Topic: Looking for Advice on Buying a CB550

[Jonesy]

My luck always seems to be that when I'm looking for a particular bike, when I finally find one that seems like a good buy and I buy it, then all kinds of them seem to pop up and all of them for less money....

[gar]

Hi Paul, I know how bad you want this bike... but...I think he is asking t-o-o much. I LOVE my CB and have put some money into it.  I paid $900 last year for my '75 550k which I would describe as "fine" or "very good" condition, 8300 miles, completely stock.  It needed new tires and a battery.... $200.  Granted I bought it from a friend, but he was going to try to turn the bike over for $1100-$1200.  The trouble is these fine bikes were mass produced.  Consequently the supply and demand has kept prices low. 

Make a reasonable, much lower offer anyhow.  If you don't ask, you'll never know.  But for close to $3k, you can get a lot of bike in the used-motorcycle arena.  That much for an old CB...well IMHO is just asking too much. 

[Shenanigans]

I think that the asking price is too much. Unless you have been looking for that particular year/model/color all stock in very good condition and want to ride it now. There are better deals that might suit you more out there, but then it becomes a matter of Patience against "I want to ride now"

[Paul Bater]

I don't have to buy it NOW. I can be patient. While I haven't been aggressively looking for the past year, I've been causally keeping an eye out on these bikes, and to be honest I just don't see that many for sale around here. They all seem to be out west or in the southeast, which is a hell of a drive from Detroit. I know all to well, that if I do decide to buy this bike, then 15 will show up on Craigs List for half the price and half the mileage.

The seller is supposed to be calling me tonight after work, so I'll ask him some questions, see how he answers, see if I get a good vibe from him and take it from there. Your help and insight has been great. Thanks to you all.

[Paul Bater]

Thought you'd get a chuckle out of this one. You think the one I'm looking at is expensive?

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/mcy/308576852.html

[ieism]

That's a lot off money. For that kinda money i would expect to see new tires, perfect chrome, perfect seat, no dings anywhere, Dyna ignition, new tapered steering bearings, and a full maintance history.

Let's say you buy a near-perfect one for $1500, you slap on 4 new exhaust for $700 and find some other parts that need fixing. You'll soon end up with a $2500 total too.
I don't think there's one member on this forum who didn't put some money into their bike after he/she bought it. There's always something to fix or improve.
Any members want to prove me wrong?  Who here bought his CB in perfect shape, didn't have to do anything the first year they had it? 

[masonryman]

Any members want to prove me wrong? Who here bought his CB in perfect shape, didn't have to do anything the first year they had it?

I first 550 I bought I got for $200, cleaned the tank and carbs and rode it for 2 years trouble free, it had 7850 miles on it.
The guy was my dads neighbor and over heard me talking about wanting a vintage bike and offered it to me for that price to get it out of his garage.

This happens about once in a life time

Mark

[Paul Bater]

Hi All,

Well, if anyone's interested, I got a hold of the guy after a little bit of email swapping and phone tag. Despite coming off as kind of a jerk on the email responses, he was actually a helpful guy. Turns out his father bought the 550 as a used bike in the early 80's, kept it for years until he got too old to ride, and gave it to this guy, his son. It sat for a couple of years, then about 5 years ago, this guy cleaned/restored/tuned up the bike. New sprockets, chains, exhaust, replaced a fair amount of the chrome work, cleaned out carbs and tank, rebuilt front brake, points, plugs, wires etc etc. and did one hell of a cleaning and polishing job. Sounds like a great story, obviously don't know true it is.

He's seems negotiable on the price, to a point, but I didn't push it on the phone, and he'll also throw in a single bike trailer for my troubles. What a guy. I must appear to be a nice guy on the phone. So assuming we're not in blizzard conditions again this weekend, I was going to slide over to Chicago this weekend and check it out.

Thanks again for your help,
Paul

[dagersh]

Paul,

Sounds like a great bike.  Just make sure you take it for a test ride.  Throwing the trailer in a plus!  It may be one of those fold-up jobbies that are easy to store and could become imvaluable!

Let us know how it goes.

Gersh

[Dr Rockso]

i wouldn't do it , it's almost got 20k on it , with the money you spend on that one bike i could pick up 5 bikes with combined mileage that doesn't even equal 20k . don't let the shiny pipes cloud your vision . last summer i picked up a cl360 in mint condition with 500miles on it for FREE , it was partially taken apart by the original owner so it'd fit under the table in his shop , took me 2 and a half hours to get it back together and off i went on it . theres tons of deals to be had out there , i don't think that 550 is one of em . for that same money i could buy a 550 , a trailer , and a truck to pull it with , keep looking man .


i left the side covers in the laundry room/garage for the pic , but they were in awesome shape too



and it never hurts to put an ad on craigslist saying " looking for cb550's" tons of people see that and all kinds of stuff comes out of the woodwork , thats how i found my 750....and this place...and 5 or 6 people near me that are very helpful with old honda stuff .

[Paul Bater]

Shiney pipes...............can't see...........cloudy vision..............

I understand what you're all saying. Its so friggin' pretty though! Its tough to imagine this thing is in bad shape mechanically.

Isn't 20,000 miles of near continuous use over the years, better than a very low mileage bike that must have sat for years on end?
Admittedly I've never bought one of these bikes, but I've had other Honda's with twice that mileage and they've all been perfectly fine. Not trying to play devils advocate here, just asking questions.

Thanks to you all again.

[Dr Rockso]

unless the oil is full of water then i've never had a problem with low mileage bikes that sat for a while , on the other hand i had a kz750 with 89k on it , eventually we tried to kill it , drained the oil and filled the crankcase with rocks , glue , glass , bb's , dirt , anything we could find ......it ran for 32 minutes , blew my mind . then it blew it's self to pieces . that being said i like lower mileage bikes because the parts are normally in better shape (especially on a bike that lived indoors) less random oil leaks , less half assed fixes . plus you know there hasn't been some kid on it red lining it everywhere for the past 20 years . but i don't mind replacing parts and getting em running . either way the price that guy is asking is way outta line in my book . but then again there are very few bikes older than 1995 that i would ever pay more than $1500 for . maybe it's because i grew up on $200 bikes , maybe it's just because i know where to look .  if i lay $1000 down on a bike i might have to work on then fine , but if i lay down almost 3k on a bike then it better not give me even the slightest problem for atleast 1 or 2 years or i feel ripped off .....can you tell that i'm poor yet ?

[TwoTired]

Isn't 20,000 miles of near continuous use over the years, better than a very low mileage bike that must have sat for years on end?

I all depends on the care given, or how it was stored.

20,000 miles on this bike is really not much of a concern, especially if it has had proper care.

A bike that just sits, still breathes air.  Humidity/ internal condensation can corrode internal bits like cylinder walls, cam lobes, and carb internals.

To reject a bike purely on a this mileage basis is, in my opinion, unrealistic.

Certainly good deals can be had.  If waiting and looking is more enjoyable to you than riding/wrenching, then by all means save your money.

Would I pay $2700 for that bike? no. I've have no need for it or a place to store it!   But, with the new pipes and the work that's been put in it, I wouldn't sell it for under $1500, either, if the cam cover is still good and the bike meets inspection criteria.  But, that's my view from the Bay Area California.  Other locales will have different supply/demand factors.

Good luck!