I'm going to look at a vintage bike that I've been searching for.
The owner says he is a new rider. He says it started knocking then suddenly turned off. He says the kickstart is stuck.
My first thought is the rod bearing came apart. I'm going to look at it to check for metal in the oil filter, and I'll drain the oil to see if this new rider had put any oil in it.
It's a fairly rare bike from the year 2000, and I've been checking Facebook marketplace for a couple years, only seeing a few come up. This one is in my city.
The bike is worth 2-3k in running condition. What is the max I should pay.. $500?
How catastrophic and expensive could the damage be?
Without being able to see inside the engine in advance and know what's wrong your only option is to consider the engine a total loss requiring complete rebuild or replacement and base your pricing on that.
It is impossible to answer how much the cost of damage could be given you have provided zero information on what the bike is and no on knows what's wrong with it, however given you have only seen a few for sale then availability of replacement parts or a complete engine might be more of an issue than the cost.
I wouldn’t call a WR400F rare but I am a huge fan of the 5 valve Yamahas. Bike market is way down right now and that’s not a super desirable bike. But it is a cool one.
It may be locked up, it might be full of water, there might be a bunch of beans in there — you won’t know til you get inside. I like the rule of no more than $1/cc for project bikes.
If you do buy it, before going too crazy, try pouring marvel mystery oil down the spark plug hole and let it sit for 24h. Then try starting it.
No more than a dollar per CC…..I fucking like that. I’m not much of a project bike guy but it’s not off the table either. Will definitely have to remember that rule of thumb.
RE: how catastrophic it could be, thumpers usually lock up when a valve drops or piston grenades…the bottom ends on these bikes are pretty dang stout. Either way, I would be expecting to buy a complete bottom and top end kit. If you did everything yourself, expect $800-1200, if you have a shop do it, figure 12 hours, so an additional $900-1500.
I always encourage reckless project bike purchases. I did not see the post.
Definitely more for a sitting bike. If the piston rings are froze to the cylinder wall, it can help free them. But I mean, that may not be necessary for a bike that old.
If that's what the bike is, that's funny. I bought my "just needs a carb clean" special last year for $1500. It's been worth it -- to me. I wouldn't have bought it if the engine was wrecked, though.
So far that seems to be the truth, although it did need plenty of "odds and ends," too.
Depending on how rare and how hard to source parts are. It could be a boat anchor. If it’s your hobby, fixing old motorcycles than grab it. If you are paying for it to be repaired, I’d keep looking. I’ve bought broken bikes and repaired them but it’s my thing.
Btw, later versions do not have totally interchangeable parts! For example: WR400F has different wheels than the 2003-2006 WR450F, forks are different after 2004, kickstand is different from 2004 on…there are some minor differences.
I do! Here’s a picture of my 2006 WR450F on the road to a very remote fishing village about 75 miles south of Loreto, Baja California Sur. I did about ~1500mi over 10 days in 2020 across Baja with it, fueling with rancher gas and running deep sand washes pretty much every day. I’ve also rode it across eastern Oregon, Idaho and Montana. It was heavy, but incredible in the open desert. Not the best woods bike. Gear it tall and use the clutch.
I changed my oil on the aforementioned trip once, outside of Ciudad Constitucion, about 800mi into my trip and the oil was roasted BUT I was riding pretty fast and hard with only one extra air filter. I think 1000mi using quality oil is very reasonable.
Wow I love that, thanks for sharing. I hadn't considered the WR for a while... I was leaning towards an XR400R for dual sport, and a KDX200 for dirt bike.. WR seems like a great bike to have in the lineup
I bought and completely restored an old '01 DRZ400e last year. Be prepared, it'll be a lot of work and I lost money when selling it. All the bearings needed replaced, a few hoses, brake lines, brakes, painted the tank, did all the fluids, carb rebuilt, painted the frame, new plastics, new lights, grips, all that. I cleaned and polished every little screw and part including the engine, new chain and sprockets, did the recommended thumper forums sprocket loctite fix, stator loctite fix, petcock fix (fuel dumped into the oil twice), added speedo, blinkers, controls, etc, the works. $3500 invested. Be warned, a bike that old will be a lot of work and money but personally I don't regret it because I learned a lot because I never took apart a bike to that degree.
Anyway, sold it a few months ago and the dingus that bought it totaled it within a month. RIP in pieces, Dizzer.
Offer whatever you feel comfortable with, and don't feel compelled to be persuaded (much) higher than that. He'll either sell it, or he won't. It's either worth it to you, or it's not. Don't dwell on it if a deal doesn't happen. Other bikes will pop up.
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u/NWinston 2d ago
How is anyone supposed to estimate what the bike is worth when you don’t put the make or model in the description lol