Looking to buy

[Paawpabear]

  I'm new to the forum and need some advice.  I own a 2002 Shadow Sabre and am looking to upgrade.  I recently found a 2001 Valkyrie with 9400 miles on it with an asking price of $8400.  I is this a good starting point price wise?  What are some of the things that I need to look for?  It is for sale at a Honda dealer.

[storm]

Valks like many other bikes are selling rather cheap right now - Personally I would not look at miles but more on has it been ridden regularly. In the past the worst bikes I have purchased have been very low miles - 1300-2500 on 3year old bikes. The best have been 35k + and ridden at least weekly. I have had almost 50 bikes over the years so the database is full.
I just sold my Standard for 5k yesterday and I think you can get a really nice bike for under 7K even in the tour models if you check eBay and Craigslist. These Valks are built like cars so in general the only problem with used bikes is the carbs get gummed up if not stored properly or not ridden regularly.

[JimC]

Paawpabear,
I started a thread asking pretty much the same question a couple of weeks ago. Look back and check it out, there were a lot of good responses.

From what I have seen you can use Kelly Blue Book as a guide only, to give you an idea, I checked all of the bikes sold on Ebay in the last couple of months and checked the prices against the blue book and it seem as a general rule the standards sold for a little less than KBB said, and the tour models and interstates sold for a little more.

There are certain areas in the country right now that seem to be getting less than book, those would be the ones that the real estate market has been hurt more than most, IE: west coast, Florida, Nevada, but in the rest of the country, the prices are close. 

One thing that a lot of people have said that makes sense, do not go for the lowest miles on an older Valk, sometimes they are more work than you would figure since sitting hurts them more than riding them. I knew that from my 1200 and 1500 wing bikes, mileage means very little on these bikes, CONDITION AND MAINTENANCE are more important.

Good luck,
Jim

[admin]

Greetings Papa

Where abouts you looking to buy one?  such as around what town and in what state?  One of us might know of a nice bike that we can refer you  to check out, that is another option.  Dealers tend to mark them up as you likely know.  Depending on what someone put on it and the condition you might pay a higher price than KBB which tends to low ball everything and does not take into consideration all the nice things folks put on a bike so you have to be aware of that as well.  You can find some nice bikes out there with some miles on them and they are probably in better shape overall because they get ridden alot.  Remember that these bikes don't even get broken in until after they hit 35K and will last past 200K no problem.  They are rock solid and low maintenance bikes.

So let us know your where abouts and maybe one of us can help you out, we have pretty good folks here at the VOAI.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

[Paawpabear]

Thanks everyone for the great info.  I live in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma area.

[mikehallbackhoe]

mileage isn't as important as making sure the low speed jets are not plugged. the bike should idle smoothly, feel the exhaust flow out of the exhaust pipes , make sure both sides blow warm exhaust. out on the road there should be no hesitation at any speed . if buying at a dealer, address these concerns to him , and make sure he is willing to fix the problem. the appearance of the bike will tell you if it has been well maintained.if the carbs have been drained, low miles will not be a problem.

[MP]

Also, if you are into chrome, etc. how much is on there matters.  Chrome is $$$$$$$.  If you get one with lots of goodies, it is worth quite a bit more than a stock one. Send me a PM I may know of a pretty good one near Topeka.
MP

[Doug88]

Paawpabear are you looking for a standard or interstate?  I'm in NM and have a 98 standard with 18K miles, hondaline windshield, leatherlyke bags and few other nice add ons that I'm thinking about selling.  I've maintained the bike religiously and it’s always garaged when parked.  I’ll make a sell decision here in the next week or two as I change jobs. Let me know if you’re interested. 

[Valker]

Thanks everyone for the great info.  I live in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma area.

I'm only about 4 hours west of you in the TX panhandle. There was a fantastic deal on an Interstate in Amarillo a couple of weeks ago, not sure if it is still there. It is still in the paper. Area code is 806 '99 Honda Valk Int.  ,  Price Reduced!  loaded & ready to ride, 27k, w/ helmets 806-355-3503
I would buy it myself, but I am broke...

[dennisraz]

$8400 should get you a high mileage interstate or a low mileage highly optioned standard or tourer.
I see low mileage examples for $5000 on ebay very often.
Your dealer price seems high unless your looking at the intertsate model.
A standard valk is easily worth more than $5000 just in parts.
I would look for a low mileage standard and accessorize it the way you want.

[Paawpabear]

The one that I looked is a standard with stock windshield, saddlebags and aftermarket pipes.  The help that I have received in just a few hours has been amazing!  Thanks all!

[disc sanders]

If it's at a Honda dealer, in all likelyhood, they've priced it dealer pricing.  Judging by the Honda dealer where I'm at, you can pretty much walk in the door and offer 'em $1,000 off of that price and they'll probably take it.  You don't have anything to lose by asking.  Without seeing the bike, $7,400 sounds alot more reasonable for a low milage 2001 in really great shape.....and 9400 miles is really low miles for a Valk. 

Would it be possible for you to post a pic or two of the Valk? 

Here's my Valk......It's a '97 standard I paid $5200 for a year ago to give you some idea of what you can get. 

[MrBones]

This is my 01 I bought 5 yrs ago for 9400. Just so you can compare.

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[Smokinjoe]

This is my 01 I bought 5 yrs ago for 9400. Just so you can compare.

Cool lookin' bike Mr.Bones I had the Bettlebags on my bike at one time.The tank looks custom in the picture ( is it ? ) .

[timk519]

I paid $9K US for a basically-stock I/S w/14.9K miles on it.