I believe you're right that it would have more appeal in stock configuration. But it is your reserve which prevented it from selling. It seems, these days, that most bike auctions on eBay don't meet the seller's reserve.

If you start buying more eBay parts just to increase its' appeal, it might work or it might not, but you'll have even more money to try to get out of it, plus labor. When you decide to actually sell it go easy on creating a reserve; let the market tell you what is the right price; I don't believe $5,000-$7500 sounds right. My '09 was $9,000. Good luck, whatever you decide.

 

It's tough all over. People are buying new and getting a great rate on financing.

 

Like stated it's the times.. economy sucks. I paid just under $8000.00 for my 86'FXR new back in 86'.. I sold it for $10,500.00 back in 2002.

I think the market has been steadily on the decline since then. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's you couldn't touch a new bike around here for under MSRP. Now you can.

If I had the $5,500 for the bobber softtail I'd buy it. Unfortunatly like a lot of people now days, I'm just getting by.

 

Your right, in the late 80's,90's you could pretty much name your price.You had to order your new bike and took monthes to get it. You can thank Harley for part of the problem by substantially increasing production levels. Now its just another ***** product same as a Yamaha or Honda.

 

Lo-Rider, The shame of it is, it only missed reserve by $400. If I were standing there in the driveway with the buyer I think we could have come to a compromise.

My numbers came from checking e-bays completed listings for 86-90 Softails. Seems like Big-Twin Harleys start at $5,000. As bad as the economy is I don't think you'll find any big-twins going much lower unless they are salvage sales. I saw one that sold for $4,500. But some auctions make me laugh, like a 1990 stock Softail "buy-it-now" for $18,000 and they have the auction starting bid at $14,500. What are these guys thinking?!?!?!

I have been an auto mechanic for 30 years and an "After hours" bike mechanic for about 20 years now. And since I'm currently unemployed, labor for converting the bike back to a heritage is not a concern. If I weren't fiddling with the bike I'd probably just be puttering around in the house. I have most of the parts that I took off originally because I bought extras back when I got the other stuff powdercoated so I could just swap out everything. I just didn't feel like pulling a third bike apart since I have two other bikes I'm working on currently, I was just hoping it sold this past week to get it out of the way.

 

The correct price for the current market will sell the bike. You just may not want to sell at that price.

$500,000 Condos on the beach in the Florida panhandle are now $250,000 and not selling at all. So they need to go to under $200,000.

 

I picked up an '06 Super Glide last year for 5k with less than 1000 miles on it and a few extras. When I made the guy the offer he didn't even flinch at accepting it. He said it had been on the market for 3-4 months and I was the first to show up with $$$

 

Or a few years.

 

I think EVERYBODY is looking for a steal! I got a steal on my 08 Dyna and it looks like I'm going to have to post a steal to sell my loaded Sportster. I'm dropped my sale price by 300 - 500 bucks per week until I started getting some interest. Unfortunatly, the phone started ringing when my price was about 50% of what I have in the bike after only 12 months.

 

I see stuff on craigslist that makes me just shake my head. People want back what they put into the bike, or close to it. An '09 FXSTC for 21,000 has been in there. He then lists all the improvements along with the prices of all the improvements and goes on to say you get to steal it for 5,000 less than he has into it. Good luck with all that.

I really think when you add options to your bike you do so at your expense. Especially in a 2010 economy.