Custom valkryie on Seattle craiglist

[Flames]

Wow!  Check out the Custom valkyrie for sale on Seattle's Craiglist.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/mcy/1423535363.html

[Brad]

Link not working

[woefman]

Link is Bunk 

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

This one ?  http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/mcy/1423535363.html

[Blackduck KS]

That looks like the one.
I like RED.

[Tundra]

Nice job! I know we throw some money in these, but jeeze smokin crack with that price!
  A guy just bought a Bumble Bee 5 miles from my home with 6,000 miles on her for $4000.00 Very clean and stock. Needs carb work of course, never seen this on the road in my 25 years at this address and it was right under my nose

[JimL]

Only 87,000 miles and he is GIVING IT AWAY for $9,500.00.

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

Some people think they're worth more then reasonable. 

[Big Rig]

Brings up an interesting thought....

limited numbers out there...should we be haggeling over price? I mean the KBB prices are based on general mass produced motorcycles and cars....I agree I think $9500 is a bit extreme...but should we not charge top dollar for the best motorcycle ever produced?

I am sure I will here some flack on this one...I enjoy reading all of your thoughts...

me personally, I will never sell my valk...cold dead fingers desease!!! 

[Tundra]

Some people think they're worth more then reasonable.  

Yup...I've spent more than that accessorizing my bike. If I thought I could get that kind of cash for it, she'd be gone today. I'd be riding a Connie-14

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

Some people think they're worth more then reasonable.  

Yup...I've spent more than that accessorizing my bike. If I thought I could get that kind of cash for it, she'd be gone today. I'd be riding a Connie-14

I'd just sell for that kind of money and start all over with another Valk. 

[Willow]

Any item for sale is only worth what some buyer is willing to pay.

If someone is looking for a Valkyrie with custom paint and fenders and the work that has been done on that one, it's a good price.  The new owner couldn't buy a cheap Valkyrie and do what's needed to arrive at that bike for under $9500.

On the other hand, if the customization done to that bike is not important to the buyer it's obviously too much to pay.

87,000 miles?  If you're wanting the price significantly reduced for that mileage and you ride (or claim to ride) a Valkyrie, then shame on you.  You should really know better.

Any statement of what an item for sale is worth should be trailed by the phrase "to me".  

Btw, that bike isn't worth $9500 to me, but then I've never been much for owning show bikes.

[JimL]

Any item for sale is only worth what some buyer is willing to pay.

If someone is looking for a Valkyrie with custom paint and fenders and the work that has been done on that one, it's a good price.  The new owner couldn't buy a cheap Valkyrie and do what's needed to arrive at that bike for under $9500.

On the other hand, if the customization done to that bike is not important to the buyer it's obviously too much to pay.

87,0000 miles?  If you're wanting the price significantly reduced for that mileage and you ride (or claim to ride) a Valkyrie, then shame on you.  You should really know better.

Any statement of what an item for sale is worth should be trailed by the phrase "to me".  

Btw, that bike isn't worth $9500 to me, but then I've never been much for owning show bikes.

Willow I enjoy reading your post and rarely have a significant disagreement with any of your positions, but respectfully we definitely have one here.  

The "something is only worth what some buyer is willing to pay" wisdom is something most of us learned very early in life.  However at the same time time most of us also learned that there are two values normally associated with something, "the price we feel the item is worth if we are on the selling end" and "the price we feel the item is worth if we are on the buying end" of the transaction.  The actual price usually is dependent on negotiation, which in large part depends on market conditions and the relative skill of the parties involved in the negotiation.

If I learned anything from my father (a first generation Greek in this country that learned negotiation from the "old country"), is that when negotiating price ANYTHING is fair game!  Even though we all know the longevity of these Valkyrie motorcycles, when it comes to negotiation, I as a buyer will use as a bargaining point the lowest "dollar/mile" bike I can find that recently sold; I am sure that the seller will try the opposite approach.

In this regard I respectfully feel that it would be "shame on me", if I did not use common sense during negotiation!

Just my $0.02........

[Willow]

Willow I enjoy reading your post and rarely have a significant disagreement with any of your positions, but respectfully we definitely have one here.  

The "something is only worth what some buyer is willing to pay" wisdom is something most of us learned very early in life.  However at the same time time most of us also learned that there are two values normally associated with something, "the price we feel the item is worth if we are on the selling end" and "the price we feel the item is worth if we are on the buying end" of the transaction.  The actual price usually is dependent on negotiation, which in large part depends on market conditions and the relative skill of the parties involved in the negotiation.

...

In this regard I respectfully feel that it would be "shame on me", if I did not use common sense during negotiation!

I see your point, Jim.  I only expressed my viewpoint from the "buying" end of the evaluation (pun intended) as it appears all of us speaking out were on that end.

I'd carefully separate the concepts of price and value.  If I'm able to purchase an item for less than I'm willing to pay ( I'm willing to bid $7355, but no one else bids over $4350) I feel I've found a bargain.  I think that's where we all aim in negotiation.  As a seller I want to sell for more than my value of the item.  As a buyer I would ideally like to purchase for less than my value of the item.

My primary bike has 146K miles.  To me it's valued at around $7500 as I wouldn't sell it for less.  I sincerely doubt I'd find a buyer at that price, so its true value in the marketplace is something less.  The result is it won't be sold.

Just to give you some insight into me, I really don't hold much stock in "common sense".  I believe "common sense" is something common people invented to help them feel superior to the likes of Albert Einstein who supposedly had no "common sense".  The trouble with the assessment was that the common people were unable to distinguish between understanding and interest.  You may reasonably discern from my position that I also believe total democracy to be irreparably flawed. 

I've digressed.  That's so unusual.   

My success in negotiation, I'm convinced, will be at the application not of what is commonly known (common sense), but of the lessons of my experience which in the best case will allow me to know something of which the person on the other side of the negotiation is unaware. 

I'm sure I would have been greatly impressed with the negotiation skills of your first generation Greek father.  It appears he passed something to his son.  I am, incidentally, in this country a first generation German-Choctaw-English-Welsh-French-Scotsman.  The Scotch heritage is largely speculative.

As for our friend in the Northwest, I suspect the value he holds for his beautiful work of art is closer to my value for my Valkyrie than it is to his posted price.  I sincerely hope he finds a buyer that values his product at over $10K.  Now that would result in a win-win negotiated price.

I've enjoyed our discussion.  Mostly I've enjoyed it because the majority of the words have been mine and I'm incredibly self absorbed.  I believe you and I could actually discuss our differing political views without resorting to applying derogatory terms to either one another or those we individually respect.  Interesting concept, wouldn't you agree?

          

[JimL]

I've enjoyed our discussion.  Mostly I've enjoyed it because the majority of the words have been mine and I'm incredibly self absorbed.  
           

LOL!!  Priceless!  

[BamaJack]

Willow, you'll be glad to know that Common Sense is dead. See Below...


The Death of Common Sense
© Lori Borgman | Sunday, March 15, 1998

Three yards of black fabric enshroud my computer terminal. I am mourning the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense. His obituary reads as follows: Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records were long ago entangled in miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape. Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without a lot of fanfare, whooping and hollering.

Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S. A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and how to take the bitter with the sweet.

C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid) and prudent dietary plans (offset eggs and bacon with a little fiber and orange juice).

A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technological Revolution and the Smoking Crusades, C.S. survived sundry cultural and educational trends including disco, the men's movement, body piercing, whole language and new math. C.S.'s health began declining in the late 1960s when he became infected with the If-It-Feels-Good, Do-It virus.

In the following decades, his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal and state rules and regulations and an oppressive tax code. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims and judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional baseball and golf.

His deterioration accelerated as schools implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of 6-year-old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing classmates, a teen suspended for taking a swig of Scope mouthwash after lunch, girls suspended for possessing Midol and an honor student expelled for having a table knife in her school lunch were more than his heart could endure.

As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations on low-flow toilets and mandatory air bags. Finally, upon hearing about a government plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, C.S. breathed his last.

Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-brothers, Half-Wit and Dim-Wit.

Memorial Contributions may be sent to the Institute for Rational Thought. Farewell, Common Sense. May you rest in peace.

[Tundra]

I see your point Willow, I've got just shy of 16k dumped into mine. I would sell it for 10k. That would be a bargain and my lowest price. No one would pay that, guess I'm stuck with it .  I see standards and Tourers going all day around me betweet $3500- $6000. Many of my chrome accessories, as many of you have here are no longer available. It would be wiser from a monitary viewpoint to part it out.
   Bottom line...You can ASK whatever you like, what you LIST it for and what it SELLS for are two different animals.

[JimL]

You may reasonably discern from my position that I also believe total democracy to be irreparably flawed. 

I got such a chuckle from that "self absorbed" line that I forgot to mention that we certainly don't any differing political views on your statement above.

[Puffs Daddy]

The bike in question represents a hefty "investment" on the part of the owner. What many folks fail to realize, however, is that accessories add almost nothing to the resale value of a motorcycle, regardless of whether they're (a) expensive to have purchased in the first place or (b) are currently unobtainable.

Customization of a bike simply limits the market to those who share the owner's taste. And even among those who do, purchasing an already customized bike eliminates much of the enjoyment of "customization."

I wish the fellow selling the bike the best of luck. I happen to find what he has done to his bike to be quite attractive. But for every potential purchaser who agrees with me (and the seller) about the customization, there is someone else who does not. And considering the market for Valkyries is a limited one, eliminating at least some of those potential buyers is not a good strategy, especially if one hopes to sell the bike at a premium price.

The bottom line is that the bike in question is an 11 year old Valkyrie with 87,000 miles for sale in a part of the country where Valkyries have never been as popular as they were/are in the midwest and south. All in all, I'd say he's about $2500-$3000 too high.

[Gear Jammer]

On our "meet in the middle" (between Dallas area and Houston area VRCC) in Nacogdoches, someone questioned me on how much I had put into making MAGNUM  the Super Bee.   And then asked for how much I would sell it.  Not that they were wanting to buy it, just a hypothetical discussion.  I told them I've got way more in MAGNUM than it's worth to anyone else.  The SuperBee theme and the custom paintjob was something I wanted to do with the bike.  I'm doubtful that even though many have expressed their admiration for what I've done, that they would want to buy the bike with what I've done to it, unless they just happen to be a MOPAR nut too      .  As a previous post mentioned, I've taken away the chance for anyone else to cusomize the bike, since I've done all this to it.   So what I put into it makes it worth much more to me than anyone else would be willing to pay.  I guess I've got a bike that's worth about a third of what I've got in it.  Since I don't plan on selling it, I don't really have a problem.      But Willow's right, the buyers set the going rates.  It's the seller that has to decide how badly he wants to sell it.  An item's value and what it's worth may be quite different.

[SgtBunny]

I paid more than that for my bike but it had only 30k miles on it at the time and it was love at first sight.