$11600US for a stock TS400..wtf!

[Doc]

well Cyclegod you'll like this one  sold just recently by your eBay user friend moman 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330181768206

or item 330181768206

1x TS400 $11600usd...I can't think of anything to say only...

holy bloody hell..what's going on!!!

[husky61]

Doc

Not sure about the price , but sure is a nice looking bike.

[Quicksilver]

Makes this a bargain then huh.. Id like this one myself but shes too far way.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Suzuki-TS400-parts-bike-VMX-AHRMA_W0QQitemZ220197527350QQihZ012QQcategoryZ43810QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Tony T]

Not only that, but the buyer is in Italy. So he's still got to ship the thing from the U.S.  
The seller is "Captain Bling" isn't he? The guy who had that wild looking 185?

[firko]

I'm with Rob and Doc....It's a beautiful restoration but $11600 is premium dollar. What it does indicate is that while it's personally satisfying to build a bike on the cheap using second hand parts or parts from other models, the real investment money is in doing it 100% right. That's the point I was trying to make a couple of years ago with the infamous "bling TS185" that went for stupid money that was not so coincidentally built by the same bloke. Cool if you want to build a bike to race or ride on the cheap, if fact there should be more of it, but if you want long term investment potential and expect big bucks when it's time to sell, it's gotta look like this baby.

(In fact, this bike has seen a little too much of the polishing mop as well.)

[Doc]

I was hoping to get some bites and yes, that local eBay $280 TS400 shines in a whole new light eh!  not!! The bling 185 referred to if the same Yellow bike I'm thinking was infact a Bling TS250. Just looking at the background I'd say the same seller too. I don't see the value here either but the fact is someone does and I hope they are very happy with the purchase. I can't find the larger pics but this was the bling TS..




 

[firko]

You're so right Doc, the "Bling Thing" was indeed a 250. This bloke seems to have an obsession with polishing things. As nice as it is, the TS400 would be a better resto if he hadn't polished the hubs, forks and triple clamps. If I had bought that bike (not bloody likely at that price) I'd be returning those items back to the original finish, then it would be a perfect resto. That TS400 in Kangaroo Flat may make a nice candidate for a full resto but I reckon it should go to someone like you who can turn it into a cheapo racer.

[VMX Andrew]

i owned one of them when i was goin to high school i think i was about 14..from memory it was a 76 model but bye jezus it had some grunt and compression... hell i had to always run start it or get someone older and taller to kick her over..never looked anything like that one on ebay..no shine and plenty of hockey straps

[Freakshow]

thats got to be some kind of sick joke.  what 2 persons in the word would both be bidding on a TS enduro at that money ? it would have to have  cocaine in the tank for that kind of money.

On a far outside it might be worth that coin if it was some Joel roberts special, but fuc me its a suzuki trail bike.

Based on that nonsense my collection is worth 3 million dollars.  this thread should be moved to the "fools and there money parted" topic.
 

and its not even April

[Quicksilver]

See Freaky. TS stuff is worth something. You dont have to be so concerned about some of TS parts on TM you bought now...  TS stuff being so expencive you can let have those other TM forks now. 

[Doc]

  no you were right Firko, I've enough of the heavy underpowered slow handling TS400's. 1 is enough!!!  I'm no glutton for punishment!

[TM BILL]

Its a bit out of my price range  but a steal compared to those $1000000.00 Holdens you blokes talk about 

[Doc]

$1000000 Holden  I didn't think any such critter existed Bill 

I reckon the TS400 had one to many zero's but then I'm not really into resto's so naturally that's what I would think

Freaky while it may seem expensive (to me too), it is 'new' and it is a '400' and a 'new 400' is about the same coin these days

[firko]

There's no million dollar Holdens (yet) Bill. There are a couple of million dollar Falcons though. There was a time when I would be the first person to jump onto this forum complaining about the ridiculous prices being paid for bikes and parts. Lately I've taken to seeing it from the other side. I've recently been offered serious money for my both square barrell Maico and DT1, much more than I'd ever anticipated. While I won't be selling the Maico for anything short of a years pay, I want to get the DT1 registered and use it to cruise the Paddington coffee lounge circuit with Mark Austin and his RT2 before I even consider selling it! I figure that these bikes are a reasonable investment that will increase in value even more in the forseeable future.
In the past I've been a lot like Doc and built bikes with little thought towards concourse originality. I'm a hot rodder at heart and my bikes refect that. However, restoring the DT1 correctly opened my eyes that by doing it right we are preserving a little piece of history for another generation. While I'll still build hottys like my current Ducati and Cheney RT1 projects, I'll also now do an occasional ground up, nuts and bolts resto as investments that I can enjoy. If restoring a bike as an investment is the goal you need a crystal ball to read what is going to be a winner in the future. I can see the humble Suzuki TS90 Honcho becoming a mini DT1 because so many baby boomers started out on them. I can see Black tank RT1 Yamahas (one recently sold privately for 9k in Sydney) , SL350 Honda twins, XL250 Hondas, Kawasaki Bighorn and others being good investment bikes once restored. My mate in America has identified a niche market in collecting American flops. He's currently bidding on a Powerdyne 250 (PDV) on eBay and is also looking for a clean, un blown up Cannondale and ATK to join the American Eagle he already has. The "too much too soon" Cannondale is a definite future classic that'll be worth a shitload in 20 years time.
There are bikes out there that are fast disappearing (when did you last see an SL350 Honda?) and we need to start preserving them now. As well as saving a rare old bike from the scrap heap we are also making a pretty cool investment that will appreciate in value pretty quickly.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Other-Makes-CANNONDALE-MX-440-2002-CANNONDALE-MX-440-MOTOCROSS-fuel-injected_W0QQitemZ270207762659QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270207762659

[LWC82PE]

This doesn’t really bother me too much if some one wants to pay that much then good on them.  By the looks and sound of it, it is as good as the seller says, so its certainly worth a fair bit but its kind of hard for me to say what its really worth, as its not a bike I desire to have so I would naturally tend to value it less than what it may be worth to someone else, but I know how much time and money goes into a bike like that. i would be tempted to say not US $11600 but more like AU $11600. The key thing is that its well done and I assume pretty much brand new condition and if a couple little things were corrected its certainly worth a fair bit.

When you try and do a restoration like this it can be overwhelming and a bit too hard for someone to do it them selves so the only option is to get a professional to do it or buy one that has already been restored, So if you are a TS 400 freak and this is what you wanted then only you could see the reason for paying this much and in your eyes it would be your dream bike.

The only thing that bothers me is that when people aim to do concourse original restoration or say they have done one but then highly polish stuff thats not ment to be that sort of finish and have incorrect colours, finishes or decals.

I reckon the buyer of this TS is and will be very happy with his/her purchase. (as long as the seller isn’t dodgy and fitted a hollow engine, don’t laugh I know guys who have been scammed before!, they buy bikes on ebay or elsewhere and then discover the engine cases are hollow when they get the bike, ouch!) If it’s something they have always wanted but never had the skills, time, knowleged or money to pay someone to do it then this would be the bike for them. Some people don’t have time to buy lots of nos stuff on ebay and all these little packages of  $10, $20, $30, $40 US and up for shipping costs really does add up.

Its all very easy for us who have the time, skills and no where to buy all the nos parts but for some people its just better if they can buy a bike already restored.