Selling a bike you don't wanna sell

[ArmyValker]

I'm buying my wife a new bike. A Honda Shadow.

A while back I posted about feeling mighty unconfident in my wife's newly learned riding skills. Well, I took the advice given here,

put her on a Honda Shadow 500 *as opposed to the 77 GL1000* She loved it. Rode it on gravel, through grass, on the road, the

whole 9 yards... So we are going to buy it for her. Anyway, now I will have 3 motorcycles. I don't wanna sell the Valk (no way) but

I figure, I gotta sell the 77 GL1000. It's on the classifieds for 1500 bucks, which is a deal in my eyes.. I'm just having trouble with

the thought of getting rid of a bike I basically hand rebuilt from the frame up.


Any of you ever had to sell a bike you where attached to?

[F-106]

Been there done that. normally by the time you get the new one in the garage you forget about the old one. In your case i would just keep the wing. Does not cost but vary little to keep her and you like the bike. I sold my 1983 cx650 turbo for the 83'cb1100f and had regrets for a long time. I would keep the wing. 

[Black Pearl's Captain]

I sure did, I sold my 1978 Yamaha XS1100 when I needed a riding lawn mower more then the bike. I bought that bike brand new at the age of 21. It was the baddest bike on the road at the time and I loved riding it. I had to sell it because we were building our own home and had just bought an acre of ground. I mowed the acre with a 22" push mower for one summer but when the next summer came around I was busy building the house, no time to mow. Sold the bike for $750 and used the money to buy a riding mower. Oh well..

I was big bikeless for around 12 years but had a moped for campground use. Eventually the kids grew up, went thru college, got married and moved out. The first Valkyrie was bought and it's been riding time again ever since.

Your wife will enjoy a bike she can handle easily more then one she's afraid of. Good choice on what you're doing.

Raymond

[Jeff K]

can't find it on the classifieds?

[Gilligan]

Any of you ever had to sell a bike you where attached to?

Yep.  Don't do it unless you know it's right.  You'll miss it no matter what.

[Tropic traveler]

Well........... my advice is don't sell it. Unless you have a compelling reason to sell such as no space to keep it, or you need the bucks right now, or maybe you don't want to juggle 3 bikes worth of upkeep, etc. We faced a similar decision when Kim said she wanted her own Valkyrie. What has happened is I have sort of taken over the riding of her Shadow 750 as a go to work bike. The benefits of this for us are the Shadow gets SUPER gas mileage, always 50+mpg & sometimes 60 mpg. Allows me to leave the gas sucking truck in the driveway & keeps the miles down on my high mile '97 Valk. Another added plus is in the unlikely event one of our Valks breaks down we always have a back-up bike. Just bolt up the hardbags to the Shadow & away we go on our weekend jaunts.
The point of telling you this is having a 3rd bike with 2 riders leaves you with options that you may not consider at first thought. Another point to consider, would you be able to buy another bike as good as your GL for the $$$ you can get for it ??  I'd bet not!
We really like the little Shadow but bottom line is it isn't as good of a touring bike as any GL series Honda bike. If her love for riding takes a similar direction as Kim's did you may be better served keeping the GL for her to "move up" to at a later date. Plus it's a true classic!   


Kim & her Shadow in the Florida Keys.

A woman & her Valk.

[houstone]

I rebuilt a CB900C, rode it til I had kids, then gave it and TONS of parts to a friend who needed wheels.  I bet he's still riding it.  No regrets.
But, I'd keep it if I could!
Good luck.
Jeff

[barbarianthemadserb]

Don't sell it if your gut feeling says not to!.  I made a big mistake a couple of years ago.  I bought a brand new 99 Valkyrie, went to VRCC meets, did lots of riding on it.  This was about 10 years ago.  A couple of years later I purchased a Boss Hoss and the valkyrie sat for a while not being used as I was on my Boss Hoss all the time.  I finally sold the valkyrie figuring I had lost the "love" for it.   What a mistake!  I regretted it for a couple of years really bad.  I finally bought another valkyrie (a 98 standard) early this year.  Damn, did I miss riding the valkyrie which I found to be a great all round bike! This second time around with a valkyrie and loving it.  They will have to pry my dead fingers from it before I let this one go again!
Milos

[solo1]

Two reasons for selling a bike IMHO.
!. Can't ride it any more due to age and/or physical condition.
2.. Desperately needing the extra money.

Any other reason and it'll be a "Why did I do that? " thing.

[Tx Bohemian]

Dang, ya'll guys are making it tough!!  Bringing up real good arguments!

I read this subject with interest because soon I'll be facing the same type of decision.

I have a C50 (Suzuki) I bought new in late '04 which has been a really good bike and last w/e I bought a '99 Standard Valk which needs some TLC (great project).  The intention is to fix up the Valk so the wife and I can do touring/ w/e traveling, which as ya'll all know is a great bike for that, and eventually sell the C50.

This w/e I'm taking a trip on the C50 to Midland, Tx (Confederate Air Force show-wifes not going, I just can't imagine anyone not wanting to spend a whole day watching airplanes) so I changed oil last night and I'm thinking the whole time "Dang I don't want to get rid of this thing!!"

The only thing it's costing us is the insurance each month, which is lower since I went to Geico when I bought the Valk, and I can make that up in gas savings.

Hopefully I'll have the Valk done by next spring, but then I'm going to have to make a decision.

[9Ball]

Don't sell it if your gut feeling says not to!.  I made a big mistake a couple of years ago.  I bought a brand new 99 Valkyrie, went to VRCC meets, did lots of riding on it.  This was about 10 years ago.  A couple of years later I purchased a Boss Hoss and the valkyrie sat for a while not being used as I was on my Boss Hoss all the time.  I finally sold the valkyrie figuring I had lost the "love" for it.   What a mistake!  I regretted it for a couple of years really bad.  I finally bought another valkyrie (a 98 standard) early this year.  Damn, did I miss riding the valkyrie which I found to be a great all round bike! This second time around with a valkyrie and loving it.  They will have to pry my dead fingers from it before I let this one go again!
Milos

WOW...a voice from the past.  Glad to see you're back with us.  IZ 1 was an event to remember.

Hope to see you again, maybe the next IZ.

John

[Michael K (Az.)]

Welcome back!!

[Mickey Runie]

I'm buying my wife a new bike. A Honda Shadow.

A while back I posted about feeling mighty unconfident in my wife's newly learned riding skills. Well, I took the advice given here,

put her on a Honda Shadow 500 *as opposed to the 77 GL1000* She loved it. Rode it on gravel, through grass, on the road, the

whole 9 yards... So we are going to buy it for her. Anyway, now I will have 3 motorcycles. I don't wanna sell the Valk (no way) but

I figure, I gotta sell the 77 GL1000. It's on the classifieds for 1500 bucks, which is a deal in my eyes.. I'm just having trouble with

the thought of getting rid of a bike I basically hand rebuilt from the frame up.


Any of you ever had to sell a bike you where attached to?

Where, might I ask, did you acquire that 77 GW?   I had a Black 77 GW way back out of high school.  It had a blue and a gold pin strip, as I recall.  No windshield, no bags, just a sissy bar.  I traded it in for my 79 XS1100 to a dealership in Paola KS.   Years later, the exact same bike surfaced back up in Fort Scott KS belonging to a woman I met at a July 4th celebration.  She had a vetter windshield and hard bags installed.  We later married and now, 15+ years later.......we'
re still married and riding Runes.  As I recall, she ran an ad in local papers to sell it before we moved away from the Ft. Scot/Pittsburg KS area. - around 1994.

I thought, perhaps by some miracle, this might be the same bike showing up again where I could run across it. ?????

[ArmyValker]

Well, this bike is now redish (not the original color) and I believe the original color to be black from the overspray on the inside of the side covers. Did you ride it to Sturgis? It's got a really really old Sturgis Camp band on the left fork leg that I didn't have the heart to remove. Anyway, it looks now probably about like it did when you rode it, save the color.

BTW, I put it on the local classifieds, not the VF classifieds. See ad for pics

http://shopping.rollanet.org/category/410/Motorcycles/listings/511394/1977-Honda-GL1000-150000.html

[Mickey Runie]

Nope.  I never took it to Sturgis.  I didn't even know there was a world to see outside a 200 mile radious of SE Kansas back then.  I was young and naive in 1978.   Then when I again saw the bike in 1994, it was a "third bike" and didn't go anywhere with us.  It was to serve as a training bike for my girlfriend, but she gave up on learning at the time - something about the accidental ditching at an intersection while trying to do a turnaround....  She then sold it.

[Mikey]

That's a beautiful GL1100! You make me want to get one and Cafe it!

[Mike Oreo]

I am selling my beloved Nomad to my brother who lives an hour away. ;-) That way I can still ride it from time to time and he pays the insurance. LOL.

[Rowdy]

  Been their done that 
This summer I sold the wife's V65 Magna, a 77 GL 1000 I worked on all winter and my buddies GL 1100 which was my first wing   

I felt I needed to weed out the garage so I could start some new projects - I did keep my 81 CB 900 Custom, to attached to that bike  Looks like the Valk is going to fall into that category as well 




I like the space I have in the garage now - However     I have had others I sold over the years I kinda wish I kept 

[Puffs Daddy]

Never sold I bike I wasn't attached to.

[Hellcat]

I'm buying my wife a new bike. A Honda Shadow.
A while back I posted about feeling mighty unconfident in my wife's newly learned riding skills. Well, I took the advice given here,
put her on a Honda Shadow 500 *as opposed to the 77 GL1000* She loved it. Rode it on gravel, through grass, on the road, the
whole 9 yards... So we are going to buy it for her. Anyway, now I will have 3 motorcycles. I don't wanna sell the Valk (no way) but
I figure, I gotta sell the 77 GL1000. It's on the classifieds for 1500 bucks, which is a deal in my eyes.. I'm just having trouble with
the thought of getting rid of a bike I basically hand rebuilt from the frame up.
Any of you ever had to sell a bike you where attached to?

If you need the money, you have to sell the bike. Simple as that.

Otherwise, though, I don't fully understand the story. You are buying her the 500 now, or she's moved up and doesn't want the 1000?

Do you not think she'll ever outgrow the 500?

From my perspective, that 1000 is gorgeous and has a lot of your heart and soul in it. It's over 30 years old, already a classic, and shouldn't decline in value.

So unless I absolutely needed $1500 or couldn't store it properly (even boxed up and uninsured for the time being), I would be hard pressed to sell it.

I feel for you...

[ArmyValker]

She's uncomfortable on the 1000 basically and needs a lighter bike to learn on. I'm still up in the air on selling the bike. Luckily no one has answered my ad yet. ha ha ha....