I have found an interesting rig in Baton Rouge; a 1999 Kaw. 1500cc Drifter with Champion Escort (I think) car listed for $10900. It is the Kaw. dealers rig, when sold to anyone will title as new. Bike is absolutely mint, all colormatched with 2550 miles. Not a dent, ding or dust particle. My question; what is real world price/value for this rig? Your best guess? I haven't ridden the rig, but am thinking about it. what thoughts/comments does anyone have on this combination? Nada says about $5500 is high retail for the bike only. Thanks for the comments.
carney
one other thing. The distance or space between the bike and car is the biggest that is, widest I have ever seen, making the total width 6 feet or better. that sucker is wide. What is the pro and cons of that setup?
The Drifter is a good strong tug. Present NADA is 5,130. Book value on the chair is about 2,000. Color matched combo is worth maybe 8,000. if you have tilt and altered triple trees, I'd give the rig a value of about $9,000.00 here in the west.
Carney, glad you made it home from the Flint Hills. You do need a bigger rig so that you can haul all those door prizes and trophies. It was great to meet you!
I can't comment about the combination, but my Valkyrie/Dnepr is 7 feet wide overall. It makes for a very stable ride and little chance of ever unintentially flying the chair. I like it wide.
Color matched or not, it is still used. The miles are a total unknown, as you don't really know what sort of miles he rig had put on it. How many miles before the hack was added and how was the break in done are questions you can only speculate on. Belonging to a dealer does not a great maintenance bike make. It may spiff up nicely, but all the rest is simply speculation if you don't know the history for sure.
Looking at the price of a (new) Kawasaki Classic or kawasaki Drifter, with no options and simply stock, you are looking at a suggested MSRP of $9599.00 for the Classic and $11,299.00 for the Drifter. This is for the bike alone, and not any side car, nor tax and set up prices. Add in the cost of a new side car and installation and you can see the price tag shoot up quickly for this particular combo. Add in the niceties, such as a windshield on the bike and you have an even higher price tag for a new rig. However, the Kaw 1500 has a good dependability rating, is really easy to keep in good shape, looks stylish and is a good tug for the combo. Has good pull and good ability to hit the roads, including the highways and maintain speed and comfort along the way. This is just supposing you went to a new rig like this though. Personally, I love the Drifter style and you can see essentially the same set up by going to http://www.carnut.com/photo/list/_motom.html and looking up the Drifter in the sidecar section with Indians an all. Nice pics there for sure. Also check out http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/vulcan-1500-drifter.php for info and such.
Back to the used rig. Opinion only: The rig is used. It may look good sitting in the shop, but is still used. Price is high. Title may read new, but it is still a '99 that may have actually been manufactured in '98. Kawasaki 1500's have had many improvements over the years since '99. Knock him down at least $2000 or a price you feel comfortable with and you have a good deal if you really want that particular combo as an end result. Before doing that though, ask for a test ride and have someone with "great" experience in side cars to look the machine over. Personally, if I did not see a dent or ding in a '99, I'd have to be a bit suspicious, myself. Reason being, "character marks" (small dents or dings) are a given to anything that does any mileage of any sorts on the open roads of today. Look at it from your prespective and see what I mean. You say the rig is huge. Imagine all those miles and not a single stone or pebble ever chipped a piece of paint on her with her size. What is the real chances of that? Get under her and you may see things that don't look as spiffed up and they can often tell you more about the bike than a shiney paint job and a seller who had a hidden agenda to make a sale. I purchased a '62 Falcon once that sat as a showpiece on a dealership floor for many, many long years. It drew in a ton of people over the years. It had a shiney coat of paint and to an untrained eye looked like it just came in off the assembly line. However, you would not believe how many seals had gone dry in tranny and in rear end with the absence of use and maintenance. Low mileage on this car did not mean it was a bargain in the long run......just an opportunity to learn.
No matter what is said, the end result will be how bad you want the bike/rig and what you feel comfortable in paying out for the end product. Personally, I think the 1500's of today are a great match for the normal sidecar set up. I think there are sites such as http://bikez.com which have comparrisons to view and stats or even test rides on many bikes. (Hope I am correct on that site, but may not be). You can do a Google search for raod tests and get at least an idea of the history of the 1500's and how someone rates them. There are some excellent Vulcan web sites as VDOG that have happy owners who chat as to fixes, repairs, keeping it going and mods. Any rate, I don't think any site is available to show what the best rigs are for set up of a side car and comparrison of others with such on them. I'd check ou
thanks to all who replied; going to deal on the unit and see what happens.
carney
