alright, so yesterday i was at a gear shop picking up some gloves i ordered 2 days prior,me and the clerk got to talkin,i told him that im looking for a gs,he told me hell keep his eyes open. walk out of the store, get into my car,before i could start the engine the guy runs out to the car as points at this one asian dude in the store.tells me that that guy happenes to be selling a gs,f%$king coincedence or what?

so heres the thing.

It is a 1989 gs500e
the dude says he bought it for his daughter () as a starter bike, so -it has ben dropped,he told me theres slight damage,cosmetically.
he says he installed a new suspension on it,re-jetted it
new tires
(i would name all these things except he was talking rather quickly and i sorta forgot,if its important tho ill give him a call and ask for exact details)

his askin price is 2 grand...but it seemed he was up for nogotiations.

my question is..2 grand?isnt that like insane?KBB value is 1375.
what could/should i say to get the best possible deal out of him?

and i guess the question in the back of my mind is..is it worth buying an 17 year old bike?ive been tryng to find gs's for a few months now in the LA area, searched craigslist,cycletrader,pennysaver..it seems that NOONE wants to sell their precious GS,now i dunno if this guy knows that its hard to find,but im kinda screwed if he does..


advice?

You should go look at it. 

Just talking out of my ass, I'd say sight unseen, you shouldn't go higher than like $1200-$1400.

i'm lookin to eventually sell my 96. it leaks oil but runs perfectly otherwise, and i'm only askin about 1200.
even without the cosmetic damage a PERFECT 89 should only bring 14-1500 IMO. the $2000+ range i generally expect from PERFECT 99+'s.

fyi, i bought my 1989 with a few mods for $800.  yes, his price is like insane 

I bought my 93, fully race prepped, fresh engine and some moderate suspension tweaking for $750.  Just had to add lights.  Lots of better buys out there.

2K is pretty high...  Everything is overpriced on LA CL...  Has something to do with a skewed understanding of "you get what you pay for."

I don't want to volunteer anyone, but there are lots of GSTwinners in the LA area... Maybe one would go with you to check it out.

But, no matter what, I'd talk him down...  At least see what he says.

Quote from: RVertigo on January 19, 2006, 04:38:38 PM
2K is pretty high...  Everything is overpriced on LA CL...  Has something to do with a skewed understanding of "you get what you pay for."

I don't want to volunteer anyone, but there are lots of GSTwinners in the LA area... Maybe one would go with you to check it out.

But, no matter what, I'd talk him down...  At least see what he says.

nod,will deffinatly be talkign him down,actually i think that if i cant get blue book,, im just gonna walk.
a friend who has been riding for years n years is goin with me to test ride it,and help me with the haggaling
thanks for the advice guys.

hey just more food for thought...


If you find one on the east coast for lets say around $800 you could get it shiped to your city for about $550.......So ya $2k and it had better be gold plated and pimped out bling

YEA it is like that up here in CANADA people sell junk and they think they have gold. Remember to take someone who knows bikes and cash speaks volumes. I would offer $ 1400.00 . GOOD LUCK!

im gonna have my friend test ride it, and inspect it.
if he says the bikes sound,then ill just start off with..soo i was doin some reasearch and found that the kbb value for an 89 gs is 1375,and thats one which ahs not been dropped and is in pristene condition,but there are some mods on here, so 1400.hell say 15,ill say 1475,and that'll be that....erm hopefully.

naaa man haggle him....knock him off his stoop...KBB is what you should expect to pay....as a buyer of used merchandise expect to pay less than KBB b/c there's always something little that was over looked and keeps something important from going by the text book.


I personaly would say...yaddd yaddd yadddddaaa...I ran the bike through CarFAX and it does have a clear title [make sure the VIN #ers match b4 you get into deal making] but KBB says a XXyear Gs500E out of the dealer's crate is worth $1375.....give a pause.....this bike is going to need: list all the stuff needed for inspection passage...: and it's been droped a few times and has alot of miles....reach into your pocket now and pull out about 10 franklins [for those of us who are married and never see anything bigger than a 20.. that's 10 $100 bills =$1k bucks] how about I give you $1000 cash today.


more personal insight- how would you react to seeing that much cash? I'd be like heck ya...*points finger at the title* sighn here buddy

Quote from: Jace009gs on January 20, 2006, 02:11:52 PMfor those of us who are married and never see anything bigger than a 20

They make bills bigger than $20?  Damnit...  I think the wife and I will be having a talk tonight.




As far as KBB goes......  It's not always 100% what you want to aim for...........  It's all about what you're willing to pay and what you get out of it.  Some people think that tons of mods make the bike worth more, but it's only worth more to the people that want those mods and are willing to pay for them.  You can get a new bike for $4k...  You're lucky if you find a running bike in LA for less than $1K or so...  So, if it runs well and isn't going to crap out on you or cost you $1k to get it on the road, then it might be worth a little more to you.  When I was looking for a bike I nearly bought some ugly-ass cruiser 'cause it was cheap...  But, it wasn't really worth it 'cause I hated the damn thing... So friggen ugly!

I dunno man.  Sounds way too steep and if you walk from it I guarantee it will sit around for a long time.  Maybe you should lok elsewhere/wait a bit and revisit the guy in a couple months.

You know...  Usually when I look in the LA area everything is WAY overpriced...

But... Check this:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/mcy/126577259.html