themxracer121
New Member
Last year I went to go look at this bike to buy as a restoration project, the seller's ad listed two '78 RD's. I originally intended to only buy one, but when he offered me a price on both bikes and everything RD related in his possession, I jumped on it. One was mostly original and prepped for storage, ie. fuel and brake fluid was all drained, and nice chrome pieces were removed and wrapped up. The other was already restored and modded, and running but not jetted properly. In addition to a ton of yambits packages and spare parts from another bike he had previously parted out, a set of FPP expansion chambers were included as well. My plan was to get the runner jetted and sell it as-is, and to do a showroom style restore on the original.
Mostly original bike
Restored modified bike
Well I got the restored runner jetted a little better (still not dialed in perfectly) and went ahead and listed it on craigslist. I know price and value is a hot topic on these vintage bikes, and actually my listing was used in a Jalopnik blog specifically about vehicle asking prices... Its an interesting read. For full disclosure I didn't even know about the article for several months after I sold the bike, and I *did* get my asking price when I sold it, by the way. At a nearly 50-50 split on the poll I don't feel like my price was all that bad, and the buyer drove 3 hours and kept telling me how hard of a time he was having finding a runner for a decent price.
http://jalopnik.com/for-3-250-give-this-1978-yamaha-rd400-a-stroke-or-two-1738651582
Next post - update on the keeper bike!
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
Mostly original bike
Restored modified bike
Well I got the restored runner jetted a little better (still not dialed in perfectly) and went ahead and listed it on craigslist. I know price and value is a hot topic on these vintage bikes, and actually my listing was used in a Jalopnik blog specifically about vehicle asking prices... Its an interesting read. For full disclosure I didn't even know about the article for several months after I sold the bike, and I *did* get my asking price when I sold it, by the way. At a nearly 50-50 split on the poll I don't feel like my price was all that bad, and the buyer drove 3 hours and kept telling me how hard of a time he was having finding a runner for a decent price.
http://jalopnik.com/for-3-250-give-this-1978-yamaha-rd400-a-stroke-or-two-1738651582
Next post - update on the keeper bike!
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk