Author Topic: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?  (Read 15339 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

mx250

  • Guest
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #15 on: September 19, 2007, 12:04:02 am »
There something suss there isn't there?; the bids going from 4,000 to 12,000 all with the same bidder?
Looks like the reserve was set at 12000, and the buyer kept bidding til he reached it.
So I would guess the bidder only wanted to find out what the reserve was - bid until its accepted but whistle when asked for the money  ::) :P  :-\::).

That would make sense - but I don't think the seller would be entering into negotiations with that bidder.

Yamaboy

  • Guest
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #16 on: September 19, 2007, 01:16:38 pm »
It'a a clean KX450 that appears to have been a recent import from the USA going by the AHRMA sticker on the rear guard. The debate about wether this bike or that bike is worth whatever seems irrevelent these days. People are getting crazy money for bikes that until a couple of years ago weren't overly desirable. The truth is that the KX450 wasn't all that good a bike. What it is is rare, like most twin shock Kawasakis. The prices are up purely because they made very few of them and newer vintage enthusiasts who may have grown up on 80s and 90s Kawasakis consider the older Kawas cool. If you were there in the seventies you'll know that they weren't that wonderful
I personally like them as they're finished beautifully and had a lot of worksy features. That however doesn't make them milestone bikes. What makes them desirable is purely their scarcity. 

mx250

  • Guest
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #17 on: September 19, 2007, 02:05:05 pm »
People are getting crazy money for bikes that until a couple of years ago weren't overly desirable.
Are people getting crazy prices, or is it smoke and mirrors.

As I said, I would want to see money actually change hands before I'd beleive that this bike sold for $12,000. 

I haven't got a prob with the concept that the market set the price, 'buy beware' and the seller has the right to maximise price. But I also think that there are sus things that happen, particularly on evilbay.

Offline cyclegod

  • Legend
  • *****
  • Posts: 2530
  • Sunny PERTH W.A
    • View Profile
    • cyclegod on "youtube"
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #18 on: September 19, 2007, 02:48:45 pm »
I have seen stuff on eBay, like when a seller uses a mates account to drive bids up artificially. If he goes over a legitimate bidders high bid he can simply cancel the last of his mates bids, and if it doesn't get any higher at the end he simply relists saying "non-paying bidder".
Ban BLACK rims NOW

211kawasaki

  • Guest
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #19 on: September 20, 2007, 05:05:17 pm »
All I can say is that if it did get 12k and it is legit then my KX450 is worth a mint. I have kept it on the watch list 'cos I still cant get me head around one getting that much freight.

tanner


mx250

  • Guest
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #21 on: September 25, 2007, 10:43:39 pm »
"relisting due to buyer error in bidding" Okay ::) ;D

$5000 more realistic though.

Offline AjayVMX

  • Legend
  • *****
  • Posts: 1058
    • View Profile
    • VMX Magazine
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #22 on: September 25, 2007, 11:43:01 pm »
But $5000 is NOT the price that it will sell at - there is a reserve.

Also, as a certifiable Kawasaki nut, I believe that even $5000 is way way too much for this particular bike, as it is missing a few items which are in fact the "hard to get" bits.  The value of a KX450 not having those items is very rapidly reduced due to the cost involved in purchasing those missing items to bring the bike up to fully restored condition. ::)

IMHO, this bike is more likely to be worth $3K, not $5k+  We shall see if it sells..... :-\

211kawasaki

  • Guest
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #23 on: September 26, 2007, 06:39:08 pm »
Im with you AJ, 3K is about what I thought too and it is'nt that "nice" a bike. I think thats why I was so shocked at the 12k, its even missing the tank badges that are not easy to find.

tanner

211kawasaki

  • Guest
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #24 on: October 02, 2007, 07:30:31 pm »
not looking too good for the 12k now. its about to close

tanner

Maico31

  • Guest
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #25 on: October 02, 2007, 08:00:37 pm »
Ha.. not even 1 bid. What a scam that first auction was.

Offline Graeme M

  • Administrator
  • Legend
  • *****
  • Posts: 3066
  • Canberra, Australia
    • View Profile
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #26 on: October 02, 2007, 08:16:29 pm »
The Q&As on that item seem to indicate that the seller is aware there is skepticism around about the price. Wonder if the banter on the forum affected that earlier buyer's final decision? Johnny is pretty sure this bike is worth the big dollars... It is with some sadness I remember the 450 at the local shop here in Canberra in 1992 that I thought was overpriced at whatever piffling amount they had on it then. From memory it looked a lot like this one too.

211kawasaki

  • Guest
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #27 on: October 02, 2007, 08:49:06 pm »
I remember one at Isa St in Fyshwick in 89 for $300 dollars! behind where I worked at Allards in the 70s and 80s. Ahhh the ones that got away!

tanner

Offline AjayVMX

  • Legend
  • *****
  • Posts: 1058
    • View Profile
    • VMX Magazine
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #28 on: October 02, 2007, 11:57:13 pm »
What a big surprise!  It didn't sell.... ::)

Unfortunately, that seller is in for a big shock.  While the KX450 is a rareish bike, the bits that are missing from that bike are the bits that are hardest and most expensive to get (naturally).  The tank badges in particular are nearly impossible to get and the correct rears shocks also are not easy to find, just for starters.

If that bike was 100% original, with all the hard to get bits on it, it may well be worth $5000 (but only $5000 in that condition).  As it is, $3,000 would be a fair price, not high not low. ;)

firko

  • Guest
Re: $12,000 KX450 on ebay?
« Reply #29 on: October 03, 2007, 08:09:35 pm »
 There seems to be a divide emerging that seperates big dollar collector bikes from big dollar race bikes. Collector bikes have to be as correct to factory spec as possible with all of the hard to get items in place. A race bike can have performance improvements, custom and non standard parts and be built correctly. The prices being asked for good original condition and well restored bikes reflects the ammount of work that goes into a correct resto. Having done both, most recently my DT1 full resto and my currently under construction Hindall RT1 race hotty, I know for sure that a proper resto is a very difficult and often expensive exercise. That's why bikes with all of the right parts intact get the good money. To do the resto properly there is no substitute for original bits. On a race resto it's a lot easier as you can fudge it a bit and use parts from other sources, as long as they do the job.

The Kawasaki 450 in question is stuck in the ozone between both philosophies. To ask 12k for a bike with the wrong fenders, missing tank badges and wrong shocks is just not on. If we could see the bike in the flesh I bet we'd find more room for improvement. If we regard the 450 as a race bike then we are in another pickle. The KX450 just isn't a very good pre75 open class bike, especially for the big money. Even for $5k it's too much. I agree with Dave and Alistair, it's a 3k bike, no matter which direction you're looking at it from. To make it a concourse correct resto I reckon $1500-2000 on top of your $3000 purchase price needs to be thrown at it and I suspect you'd need to spend more to make it a competitive open class pre 75er.

These things look all shiny and nice on first glance (old time forum members will remember the infamous bling TS250!) but when you tally up what's needed the gleam quickly wears off.
« Last Edit: October 03, 2007, 08:12:10 pm by firko »