Bike Breaking/Scraping... Worth It?

[Bike Bunker]

Its simple really is buying old broken bikes and ripping them apart to sell bits worth it?


Went to a 'bike scrap yard' and he had hundreds of bike sall just piled on top of each other including a aprilia rs125 07 plate which he said he paid £200 for becuase the owner was scared to ride after falling off!


Has any of you bcfer's donee this maybe once or maybe some of you do it for extra ££ or even live of it


Oh im considering starting to do this at home in my LARGE! garage and garden maybe with just 2-3 bikes at a time,ebaying the parts and if it really takes off open a small shop or somthing ?

[Fairies attack]

I suppose it would depend on what bikes, you intend to do it with.

If it was for rare bikes that you could buy dirt cheap, then I suppose you could turn a healthy profit, if you knew what you was doing.

It would be a good idea to scan ebay, and see what bike bits are selling for the most, and what there is a lack of.

[Bike Bunker]

any type of bike prefferable sport's bikes so not nessesarily 'rare' bikes but if you do scan ebay every bike has spares going on there and all have some interest in them

[Polarbear]

I suspect while you can get a good price for certain bits, you would be left with a lot of the bike bordering on unsellable. Once you have factored in going and getting the bike, so......

Bike costs
Petrol to go and get it (plus buying a van or trailer if you don't have one)
Time
ebay/paypal fees
Plus when you get the bike, you might find half the bits unsellable.

Your feed back will be raped if you don't tell the honest truth about what you are selling/

and thats if anyone wants the bits anyway.
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Victory Cross Country American tractor.

[Bike Bunker]

i do have a trailer i wouldnt always get the bikes of ebay, i would search auctions and other place's and i would be honest about the parts plus things that might not sell can always be kept as someone will eventually want them and if not kept untill you have enough metal to get a decent scrap price?

[Ingah]

Well them there's breakers yards clearly make a living doing this sort of thing... Suspect you'll need to be doing more than 2/3 bikes at a time though to turn any sort of worthwhile profit.

I think there is a big problem with those bargains you'll need to be buying in to make profit though - i.e. when i'm searching for a bike (even the times when i haven't been fussy on make/model) it seems hard enough to find things at a reasonable/low end price, let alone the sort of low price that would make it worthwhile to break for profit.

I know these bikes exist, but it seems to me to be a problem of finding them. If you can work out a good source then i think you're sorted!
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-- Ingah

[mad4it028]

i break bikes for aliving so a few points
1 you can rarely get a bike off ebay and make good profits!
2 bikes that are cheap enough to break are scarce you cant afford to be picky if its cheap buy it
3 all parts will sell in time (bar air boxes only ever sold 1!)but lots are so cheap there not worth listing
4 if you cant double your money on breaking a bike its not worth doing
5 older bikes break better than newer bikes ie theres 1000s of r1 parts on ebay so to sell you have to under cut others not many early zx9r parts so name your price and beleave me older bike parts 90-2000 fly off the shelf i have some 2005 parts for a daytona ive had for 2 years!

its hard work and 2 or 3 bikes youll be lucky to turn over £200 a week thats turn over not profit
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always looking to buy bikes crashed ,unfinished projects,none runners pm me
currently riding kawasaki z1000 only bike ive ever loved

[Bike Bunker]

[mad4it028]

i get most of my bikes direct from the insurence the rest i spend hours upon hours searching the internet for but when a silly cheap bike come up you need to be on the phone and in the van to collect it with in minutes of it being listed as your not the only person searching and the real bargins are only avalible for a few mins after listing
eg i found a triumph trophy spares or repairs because it would only run on prime it was on the internet 2 mins before i called offered £300 (FOR A 2000 BIKE) and was on the way to collect i sold the bike a few days later after fitting a new vacume pipe and a fresh mot for £1200 SPEED IS THE KEY!!!
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always looking to buy bikes crashed ,unfinished projects,none runners pm me
currently riding kawasaki z1000 only bike ive ever loved

[Vincent]

It can be profitable if you know what you're doing. It's not so much the cheap bikes that will make the money, buying a wreck to split will more than likely end up with parts being returned as they're knackered and a garage full of parts that you can't even give away. Also, with the cheaper bikes, you tend to find that anything worth anything has already been removed and sold.

I'm in the process of selling my RD350RGV250 hybrid. I worked out that I could get about £1K more selling it in bits.

You won't do very well buying the bike to break on eBay, the best ones are for sale in the real world.

If you go ahead, for gawds sake, clean the item for sale and take good clear pics. Also, honest descriptions will pay off, just one line wil turn most potential bidders off.

Good rep on eBay is everything. I sold a fairing frame a while back for about £70, the next one that came up was in the same condition, had a crap description, rubbish pic and low feedback ended up fetching just £14. Charging post at cost also works.

[Bike Bunker]

So overall it could be a good idea....it seems like some bikes i buy would be well worth it and every now and then i might lose some £ but either way it must be possible i spoke to a man at Boss Motorcycles (scrap yard) and his practically minted and if he needs money just runs around his scrap place grabbing all parts he doesnt think will sell and takes them to a scrap man...however obviously this would work untill i had being at it for a good few years as i wouldnt have collect eough bits of S**T thanks for all the help any way peopl think as soon as i get paid ill be on the look out so if you crash your brand new bike and have no bike know how pm me

[mad4it028]

avoid newer bikes like the plague or you will lose money
an r1 will break for about the same as a zx9r 93 model guess which you will pay more for?
also an r1 or simular wont sell very quick as the markets flooded with them blades the same a zx9r , africa twin rd350 cb900/750 all break very well and with the exception of the rd350 can all be picked up cheaply and will easily break for £1500+
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always looking to buy bikes crashed ,unfinished projects,none runners pm me
currently riding kawasaki z1000 only bike ive ever loved

[mad4it028]

oh and avoid scooters there a pain in the arse once stripped take up alot of space with all the plastics and your dealing with 16 year olds that alot not all but alot of the time havnt a clue so you get stupid messages like " hi blud you got da square bit the goes under the round bit to the left of the shiney fing? cheers blud init respec" agghghhh
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always looking to buy bikes crashed ,unfinished projects,none runners pm me
currently riding kawasaki z1000 only bike ive ever loved

[Bike Bunker]

[mad4it028]

been breaking full time for 2 years and part time about 7 years
as for a good living hmm on the books i make a pitance but its amazing what the company can pay for my car = company car clothes all work clothes , my office is at home so gas electric etc mortgage is payed so i pay rent to the wife for office space all my fuel so if i pay myself £100 a week im laughing as everything is alreaDY payed for so i dont earn a wage as such only pocket money but i want for nothing
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always looking to buy bikes crashed ,unfinished projects,none runners pm me
currently riding kawasaki z1000 only bike ive ever loved

[Bike Bunker]

yeh i understand my brother is self employed plasterer.....even our huge printer went on his 'work usage' along with his car i mean the bloke i had spoke to said he was making enough to provide he has a nice sized house and a 11plate beema so in my eyes his done pretty well im only thinking part time at the moment i want to be a personal trainer/gym owner this would be ideal to get me funds to open the gym