Those of you who've experienced it, would you say your mods have hurt or helped your resale value? I haven't attempted to do much to my bike aside from bolt on crap. I'm considering doin some bigger chit like cutting fenders, fork swap, paint, and maybe a different tank.

Not that I'm thinking of trading or selling anytime soon but is this something I should consider?

I imagine some of you say you'll never get rid of your bike, and only add to the stable, but you never know. Marriages with the best intentions that are supposed to last forever sometimes end in divorce. Bikes are no different. Harley might offer some great incentive to trade in for a newer bike or something one of these days. Especially with the economy. Even the almighty MOCO will begin to feel the pain if the money situation doesn't improve in the next year or so.

 

One guys work of art usually isn't viewed as the Mona Lisa by the next guy.

 

Totally depends on the mods. Typically you don't get much return on mods. The bike is worth what its worth to a potential buyer and the mods carry little or no value unless they are attractive to the other person and they are something he/she would have wanted to do themselves and its already done so it has some value to them. A lot of my mods are reversible and I save most of the stock parts in case I sell to someone that doesn't want certain mods. The add on parts probably have more value sold as used parts separately from the bike anyway.

 

It's why a lot of folk keep their stock stuff around. Now if you can find someone that has the same likes and dislikes as you, the mods are fine. But for a trade in, the dealer won't give you crap for the mods, so a lot of folk put the stock stuff back on if using it as a trade in.

 

Bosken is a prime example. He has probably the most wicked looking bike on here in my opinion. I would love to do something similar but what if the fad changes and bobbers are not what everybody, including myself wants. (no offense on calling it a fad but long forked choppers were a fad in the 70's and nobody wants that anymore either. Just like a 300 rear tire is a fad.)



Is he going to have to dump a bunch more money back into the bike to return it to stock or making it something that the general market of the time would want? And hence lose money in trying to sell it?

Maybe I'm just over thinking the whole dang thing and should just shut my pie hole and ride what the good lord gave me.

 

I agree...if you decide to trade in your bike, any mods done are not added to the value. Same thing if you sell the bike to an individual...if the buyer really likes whats been done, he/she will be willing to pay a little extra if they see the value.

I always try to save my stock parts, so if I trade the bike in, I can at least get some of my money back by selling the aftermarket parts seperately.

 

I was always told it won't help. Probably hurt if you get to radical.

 

an excercise that will answer your question:
Go to craigslist and look in the motorcycles section and watch how long some one-off custom job hangs around. There is a raked, stretched, and wild one I have watched from August... "Over 35k Invested! A Steal at 17k!"
Once a week he relists it and since august its now dropped to 15k.

Now do the math.... 35k invested and it's his "perceived value" and yet he is willing to knock twenty thousand dollars off of his perceived value? He is either lying about what he has invested, or... he ripped himself off ONE MOD AT A TIME.

another easier example is this:
Boss Hoss $36,000 almost 10k in paint alone!
You REALLY have to want a friggin V8 bike to begin with..... but this paint job is SO ugly to the rest of the freakin planet that the FIRST thing you would do is right it to your paint guy or break out the KRYLON!

Long Story Short?
You modify your bike for you... not for resale. Most buyers are looking for a strong motor, straight frame, and decent rubber.... not chrome and doodads.

 

Some bolt on stuff can help it sell faster but not really increase the value.

Radical stuff is going to limit your buying group and make it hard to sell no matter how cool it is. You can get lucky and find that perfect person but not in most cases.

Like others I keep my stock stuff and most stuff will come off if I ever sell. I did the same with my quad I just sold. I had 10k invested in it and would of been lucky to get 4500 out of it sold like it was. I stripped it down to stock and between the quad and part sells got almost 7k back.

 

some mods may help you sell your bike over another guy with the same bike for sale. gonna depend on the buyer... I know having about $1800 in extras on my bike when I got it did not hurt the situation.