What is my bike worth?

[Darkstar]

Hi guys,

I'm new here. I have a 850 T-3 with a Continental sidecar that I want to sell and I have no idea what it is worth.  I have an interested buyer asking me how much I want for it.  I inherited the bike from an old friend who died crashing his BMW about 15 years ago.  I have ridden the bike little since then.

The sidecar is in decent shape.  Patina but no gouges in the paint or anything.  It is attached well- the rig seems to have been built by a pro but I don't have any details.

The bike runs fine. Shows 34K miles.  It has three brand new tires and a new starter motor and steering damper.  The headlight lens falls off, it has several oil leaks, one muffler is rusted through underneath.  Again it has a nice real patina without damage but with plenty of nicks here and there.

I realize you need more than this and ideally pictures (I can probably get those) but just as a ballpark figure- what price range would you put this in?  I don't know if its worth $2,500 or ten grand....

Thanks in advance

[dsrdave]

$3500-$5500  depending on condition and if chrome bores or not....

[HDGoose]

Depends on the buyer.

[Darkstar]

Thanks.  I have heard about the chrome bores.  I don't know how to check the condition of them.  It runs and rides well -that's about all I have on that right now.

[fotoguzzi]

$1500 for the bike 500-700 for the car using your discription w/o pics.

[Darkstar]

Wow, I thought with a sidecar all set up it would be worth more.  Said another way- these bikes are a pretty good deal.

[Vasco DG]

It's a broken, leaky old Munter that hasn't been ridden for years that's falling to pieces! Good grief! How much do you expect someone to pay for something they'll have to take apart to the last nut and bolt and completely refurbish to make safe and reliable?

Pete

[Darkstar]

Well, it's not THAT bad :-)  I just didn't want to sugar coat it- it does need some work.  I rode it the way it is though.  But yeah, it needs work.  It's a project.  Maybe I'll focus on finding it a good home rather than bringing in the big bucks.  Thanks guys.

[Vasco DG]

It is that bad! Think about it. It's headlight is falling to pieces, it has 'Rustlers' rather than Mufflers, no service history, has sat for long periods of time unused, there is no knowledge of whether it has chrome bores or whether that might already have failed, there is no reliable way to know how many miles it has actually covered but it's still a 40 year old rust bucket! Nailing a chair to it would, in my experience, actually diminish its perceived value!

I'm not having a go at you. I can understand your desire to realise as much capital from it as possible but let's be realistic. It's a huge, steaming, turd.

Pete

[slopokes]

   pete     thanks

[Mark West]

put it on ebay with no reserve and find out. Seriously. Unless you want to spend a lot of money having it gone through and made road worthy you are asking the buyer to take a substantial risk. Having sat it's likely to have seals that need replacing, corrosion to deal with, electrical connection issues, and on and on.

If you want to do all that work and be able to show a prospective buyer that he won't have to, then obviously it will be worth a lot more.

[MotoGoosy]

Shoot for 6500

http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-italian-motorcycles/moto-guzzi-850-t3-zmbz14jfzbea.aspx

[Darkstar]

Ebay would be the way to go I guess.  I'll post good pics and let the world decide what it's worth.

[Lannis]

Ebay would be the way to go I guess.  I'll post good pics and let the world decide what it's worth.

  :1: They're the only ones that CAN decide .... !   Everything else is just wishing.

Lannis   

[Rough Edge racing]

 I recently was told by many "experts", a bike I wanted to sell was worth 6500 bucks minimum... It didn't make $3500 on Ebay...Good thing I had a reserve .... It's worth what people are willing to pay and not a cent more...

[Lannis]

I recently was told by many "experts", a bike I wanted to sell was worth 6500 bucks minimum... It didn't make $3500 on Ebay...Good thing I had a reserve .... It's worth what people are willing to pay and not a cent more...

My point of view is a little different .... It sounds like it wasn't a good thing you had a "reserve", because you still have the bike that you "wanted to sell" sitting in your shop, and you don't have the money that it would have brought that people were willing to pay.

It sounds like you didn't really want to sell it all that bad .... ?

The original posted doesn't want this bike sitting on his hands.   He wants the money that it's worth.   A non-reserve eBay auction will get that for him.   An eBay auction with a "reserve" will end up with the status quo in a couple weeks and no money changing hands.

Lannis

[BPRM]

I would try setting a price a little on the high side of what you would take and put it on Craigslist.
Might get rid of it with no ebay fees and not have to deal with a shipping company or a no pay bidder.

[brenwin]

It's a tough call . Old rust bucket Nortons here in BC (stands for Bring Cash) sell for up to $5,000 . Damned if I know why but I bet if that T3 and side care was here you'd get close to $3000 . Pete knows the score though , lol .

[Travlr]

Here's a few "sold" comps from Ebay.  You can compare to yours.

850T and Sidecar $6900
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-Moto-Guzzi-850-T-/331504945485?pt=US_motorcycles&forcerrptr=true&hash=item4d2f3c094d&item=331504945485&nma=true&si=YA2uRd6eSdI%252BqSe%252Fcsy5%252BiDXFnI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

850T $4,000

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Moto-Guzzi-850-T-/201351791150?forcerrptr=true&hash=item2ee180822e&item=201351791150