For Sale By Owner
FOR SALE BY OWNER
A simple, step-by-step, low-cost, high yield guide to preparing and selling your used bike.
Fernando Belair
MOST AVID motorcyclists have at one time or another attempted to buy a used bike. We’ve all gone through the tedious ritual of searching daily through the want ads until we found a machine that sounded promising. Calling the owner, we were assured that his bike was a mere divine blessing short of Roger DeCoster’s works RN370 Suzuki or Kenny Roberts’ incredible OW31 road racer.
Following hastily jotted directions, we finally arrived at the home of Wonderbike and its owner, only to discover that rust, chipped paint, worn tires and several layers of sediment do not a beautiful motorcycle make. Closer inspection (if the initial impression wasn’t enough to drive us away clutching our wallet), reveals bent handlebars, a pinched throttle cable and a misaligned frame. The owner thinks it’s a keen bike, but in reality it’s a junker, or at least it looks like one. It’s no wonder that flies swarm to it like a week’s worth of garbage . . . because that’s exactly what it is.
What, you wonder, makes people try to sell something in such a sad state of repair? Why don’t they spend just a little time with some paint, polish and a bit of elbow grease to make a used bike look merely used instead of abused, and thus enhance its market value?
Since several thousand used motorcycles are sold every year by private parties, we thought we’d lay out some suggestions for preparing a used machine for sale. Although the photos that illustrate our description are of motocross bikes, the suggestions are applicable to any kind of motorcycle.
DISASSEMBLY Take the machine apart. If it’s a motocrosser, take it completely apart. Take the engine out of the frame and remove the wheels, shocks, forks, seat and tank. On street bikes, remove what you can. It isn’t always practical to try to remove a multicylinder engine in your garage.
Stripping the frame of its original paint is not difficult. Acetone, available at most paint and hardware stores, will do the job. Once stripped, lightly sand the bare metal, making sure to get as much rust off as possible. Spray on a primer coat and let it dry. Then spray the frame with the paint color you desire. Black is most common, but some machines look good with gray frames, and a lot of people are painting their Elsinores red to match the factory bikes. Always be sure to let a coat of paint dry thoroughly before applying another. One coat of primer and two of paint should be enough. Make sure that you use a gloss-finish paint.
SHOCKS If shocks are of the rebuildable variety, and if they happen to need freshening up, rebuild them. At the very least install some fresh oil. Painting the shocks is also advisable. Acetone will again remove most of the original paint, but be sure to keep it away from the seals because it will eat through rubber (as well as fiberglass and plastic). Paint the spring too. Try to use original colors. The same primer used for the frame can be used for both shocks and springs. Keep paint off the shock shafts.
FORKS Weeping seals should be replaced. Disassemble the forks and flush out the internals. If your springs have started to sag slightly, now would be a good time to install a small preload spacer. Most Japanese motorcycle dealers have these spacers because they are standard equipment on many machines. If you have fork boots, clean them with soap and water, then dry them. Apply Armor-All to give them sheen. The same goes for slider-mounted wipers if you don’t use fork boots. Refill the fork legs with the proper amount and viscosity of oil.
ENGINE First, it is assumed that your engine is in good condition. If not, then you must weigh the cost of the work needed against the additional money that a top-ofthe-line used machine can demand. If it just needs honing and a set of rings, do it. If it is going to cost a lot more than that, then it might be better to let the new owner worry about it. But remember, you won't be able to ask as much for the bike, and you should tell a prospective buyer about the problem before he test rides the bike and discovers it for himself.
If you want to paint your engine, disassemble most of it. Treat the outer cases, cylinder, cylinder head and center cases as individual paint jobs. It is not necessary to split the cases in order to paint them. Once the other parts have been removed, careful masking can make it easy to do the cases with transmission and clutch intact.
Case screws, which are usually of the Phillips-head variety and more often than not rounded and gouged from removal and retightening, should be replaced. Cylinder and cylinder head nuts also often bear scars from having been loosened and tightened many times. Buy new ones. If your exhaust pipe is held on by springs, clean them or buy new ones. The pipe itself should be repainted. If it is an accessory pipe, put a fresh sticker from the manufacturer on it to make it look newer. Replace all leaking gaskets. Carefully reassemble the motor and fill the trans with the proper oil.
SEAT AND TANK If you have a metal tank that is badly scratched, remove the paint (using the same technique as for the frame), and repaint it. Again, original colors are important. Dented tanks, especially aluminum ones, can sometimes be expanded back to their original shapes with compressed air. Apply a new logo decal if required.
Most seats come back to life after a good soap and water scrubbing and a liberal application of Armor-All. If your seat has a small tear or puncture, a carefully applied dab of Silicone Sealer should take care of it. If it is badly torn, a replacement cover is the only answer. It may cost around $10, but you’ll be covering up a blatant cosmetic flaw, and that is very important.
WHEELS AND TIRES Tighten all spokes. If you have a dented rim, straighten it with a soft brass hammer or use a steel hammer, placing a block of wood on the rim where the hammer will strike it. Of course, all such rim repairs should be made with the tire off the rim so that the rubber doesn’t absorb all of the impact of the hammer. Broken or missing spokes should be replaced. Although a tedious task, each spoke should be relieved of its accumulated grime. You should know enough to have washed your bike off to begin with, but few home water systems are powerful enough to blast grime from spokes. A solvent-soaked rag or paint brush works wonders here.
Clean accumulated dust from the brake hubs. Lightly sand the hubs to break the glaze on the liners and remove the sanding dust. Do the same to the brake shoes. Grease the brake cam for easier operation.
Most front tires will not need replacing. Some rear tires will. If you removed the original tires in order to install some top-quality rubber, you should still have those tires stored away somewhere. Use them. A fresh medium-caliber tire looks a lot better than a great tire that has no miles left on it. Use ArmorAll on the tires, making sure to get between each and every knob or groove. An old toothbrush can be a great help with this task.
MISCELLANEOUS Frayed cables should be replaced and all cables lubed. The air filter element must be cleaned, as should the carburetor(s). Replace worn grips. Straighten bent levers, replacing the unsalvageable. A clean, well-lubricated chain is a must. While you're at it, throw in a fresh spark plug. Make sure that the wire to the kill button is taped to the handlebar and not just dangling in mid-air. Fill the tank with gas and you're ready to sell.
THE AD It it costs you a fewf extra bucks to have a bold-type headline above your ad, spend the money. Bold type attracts attention. In the main body copy of your ad, be precise and succinct. State the bike’s main features. If it has a new top end, say so. But don't list everything. Long ads aren't necessarily the best. And don't mention piddling things. Stating that it has a new' kill button or master link makes people think that you're scraping the bottom of the barrel for good things to say about your bike. “Must see to appreciate’’ is a good phrase, although “Must ride to appreciate" is better. I believe in stating a price in the ad. It keeps away people who don't have enough cash and would spend the entire evening trying to chip away at your price. Others might disagree. List your telephone number and the times that you can be reached for sure.
THÉ SALE Cash is always best. But, since very few people walk around with several hundred or a thousand dollars in their pockets, you will more than likely have to deal with a check, a personal check. If your purchaser comes back with a money order or a cashier's check, let him have the bike and the pink slip. But if he wants to take the bike home after his first visit, and offers you a personal check, you have two options. You can take the check and tell him that he can pick up the machine as soon as the check clears the bank, or you can let him have the machine right then and there. But in either case, do not relinquish the pink slip until the check has cleared the bank.
FOR SALE
At the moment the purchaser gives you his check (or cash), write up a bill of sale. State who (full legal name) paid whom (full legal name), how much (write the amount in both numbers and words, i.e., $650, six-hundred and fifty dollars), for the purchase of a motorcycle (engine number, frame number). State the date on which delivery of the motorcycle has been or will be taken. Indicate that transfer of title (pink slip) will be contingent upon the purchaser's check (list the check number) clearing the bank.
Then sign the bill of sale and date it. Have the purchaser sign it and date it as well. Don't forget to directly sign the carbon copy.
Selling a bike is something that we all go through, just like buying a bike is. But if you spend $25 or $30 for paint, sandpaper, Armor-All and the like, you can improve the appearance of your machine to the point that you can ask anywhere from $50 to several hundred dollars extra, depending upon the bike's value. It should only take you a weekend to prep a bike for sale, and who knows? After you've gotten Old Paint all spiffed up and looking his best, you may not want to sell him after all.
