How to Buy a Used Motorcycle for Less than Half Price?
Introduction
How’s it going folks? My name’s Marcus and welcome to montmoto. In this blog post I’m going to talk about how you can save some money when buying your cafe racer donor motorcycle. For example, when I bought my 1979 BMW R80/7 from craigslist, after a little haggling back and forth with the seller, I paid $2400 cash, and that is a lot of money to throw at a cafe racer project from the beginning. But what if I told you, you could quickly make back more than half that money, more than $1600 in fact, and reduce the cost of your donor motorcycle to about $800? Would it make the decision to give this a go easier? Let me talk you through just how I did it.
Meet Heidi
Just before we jump into the details I need to introduce you to my 1979 BMW R80/7 - or as I call it, ‘Heidi’. It all started in January 2019. I was at work and decided to have a look on craigslist to see if there was an old BMW R80/7 for sale. I found this listed for $2500 and arranged with the seller to come and see the bike after work. I was so excited when I arrived at the house as I saw it sitting in the driveway. I immediately knew it was the one and after some half hearted haggling from me, I paid $2400 cash. I rode my new bike around the corner and pulled into a gas station and took these pictures. Absolutely delighted with it.
Saving Money
‘Get to the bit where you save all that money’ - I hear you say. Good point. The next morning (a Saturday) I pulled the motorcycle out of the garage and took stock of what I really had. Remember, I paid $2400 for the motorcycle, but given this is for a custom cafe racer build, there are lots and lots of parts on this bike that are (1) tricky to find original and (2) there is a market for them in the US.
Let’s run through the bike together. First of all, the rear panniers are classic, but 100% not the look I’m going for. I wonder would anyone want these? A quick look on eBay confirmed ‘yes’ some people would very much want these and would be willing to pay $127 for them. Won’t need the pannier frames either and they’re worth $181. In fact, not only am I not going to need the pannier frames, but I’m not going to reuse the subframe on this build so that’s another $90. Can also get rid of the rear shocks for $131. Ok, we’re already up to more than $500 back for parts we won’t need.
OK, what else? That Corbin seat is pretty appalling, surely that’s not worth anything? Oh right, found one on eBay with a backrest (which mine doesn’t) for $400, so let’s be conservative and say $300. What about those little plastic side panels that hide the battery? $85. The battery underneath is a wet cell 12V, definitely getting rid of that and the massive cage it’s in $34. Don’t like the foot rests, or the passenger footrests $125. I’m going to change the exhaust system out $200. Same with the front shocks $150. And adding in things like rear break lights, indicator lights, horn and handlebar controls is another $150. Add this all up and we get savings of in the region of $1600.
Now I get it. I hear you say “But Marcus, you’ve sold so much of the bike, what are you left with?”. I’ll tell you what you’re left with. You have a frame to build on. A fantastic engine, carburetors, gear box, drive shaft, and rims. The parts you want for the foundation of your build and none of the rest. And the best bit is, you only paid about $800 for them.
