When to buy? When to sell? How much?.....

[WATCHOUT!]

Hello friends,
Seeing as many of you change their bikes more frequently than their underwear, I thought I'd ask for some advice.

I have a black, low mileage 2002 Hornet 600 in great condition, and since I turned 30 in May I decided to take that in my stride and no, not get a volvo yet, but its motorcycling equivalent, an R1150GS. Depending on how my finances turn out I might be able to put the hornet for sale soon, say end of the month.

Now I was looking at the prices hornets fetch on ebay these days and they're absolutely dreadful, with a couple of exceptions (less than £1800 whereas they should be selling for around £2200).

GSs on the other hand seem to be fairly reasonably priced these days, at around £4000 to £4500 for a good one with 25k miles (which I understand isn't much for this sort of machine).

Now my dilemma is as follows. Either I sell the hornet outright, wait for payment, wait to find a good GS and put the cash down (all the while taking the bloody tube/bus to work, though this isn't too bad as I work from home most of the time); or I go in for a part exchange. I'm afraid that in that case the hornet will be valued even less, and the GS significantly more. Yet with winter round the corner, am I too naive to imagine that I'll be getting a fair price for the hornet on places like ebay and biketrader -- and in that case, would dealer prices also go down or be more negotiable?

I hope I've managed to make myself clear...... basically I would like to know how you've done this autumn/wintertime buy/sell caper in the past, and what you would recommend given my situation.

Cheers fellas

[feef]

You've probably got rhe wosrt of both worlds at the moment.

The R-GS range is proving very popular, so there are few deals to be had, and selling a bike (especially a naked one) at this time of year isn't going to give you the best price for it.

I have actually bought a couple of bikes for not-a-lot in the autumn/late summer, fixed them, ridden them, and then sold them for a small profit in the spring.

If you can afford the hit, I'd get the R-GS now, while the market will be a little slower, and then try and sell the hornet around March/April.

a
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[TheShaggyDA]

Given the prospect of the tube or bus, I'd personally go for the part exchange or, if you have the means and space available, get a loan and buy a GS, sell the Hornet privately to get the best price, and pay a chunk of the loan off. Couldn't stand being at the mercy of pubic transport.
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[WATCHOUT!]

aaah but you see, there's the rub. Don't have a spare two grand. Would I be better off waiting? not that I want to, but then again the older the hornet gets the less it's worth... bloody hell

[Kickstart]

Hi

Generally selling prices of bikes on Ebay are quite low. You would probably get a far better deal selling it privatly through conventional adverts.

All the best

Keith
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[feef]