It was a few years back when the vintage motorcycle bug bit me in the form of a 1976 Suzuki GT250. The bike was out for sale a few miles from my house and man was she sexy. Very nice shape for its age, running (though it needs crank seals) and begging to be mine. Talked to the guy and swapped him $75 buck for my soon to be freedom machine. Before I bought it in my then blissful ignorance he told me that "it doesn't have a title, but you can just go get one." HA to this day I wish it were that easy.
I ended up buying a rough but titled gt250 a few years back to do a frame swap on feebay, but after buying (for far to much money) I got it home and realized that the frame was rusted far beyond repair. Many of the mounting nuts on the frame were rusted to the point of not having threads left. After that point I lost interest in the bike and it has been sitting in dads shop/barn since.
Today I was thinking about parting the ol girl out and decided to check out craigslist to see if anything comparable was selling as a baseline. During my search I found a Nice, complete titled frame about 2 1/2 hours north of me for $180. The frame for that bike is a 1975 where my nice bike I have is a 1976.
I am going up saturday to pick up the frame and title, but here in lies the question.
How much would the value decrease for a complete bike with the frame being of a different year than the rest of the bike. Now i know the bike without a title is of little value besides parting it out, which i desperately don't want to do. (the bike deserves to be on the road) The difference between the 75 and 76 is that in 76 they did away with the ram air heads and a few little thing. Should i swap it to the other frame or should try to sell it as a non titled bike with a titled frame to keep it "original" for whoever buys it.
Im sure some of ya'll have delt with this situation so please help a brother out =)
I ended up buying a rough but titled gt250 a few years back to do a frame swap on feebay, but after buying (for far to much money) I got it home and realized that the frame was rusted far beyond repair. Many of the mounting nuts on the frame were rusted to the point of not having threads left. After that point I lost interest in the bike and it has been sitting in dads shop/barn since.
Today I was thinking about parting the ol girl out and decided to check out craigslist to see if anything comparable was selling as a baseline. During my search I found a Nice, complete titled frame about 2 1/2 hours north of me for $180. The frame for that bike is a 1975 where my nice bike I have is a 1976.
I am going up saturday to pick up the frame and title, but here in lies the question.
How much would the value decrease for a complete bike with the frame being of a different year than the rest of the bike. Now i know the bike without a title is of little value besides parting it out, which i desperately don't want to do. (the bike deserves to be on the road) The difference between the 75 and 76 is that in 76 they did away with the ram air heads and a few little thing. Should i swap it to the other frame or should try to sell it as a non titled bike with a titled frame to keep it "original" for whoever buys it.
Im sure some of ya'll have delt with this situation so please help a brother out =)