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[Dan_Lockwood]

I have a guy looking at my '76 FL Shovelhead and he had a 2000 Ultra Classic that I've not yet seen.  He says it looks good, but who knows.

It has 150k miles on it and I'm told it's been serviced locally at his HD dealership all it's life.  It's had cams and an overhaul or two, not sure though how many.

What can a guy get for a good looking '00 Ultra classic with 150k miles?

When he first said in his text that he had a 2000 Ultra Classic that he would trade in on the '76 FL, I thought hey, I could probably move the Ultra faster than my Shovelhead, then I found out about the mileage and that changed the whole concept of trade in.

I've not seen pictures of his bike nor do I know more of the condition maintenance things that have been done.  He's an over the road truck driver so know that he probably takes good care of his rig, I would guess the same holds true to his bike.

So let me know your thoughts on a 2000 Ultra Classic with 150k miles.

He's going to be here tonight to look at the '76 FL so some feedback by then would be helpful.

Thanks and have a great day after the 4th...

[Chains]

With the mileage I would say around $2,500 to $3,000 if its really nice.  I couldn't get an offer over $7,000 on a trade out of my 06 CVO  with half the amount of miles.

[fastfreddy]

  thats only 10k miles a year, i think it would be a hard to sale for top dollar...if your thinking of a flip

[Rimjam]

I agree with fastfreddy, a high mileage bike just doesn't bring a good price even if it's super clean.  Guy says the engine's been built, what about the trans? the sprockets? the neck bearings? wheel bearings? primary chain?  Examine the 2000 very carefully.

[JCZ]

The market for any bike with 150k will be very narrow....and he probably already knows that.  That should work in your favor.  Hell, dealers and many riders consider a bike with 60k a high mileage bike.

[110tHunDer]

Don't make his problem yours.  IMO, the bike is used up at 150,000 and my idea of "looks good" is usually drastically different than most people's.  I wouldn't give his trade a moment's thought.

[dayne66]

Don't make his problem yours.  IMO, the bike is used up at 150,000 and my idea of "looks good" is usually drastically different than most people's.  I wouldn't give his trade a moment's thought.

I concur.....even well maintained there are just too many components that are suspect at that mileage.

[Dan_Lockwood]

Thanks guys, that's pretty much what I was thinking.

Yes, you could tear it down to the main frame and replace all the bearing/wear items and have the trans and engine rebuilt, but it's still a 150k mile bike.

My dad always told me that if you have a $2000 car without a running motor and you spend $2000 on getting it running, you still have a $2000 car!

So no matter what he's done and how well the bike rides, it's still a couple thousand dollar bike.  But trying to even get the $2000 out of it will be very difficult.

Maybe if someone has a "lake" house and they want a bike to just piddle around the lake with and short trips, it might be okay for that.

I think I would feel differently if it were my bike from new and I would have done all the repairs and rebuilds along the way.  I would know and trust it, but that still doesn't make it any more valuable.

[Dan_Lockwood]

Well the guy showed up last night to look at my old Shovelhead.



He really likes it a lot.  We talked about his '00 Ultra and he agrees that it would be hard for me to flip it.  He told me that he had a new crate Twin Cam put in about 45k miles ago and the trans was rebuilt then as well.  But you never know about the rest of the items.  He says he'd trust it to go anywhere, and may be if I had owned it all its life and knew everything about it, I would feel the same.  But as I said to him, it would be hard for me to convince another person of its dependability.

He said his wife really didn't want him to get rid if it anyway.

So he's really interested and not complaining "much" about my price, he understand it and agrees it's worth it to him.

So I have to have the left tank repainted as the painter back in '05 must have had an issue with the AMF emblem mounting nuts and one of them has started to fester under the paint and blister the paint quite badly.  The decals I picked out in '05 are now obsolete and I can only find right side decals on eBay and no left hand ones.  That means that I'll have to have both tanks repainted to match with new HD decals.

Either way if he buys it or not, the tank has to be repaired.

I appreciate all of the comments and thankfully I will not have to deal with the '00 Ultra with 153k miles.

I'll let you all know how the saga turns out.

Have a great week.

[Dan_Lockwood]

The guy is going to buy the bike.  I need to have the left tank repainted after the one of the emblem mounting tab apparently sprang a leak and the paint is blistering from presumably the gas or corrosion under the paint.  Out of four old AMF emblem attachment nut removals, one just has to start corroding or leaking after 10 years, bummer.

The bad part is that the decals I bought '92 FXR have been obsolete since '05.  If I cannot find a left hand, 14348-92 decal, I'll have to have both tanks redone and use a new decal of a different year.  If anyone knows where there is one of these very rare decals, let me know quickly.  Also, the right hand tank decal, even though obsolete, is available through several different eBay vendors, go figure...

But anyway, $10k and he's getting a great bike that always draws the looks at the hangouts.  He's keeping his '00 Ultra for longer rides etc.

Thanks again for the comments on the pricing of the '00 Ultra, I appreciate the input.

Now off to get the tank work redone...