Whats a fair price?

Hi All,

A friend of a friend of mine is moving house and needs to clear his garage. He's got a 1996 cat which has 33k on the clock, is a little rough around the edges in the bodywork department and has been in his garage for over a year now unused. His wife to be is pressuring him to get it gone and he offered it to me for £300.

Now, I'm relatively cautious and I didn't want to agree to anything until I knew what I was in for so I hired a van last sunday and picked it up with the intension of putting it through the MOT before deciding . It runs ok on the choke but cuts out as soon as it is put back in and wont idle and the rpm counter only works intermittantly. It went for its MOT today and passed with no advisories though. The gear change down is very stiff too.

A mechanic friend of mine reckons that the idling problem could be down to the old fuel fowling the carbs and has offered to do whatever it is he needs to do to fix it (sorry for the vagueness but I'm not even slightly in the know about mechanics!! lol!) which should save me a few quid.

The guy made it clear to me when I picked the bike up that he doesn't want to see it again and that he would be open to offers on the £300. Also he gave me a paddock stand, haynes manual, digital tyre pressure gauge and loads of other goodies with it as well. It has a seat with no rips in and proper mirrors which I could use for my black 'cat which would be a bonus.

I don't want to short change the chap as he's a nice guy who i will hopefully see again but on the other side I don't want to lose money on the bike. After what you've read what do you guys think would be a fair price to offer him?

What are your intentions if you do buy it? Would be a great project bike by the sounds of it. But then again, I havnt got a clue regarding mechanics and whats wrong etc.
On Ebay there are a few "sold for spares" thundercats and they are between £200 - £400 if thats of any help.

Regards,
Sam.

Hi Sam,

I hadn't really thought past pilfering the bits for my bike and then selling it on really. I rode it down to the MOT place today and it rode really well. I wouldn't mind keeping it if I knew it was mechanically better than my current 'cat but i'm loath to spend out at a garage if I only end up selling it anyway.

Did you get a 'cat by the way? I see a nice blue one as your avatar! is she now yours?

Parkers would suggest that a poor conditioned private sale "P" Reg 96 Thundercat is about 745 Squids mark.

Have you also thought about doing an HPI check

The bike sounds very similar to one that offered me, same year and symptoms.

Having been stood for so long, the chances are the carbs need a good clean, the fuel will be bad and maybe the jets are blocked. The stiff gear change will most likely be the chain tension.
The mere fact that it has passed MOT shows the bike is fairly mechanically sound.

Maybe worth twice or treble what he thinks.

0ldcat wrote:Parkers would suggest that a poor conditioned private sale "P" Reg 96 Thundercat is about 745 Squids mark.

Have you also thought about doing an HPI check

Cheers for that. £750! Sounds like I might make a few quid then!

SteveCat wrote:The bike sounds very similar to one that offered me, same year and symptoms.

Having been stood for so long, the chances are the carbs need a good clean, the fuel will be bad and maybe the jets are blocked. The stiff gear change will most likely be the chain tension.
The mere fact that it has passed MOT shows the bike is fairly mechanically sound.

Maybe worth twice or treble what he thinks.

Cheers for the advice Steve. I am a noob at this mechanical lark. That sounds like what my friend Ted said about the carbs. He's offered to have a look at it for me. I'll check the chain tension. If that is the case then i reckon that armed with my new freebie haynes manual i might be able to address that problem!!!

If it's passed MOT with no advisories I would say you have got an absolute bargain.

If he's happy with the £300, I'd pay it, no qualms. The problems you describe should be easily fixed. 33,000 miles on the clock is nothing, less than 3000 miles a year.

A little TLC, sort the problems, which shouldn't cost too much, and you could easily sell it on for well over £1000. A very tidy profit.

I'm sure there are many on here who would jump at the chance to purchase this bike.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Tony

Something like that is exactly what im after as a winter project.
At that price you cant go wrong mate. i'd have it!!

northun_munky wrote:Did you get a 'cat by the way? I see a nice blue one as your avatar! is she now yours?

Thats my new baby girl! Bought her today but won't get her till next week! Good luck with the (new) bike if you do decide to keep her!

Regards,
Sam.

Ok. Massive thanks to all of you for the advice. I guess I just needed a 2nd opinion that the deal seemed as good as I thought it was. I've spoken to him and we agreed at £200 so were both happy!

Can I make you even happier by giving you £300 quid for it on Saturday?!! £100 profit for you and I'll take care of it....

Is the rev counter really intermittent, ie all over the place, or does it regularly go to 0, then to a number, then 0 again, then back to a number over and over? If so this is a diagnostic and might even explain the poor idling.

MevsyD wrote:Can I make you even happier by giving you £300 quid for it on Saturday?!! £100 profit for you and I'll take care of it....

I'll over you £300.05 for it i reckon we could get a bidding war on this

Seriously,by the sounds of it, you've bagged yourself a bargin

weasley wrote:Is the rev counter really intermittent, ie all over the place, or does it regularly go to 0, then to a number, then 0 again, then back to a number over and over? If so this is a diagnostic and might even explain the poor idling.

Its pretty intermittant to be honest. One minute it works next it doesnt.

MevsyD wrote:Can I make you even happier by giving you £300 quid for it on Saturday?!! £100 profit for you and I'll take care of it....

andyb wrote:

MevsyD wrote:Can I make you even happier by giving you £300 quid for it on Saturday?!! £100 profit for you and I'll take care of it....

I'll over you £300.05 for it i reckon we could get a bidding war on this

Seriously,by the sounds of it, you've bagged yourself a bargin

I reckon I might well hold on to it for the time being!!