Repair, or Leave It As Is (When Selling A Bike)

[anthony_r6]

I passed my test a few weeks ago, and I'm looking at getting a new bike soon. I'm on a restricted license, so it's limiting my options a little bit, but that's okay. I was planning on keeping my NSR125 as I love the bike, but it looks like I could be moving home and space will be an issue.

My NSR has a couple of issues. The one being that it doesn't go into Neutral while the engine is running. Another one is that I have an alternative' gear-shifter wielded on because I snapped it. On top of that there are a couple of snapped bolts in the casing that need replacing and the fairings have a amateur repaint on them, done by your truly!

I've also got a new chain, sprockets, brake fluid and brake pads, plug crank case gasket, original gear-shift and replacement gear-shift spindle that I damaged (Hence the wielding, rather than just replacing it), that need to go on the bike.

So my question is, how would you go about selling it? Should I get the engine sorted out, and gear-shift sorted out before selling the bike? (I don't have the means or knowledge to comfortably do this myself), or should I sell it as is, and let whoever buys it get it done? The bike runs fine as it is, the neutral is a minor inconvenience. Since I've had the bike it's not been ragged around, and as far as I'm aware the guy before me never did either, so it's not about to fall apart.

On top of that, where does my responsibility end when selling it? While I don't expect it to breakdown on the next owner right after selling, I am always paranoid that selling it will come back and bite me in the ass when something goes wrong and the buyer wants his money back. I'd feel guilty as hell if something went wrong soon after it being sold.

Sorry if this has been brought up before.

Anthony
____________________
Ted : "Maybe he's agoraphobic."
Dougal : "Jack scared of fighting? I don't think so, Ted."

[Biker Alex]

you need figures

1. How much will your bike sell for in good condition

2. how much for what it is now

3. how much will it cost to fix all the issues (Consider the fact that this can go higher if things dont go to plan)

if 1. - 2. - 3. = More than £150 then consider a repair.

Have a look on completed listings on ebay to get a rough idea of how much good and bad bikes go for.

As long as you are pointing out to him that he is buying at the cheaper price because it has faults, then there is nothing they can do.

I wouldnt buy a frame and then come back saying it has no engine

[Reid]

Private selling is basically caveat emptor - buyer beware. As soon as he hands you the cash and you hand him the keys, the bike is his and he has no right to a refund under any circumstances. As long as you don't outright lie about the bike's condition you have no legal responsibility to him (it's worth noting that omitting information and providing false information are two different things depending how unscrupulous you feel). If you are selling as part of a business then there are stricter rules but as two private parties, once the deal has been done there is no legal recourse on either side.

If the engine suffers catastrophic failure a mile down the road, it's not your responsibility (unless you knew it had a problem AND explicitly told him it was fine).

[FerretFing]

I'd personally sell it as a project bike/easy fix listing all the faults & being totally honest.....of course, make sure you list all the positives too