Post Purchase Spend
Discussion
Or 'spend to value' what's the most you've spent on a bike post-purchase or most you've spent in relation to it's original and final value?
Last year I spent the winter tinkering with my '02 Mille R, replacing brake and clutch master cylinders, rearsets, 520 C&S conversion, brake lines, clip-ons, quick-action throttle etc. etc. and then rode it once before selling to fund an upgrade to a S1000RR.
Not huge amounts in the grand scheme of things but all said and done I probably spent half the bike's final value in the months leading up to selling it.
The S1000RR now has a Cordona quickshifter, new rearsets, 520 C&S conversion, an Arrow de-cat exhaust so needs another £700+ on ECU unlock and dyno set-up and it'll probably get the same again spent on the suspension before "riding season"...whatever that might mean this year.
So that's approx. £2k on a bike worth £3,750 (and not even getting to enjoy the upgrades when it was finished) and probably £2.5k on a bike bought for £9k only a few months ago.
I'm not really bemoaning the expenditure because a) I like tinkering and b) you can't really buy a bike where every aspect is 'just right' for you, particularly where suspension is concerned, out of the box but I do sometimes question the logic (or lack of).
Last year I spent the winter tinkering with my '02 Mille R, replacing brake and clutch master cylinders, rearsets, 520 C&S conversion, brake lines, clip-ons, quick-action throttle etc. etc. and then rode it once before selling to fund an upgrade to a S1000RR.
Not huge amounts in the grand scheme of things but all said and done I probably spent half the bike's final value in the months leading up to selling it.
The S1000RR now has a Cordona quickshifter, new rearsets, 520 C&S conversion, an Arrow de-cat exhaust so needs another £700+ on ECU unlock and dyno set-up and it'll probably get the same again spent on the suspension before "riding season"...whatever that might mean this year.
So that's approx. £2k on a bike worth £3,750 (and not even getting to enjoy the upgrades when it was finished) and probably £2.5k on a bike bought for £9k only a few months ago.
I'm not really bemoaning the expenditure because a) I like tinkering and b) you can't really buy a bike where every aspect is 'just right' for you, particularly where suspension is concerned, out of the box but I do sometimes question the logic (or lack of).
I prefer not to keep track of these things! I'm currently weighing up spending £800 to upgrade the suspension on my track bike. My track bike which I bought for £700, then spent about £500 on fairings, C+S, brake overhaul, radiator, and random "track" bits (eg exhaust hanger to replace the footpegs).
I never understand why people sell bikes on with hundreds, possibly thousands of pounds worth of nice kit on them.
Why not put it back to stock and sell the bits on ebay or gumtree?
Likewise, I have no qualms in buying pre-loved fancy bits for my own bike from someone else on ebay or gumtree and have even made a profit when selling them on again a few years later!
You like tinkering; just do it twice and make it part of your selling spiel!
"Look, I have just had the rear end apart, cleaned everything up and greased all the linkages (when in actuality that was only because I was putting the original shock back on)"
Why not put it back to stock and sell the bits on ebay or gumtree?
Likewise, I have no qualms in buying pre-loved fancy bits for my own bike from someone else on ebay or gumtree and have even made a profit when selling them on again a few years later!
You like tinkering; just do it twice and make it part of your selling spiel!
"Look, I have just had the rear end apart, cleaned everything up and greased all the linkages (when in actuality that was only because I was putting the original shock back on)"
I'm waiting for some the custom bike builders to reply with extreme examples....
Many thousands would be the answer...by the time I think about carbon wheels, suspension upgrades, full titanium exhaust etc, custom seat, full respray. I have probably spent 50% of purchase price on a bike that cost £14k originally and worth about £8k standard now.
Much of the time if you keep all original parts, come resale at least you can recover some costs...at least thats what I tell myself when I spend a few grand on mods even before a new bike has been delivered
Many thousands would be the answer...by the time I think about carbon wheels, suspension upgrades, full titanium exhaust etc, custom seat, full respray. I have probably spent 50% of purchase price on a bike that cost £14k originally and worth about £8k standard now.
Much of the time if you keep all original parts, come resale at least you can recover some costs...at least thats what I tell myself when I spend a few grand on mods even before a new bike has been delivered
bogie said:
by the time I think about carbon wheels
Just remembered a story from a place where I used to work.A guy came in with the carbon wheels he had just bought second hand wanting a decent set of tyres put on them.
Told the spanner monkey doing the job to be really careful so as not to mark them or damage them in any way.
Spanner monkey lifts a wheel to take it through, puts it down, picks it up again, puts it down again.
Lifts the other wheel, puts it down, starts laughing.
The guy's expensive carbon fibre wheels were actually standard alloy wheels that had been hydrodipped to look like carbon weave and he had been done out of many hundreds of pounds...
Rubin215 QFSM said:
I never understand why people sell bikes on with hundreds, possibly thousands of pounds worth of nice kit on them.
Broken dreams bike / parts I call them.You see it all the time, someone buys a set of titanium Akrapovic headers for ££££ to fit to their bike so that they can say that it has a set of Akrapovic Titanium headers on, and it will shout flames!!!!111!!1!! And will be loud ZOMG!!
Don't need to bother with remapping the bike to suit either because the ECU will just adapt itself.
Then about 2 weeks later.
FOR SALE
Akrapovic titanium headers.
Only done 100 miles.
Bought myself a Beta Rev 3 250cc trials bike for just shy of 1500 quid to teach myself bike mechanics.
Stripped it down completely and I mean every last nut and bolt and was left with a pile of bits that totally overwhelmed me when I looked at it.
Lots of powder coating later and first name terms with my local Beta dealer I’m slowly(really slowly) just starting to put it back together again.
I dread to think how much I’ve spent,probably on par of the original buying price and the stress involved was something I hadn’t foreseen,the amount of hours I’ve laid awake worrying about what bit goes where is unbelievable.
What haveI learnt,never,never do that stupid sh*t again.
On the plus side though I would tackle mechanical jobs now I would never ever dreamt of before.
Bike is worth about £2000 I think so I’m 500 quid down and umpteen man hours. Looks nice though but it’s going to be heartbreaking when I put the first scratch on it.
Stripped it down completely and I mean every last nut and bolt and was left with a pile of bits that totally overwhelmed me when I looked at it.
Lots of powder coating later and first name terms with my local Beta dealer I’m slowly(really slowly) just starting to put it back together again.
I dread to think how much I’ve spent,probably on par of the original buying price and the stress involved was something I hadn’t foreseen,the amount of hours I’ve laid awake worrying about what bit goes where is unbelievable.
What haveI learnt,never,never do that stupid sh*t again.
On the plus side though I would tackle mechanical jobs now I would never ever dreamt of before.
Bike is worth about £2000 I think so I’m 500 quid down and umpteen man hours. Looks nice though but it’s going to be heartbreaking when I put the first scratch on it.
The only things I buy these days are comfort seats, tank rings, screens and quickshifters if the bike doesn't come with one, most of the stuff folk buy is just bling, and pointless for the road, I've been down that rabbit hole and it's just not worth it to me for the perceived 'benefits'.
Gee68 said:
Bought myself a Beta Rev 3 250cc trials bike for just shy of 1500 quid to teach myself bike mechanics.
Stripped it down completely and I mean every last nut and bolt and was left with a pile of bits that totally overwhelmed me when I looked at it.
Lots of powder coating later and first name terms with my local Beta dealer I’m slowly(really slowly) just starting to put it back together again.
I dread to think how much I’ve spent,probably on par of the original buying price and the stress involved was something I hadn’t foreseen,the amount of hours I’ve laid awake worrying about what bit goes where is unbelievable.
What haveI learnt,never,never do that stupid sh*t again.
On the plus side though I would tackle mechanical jobs now I would never ever dreamt of before.
Bike is worth about £2000 I think so I’m 500 quid down and umpteen man hours. Looks nice though but it’s going to be heartbreaking when I put the first scratch on it.
good for you mate!Stripped it down completely and I mean every last nut and bolt and was left with a pile of bits that totally overwhelmed me when I looked at it.
Lots of powder coating later and first name terms with my local Beta dealer I’m slowly(really slowly) just starting to put it back together again.
I dread to think how much I’ve spent,probably on par of the original buying price and the stress involved was something I hadn’t foreseen,the amount of hours I’ve laid awake worrying about what bit goes where is unbelievable.
What haveI learnt,never,never do that stupid sh*t again.
On the plus side though I would tackle mechanical jobs now I would never ever dreamt of before.
Bike is worth about £2000 I think so I’m 500 quid down and umpteen man hours. Looks nice though but it’s going to be heartbreaking when I put the first scratch on it.
i started typing it out but it got longer than i thought it would, so i stopped before i mentally did the sums 
2012 monster 1100 evo, first bike so i kinda went to town on it and made it 'mine', just putting maxton inserts and rear shock on this week to complete it. the vast majority of mods were aimed at improving the bike not for bling, and i've kept all the oem parts and sold the carbon shotgun termis and DP ecu to offset some cost, but its still not defensible really. i doubt i'll sell it though, so not too fussed.
2012 monster 1100 evo, first bike so i kinda went to town on it and made it 'mine', just putting maxton inserts and rear shock on this week to complete it. the vast majority of mods were aimed at improving the bike not for bling, and i've kept all the oem parts and sold the carbon shotgun termis and DP ecu to offset some cost, but its still not defensible really. i doubt i'll sell it though, so not too fussed.
I estimate ive spent around £8000+ on my 350LC over the 9 years ive owned it..thats not running costs, thats replacement parts/ repairs/engine builds x2 /new electrics/ paint / powdercoat/bodywork x 2 etc.
The bike cost me £2,300 to purchase in 2012.
My RD500 cost me £9750 in 2015 and ive spent around £3000 on that over the 5 years.
Last 12 months parts have gone up beyond all imagination, I wouldn't and couldn't afford to do another, at the moment im working on friends 350LC , he has spent £5,500 on that excluding purchase price (at least 3.5k) in the last 6 months and it still needs some more spent on it...
The bike cost me £2,300 to purchase in 2012.
My RD500 cost me £9750 in 2015 and ive spent around £3000 on that over the 5 years.
Last 12 months parts have gone up beyond all imagination, I wouldn't and couldn't afford to do another, at the moment im working on friends 350LC , he has spent £5,500 on that excluding purchase price (at least 3.5k) in the last 6 months and it still needs some more spent on it...
Rubin215 QFSM said:
I never understand why people sell bikes on with hundreds, possibly thousands of pounds worth of nice kit on them.
Why not put it back to stock and sell the bits on ebay or gumtree?
Likewise, I have no qualms in buying pre-loved fancy bits for my own bike from someone else on ebay or gumtree and have even made a profit when selling them on again a few years later!
You like tinkering; just do it twice and make it part of your selling spiel!
"Look, I have just had the rear end apart, cleaned everything up and greased all the linkages (when in actuality that was only because I was putting the original shock back on)"
Exactly this. Make sure everything you buy is un-boltable and keep the standard stuff. Why not put it back to stock and sell the bits on ebay or gumtree?
Likewise, I have no qualms in buying pre-loved fancy bits for my own bike from someone else on ebay or gumtree and have even made a profit when selling them on again a few years later!
You like tinkering; just do it twice and make it part of your selling spiel!
"Look, I have just had the rear end apart, cleaned everything up and greased all the linkages (when in actuality that was only because I was putting the original shock back on)"
I struggle with anything that uses the standard part & modifies it such as internally re-valved std forks or race paintwork etc as it will go with the bike when it eventually sells (and some stuff - paintwork or cut down seat for example narrows down who you are going to sell it to).
crofty1984 said:
good for you mate!
Thankyou,that means more than you will ever know. Got the carb out yesterday that is like brand new after spending a fair while cleaning it,I really can’t face f***ing about putting it back together.
Fourtanately I work in an industry where I deal with a lot of professional bike people and one came in yesterday who was quite happy to trade goods for goods so result.
Currently buying carb bits for my old '98 FireBlade because they're so damned expensive - but it really wasn't as crisp as it should be when I got it.
Some old 'race can' was on the bike, and a dynojet kit was fitted not longer after the original owner bought the bike new. Unfortunately, those old dynojet needles wear out the needle jet to buggery, so not only are the needles worn like hell, but the jets are oval - no wonder it is stuttery low down!
Spending 280 quid on some small boxes of carb bits seems a bit bonkers, but I want to put the bike back to standard and enjoy it. Chasing a couple of hp, whilst 'enjoying' flat spots and general rough running low down seems silly to me on a 23 year old bike that's a long way off cutting edge, now.
Some old 'race can' was on the bike, and a dynojet kit was fitted not longer after the original owner bought the bike new. Unfortunately, those old dynojet needles wear out the needle jet to buggery, so not only are the needles worn like hell, but the jets are oval - no wonder it is stuttery low down!
Spending 280 quid on some small boxes of carb bits seems a bit bonkers, but I want to put the bike back to standard and enjoy it. Chasing a couple of hp, whilst 'enjoying' flat spots and general rough running low down seems silly to me on a 23 year old bike that's a long way off cutting edge, now.
svracers said:
Saw a used benelli tornado rs 55 plate in red with 2500 miles on it in march 2020 (a week before lockdown) Phoned the dealer looking for a fairly big discount. Was surprised when he came back and said no problem! Then travelled down to england the day before lockdown. The wife knew nothing about it. Luckily she was ok :@
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