Boxerworks.com

Long time no see. I survived. I can't seem to locate my old user name, so I've just created a new account. Hopefully at least one of you will still remember me so that I don't seem entirely foolish--

I'm Henry, I have a BMW r75/5 from 1971. I posted on the boxerworks forum a lot when I first purchased the bike, 5 years ago. I am 20 now, was 15 then. I pretty much wrote a several-paragraph post about every ride I went on, all of which seemed to quickly turn into adventures. I also relied heavily on you all for assistance with my attempts at doing all my own mechanical work. When I got the bike it wouldn't run, with all of you guys helping (and by constantly going back to http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/index.htm ) I discovered the many problems, went through and replaced the spark plugs, the points, adjusted the timing, finally got it started, then discovered it wouldn't rev up above above an idle, and determined this was due to a torn diaphragm in the left carburetor. I rebuilt the carburetors, and rode it around for a while.

I proceeded to go off the road and bend the forks just oh-so-slightly. I was directed by members of this forum to a procedure for straightening fork tubes, executed the procedure, and was back on the road.

I developed a leak in my driveshaft boot once, unfortunately while on my way down a mountainpass in Vermont, and nearly crashed but got it under control, pulled off to the side of the road, and patched the leak with ... silicone ... *shudder* and used my t-shirt to clean the oil off the rear tire. Made it home alive.

All these stories and more were related in much greater detail on this forum.

Finally, in a fantastically stupid but loud and flashy manner, I made my exit from this forum with a post describing my final foolish and self-induced crash--in a nutshell, I tore the mirrors, turn signals, and fenders off my bike to make it look more like a cafe-racer, then tried to execute a left turn from the right-turn lane in a road with three lanes -- one for left turn only, one for straight only, and one for right turn only. I didn't see girl driving her fathers Mercedes at approximately 35mph in the straight-only lane, and I turned right in front of her. I was miraculously injured, but the bike was pretty beat up, and I thought the frame was badly bent, so I sold the wreckage to a friend for a ridiculously low sum, with the agreement that he would sell it back to me someday, and would never ever sell it to anybody else. It was my first vehicle, not only my first motorcycle, so I still had a great deal of sentimental attachment, but I couldn't afford to fix it up.

Turned out, the only portion of the frame that was bent was the tail section which can be entirely removed with nuts and bolts. He replaced the tail section of the frame, replaced the handlebars, the dented up tank, put the mirrors back on, put the fenders back on, put on some turnsignals (sadly not the beautiful aluminum OE that I had torn off and sold in my youthful blind stumbling stupid foolish damnable idiocy), replaced the valve cover on the left cylinder, and started riding it around. A while down the road, he put a new transmission in it, and a new seat.

So, I bought it back from him almost a month ago. It has 88,600 miles on it now. He gave me a good price, but it was still not too far from market value, I think. I drove it a while, NYC to Vermont and back to NYC and then buzzed all around the NYC area. The weather has been cold, and so I have had a bit of trouble starting it, being on the road and not having a warm place to park it. I began jumpstarting it. Then I began foolishly jumpstarting it from running vehicles. Then, when it started to be a real b****, and refuse to start for big, long, extended periods of time (way longer than I probably ought to be holding down the starter button), I started having people revv their engines up while I started it. I carried jumper cables around my waist, and would run outside to start the bike every 20 minutes to keep it hot while going to shows and parties in the city, since it only gave me trouble starting when cold. I should have gone to you guys sooner, but last night I finally blew the starter--it engages but it doesn't turn the engine, it just grinds, as though the gears have just been sheared off or something. However, my "one question" from the subject line is not regarding the starter, but rather, the market value of the bike.


THE QUESTION:

What is the market value of this motorcycle?

1971 R75/5, SWB
88,600 miles
Not OE: gastank (originally silver or gray with the black rubber pads, now black, with the black rubber pads on the side), handlebars (low european style), turnsignals (crappy aftermarket)

Missing: choke cables (each choke has a little wire handle to adjust it), spring and screw for rubber seal on gas cap, seat rails, horn cover, center stand spring

Broken: tachometer, speedometer, instrument panel lights.

Gastank paint job is scratched a lot, and has a couple tiny chips out of the paint.
Transmission recently replaced, I don't know the details of that but I could find out if it's very relevant.
Exhaust also recently replaced but with used parts, in good condition.
Headlight retaining ring is scratched and dented, headlight casing is also slightly, and headlight ears have been spraypainted matte black and are also slightly bent.

Tell me--What would you ask for it, what would you take for it, what would you pay for it. All three please, even if they're three different numbers.

Henry Romp wasn't it?

You're remembered, and I'm glad you're alive still!

I can't help with local to you values. Parting it out might get the best return.

Howzit Henry, glad you're still alive. As for the price of the bike, I've paid $1,000 for used and abused old BMWs, maybe $1,500 if it was something I really wanted. Judging by your description, I'd offer $750 tops, but the shipping would kill the deal. Put an ad on craigslist and ask too much, and see if you get any responses. Then you can drop the price and everybody will be happy. Good luck.

Glad to hear that I'm remembered, good to see you Steve and Tim.

Sounds like I should go for the trade I've been offered (a nice, running, ducati monster 600 from 2001).

If anybody has any idea where I might find old archives from the forum, I'd love to look over my old posts for nostalgia.

I have many more stories--I owned a Porsche 944S for a while and a Suzuki GS450 for a while since I last posted here.

Anyway, I'm probably trading the bike for this Ducati Monster 600 from 2001. Sound like a good trade? I bet. I discussed a price around $3800 with the gent interested in purchasing (he's got a few nice old classic bikes as well, a honda CB and an old triumph, but he wants to trade for the ducati)... Everything's more expensive in NYC. Anyway, I hope to make the trade soon, keep you posted.

Hi Henry.
So you're back. Hypothetically.

Sounds like the trade is the way to go. We seem to have lost the archives when they switched to the new format. Bummer, some of my best one liners... lost in the ozone!

Well, Henry, it's good to hear from you. Just the other day I thought about you and wondered how you were doing.

It sounds to me like a straight up swap for the Ducati Monster might be a good deal for you. But you want numbers.

This last summer I saw a short wheelbase /5 for sale on Craig's list. This was in the Boise, ID area. It looked pretty good on the low resolution small pic so I followed it up, riding with some friends through some really nice Rocky mountain roads north of Boise to the mountain hamlet where the bike was located.

If I remember correctly the asking price was $2,500 and I was prepared to spend $2,000 on a /5 as nice as I imagined that /5 to be. But when I saw it up close my aspirations plummeted. The bike was, to my eye, a rolling project. The paint was bad. Presumably that bike had parked out in the weather for a significant portion of its life. There was also a lot of rust and stain. The good news was that the instruments, which are problematic on /5 bikes had recently been reworked by Palo Alto Speedometer or the other shop that does the work. That was the biggest plus on the bike.

Looking around a little more closely I saw that seemingly everything needed to be refreshened cosmetically, including expensive items like the chrome headlight ring. I didn't bother to aske the owner to even start it up. It was already clear from the conversation that he regarded the bike as a classic (which it was), but evidently he didn't see the cosmetic problems as being a big deal. I did.

So, after talking airheads for a while we went on our way. That bike would have required many hours to bring it up to a rider status cosmetically--meaning that the ugly on it would have detracted too much from the joy of riding it. Plus I already have at least three airhead project bikes that I haven't worked on much yet.

I would have bought it for $1,000 and then it surely would have become a fourth project bike vying for my attention.

From remembering some of your adventures I picture your bike being rougher than that /5 that I looked at. Plus, the non-working instruments would be a big downer. I understand that they cost several hundred dollars to be restored nowadays.

Of course my $1,000 valuation of the bike I looked at comes from a person who has airheads that scratch that airhead itch, except for not having a /5. I'll throw out the number of $1,500 dollars that you might be able to sell it for through Craig's list. The asking price? That's a tough one. A /5 is a very desirable airhead and a lot of people have a hunger greater than mine. Plus I have sometimes scratched my head in wonder about the value some people have paid for an airhead on eBay. I'm going to peg the asking price at $2,500 simply because some people are crazy about certain airheads, and a /5 is a desireable bike.


Good luck, and keep us posted on how selling the /5 goes for you.

Oh, and there was an earlier suggestion about parting out the bike. That's certainly a good way to get probably the most money out of your bike. But I see it as a major hassle at best. My impression is that you want to ride, not wrench.


Ken

I would add that parting out the bike leaves us with one /5 less in the world...
And welcome back Henry! glad you made it this far.
I would go for the monster.

Welcome back Henry!

Let us know if you want to change your user name to what it was on the old forum. We have the technology to do that.

hal wrote:I would add that parting out the bike leaves us with one /5 less in the world...
And welcome back Henry! glad you made it this far.
I would go for the monster.

On the other side of the ledger, it might also keep a few others on the road too!

However, the question is now one of value in a trade for a 600 monster.
Henrys bike sounds like it has major bits needing sorting, and the $2500 mentioned seems inflated to me. My market is different though, but would normally be higher than yours. What does a 600 Monster go for there?