig and can't make the deal in person, but I'll wire/PayPal you the money and then we'll have the bike shipped to my brothers house and blah blah blah".

He finally gave up and pulled the ad. Recently he listed it again, and the same text messages started up. I wonder if there are any real buyers on Cycle Trader?

 

[kieefjr]

Well, im down to $4250. and still no bites.

If I get time next week I'll see what a trade will cost me.

Meanwhile I've took a few more farkles off and detailed it a lot better.

Might end up buying a new rear gear I recently read about and a new shock,tires wont be too far off either as time passes.

That may have to satisfy me.

 

[Jack D]

I recently checked with a couple of dealers trying to get a feel on when is the best time to trade a bike in on a new one. I ride 30K a year and realize that the value drops fast. The local Yamaha dealer said they will not even consider taking a bike in with 30K on it. The BMW dealer, whose customers will consider higher mileage bikes, told me that a new R1200RT would lose 50% of it's value for trade-in after a 30K first year mileage. I considered a new Tenere last year and looked into one at a Yamaha dealer in another state while I was on the road. At that time my well farkled, very clean 2009 had 80K miles on it. He said $3K and he would just wholesale it as nobody will buy a bike with that many miles. Craigs list ads had zero responses until I listed it without the mileage to see what happened. Lots of responses then but no second response when I told them the mileage. I don't usually desire a new bike, used bikes suit me fine, but I do like to try something different every 2-3 years and having a high mileage bike in the garage that I am "tired of" is a pain. So I can't even ride it until it dies as I just don't want it anymore. I know my bike will easily do another 60K but after 3 years I want to ride something different. Oops, sorry. I went from stating experiences with high mileage sales attempts to sniveling about my situation.

 

[kieefjr]

I've decided to keep the ole-05.

I've almost wore out my tires shopping so I'd pretty much should replace them before selling or discount it some more. My CL's post didn't spark any interest so I tried later without a few farkles but still no luck. The dealers I visited had plenty of used bikes including FJR's, left-overs and used ones on the floor. After being insulted on trade deals and down right getting ignored or pissed off at dealers I said the heck with it.

So what do you do?

You have to re-kindle the fire is what I say. New tires on the way, just bought a sweet shock from an inmate and called John at RMSportMax and have a new gear coming.

Just look at all the money I saved over a new bike.

Maybe next year I'll catch a left-over 2016 and see what I can do then.

 

[Bellerophon]

I've decided to keep the ole-05.
I've almost wore out my tires shopping so I'd pretty much should replace them before selling or discount it some more. My CL's post didn't spark any interest so I tried later without a few farkles but still no luck. The dealers I visited had plenty of used bikes including FJR's, left-overs and used ones on the floor. After being insulted on trade deals and down right getting ignored or pissed off at dealers I said the heck with it.

So what do you do?

You have to re-kindle the fire is what I say. New tires on the way, just bought a sweet shock from an inmate and called John at RMSportMax and have a new gear coming.

Just look at all the money I saved over a new bike.

Maybe next year I'll catch a left-over 2016 and see what I can do then.

That is a sweet looking bike! I'm with you, keep it, ride it!

 

[juniorfjr]

Funny, I've been shopping around and after a 400 mi round trip for a conference I'm going to keep it for at least a couple more years. If I'm going to give it away, I'm gonna make sure there's less to give away.

 

[kieefjr]

Oh yeah,

I'm having my side covers over the air filter color matched Galaxy Blue by Garauld.