So it’s time to make a decision. Your bike just took a dump, and you’re deciding whether you should part it out, rebuild it, or just sell it as is. Unfortunately, there’s not always a “best way” to go for everyone…
Rebuild The Bike?
Lets take a quick look at what rebuilding the bike can do for you. Two or four-stroke, it’s going to cost several hundred just in parts if the bottom-end of the engine needs work. If it’s a 2-stroke and just the top-end is fried, you can re-plate the cylinder and get a new piston kit for around 300 bucks.
If the cylinder doesn’t need re-plating, then consider yourself lucky and just rebuild it. On the flip-side, a four-stroke can cost a lot more, especially if you have a shop do the work. If it needs top and bottom-end work, you can figure it will cost somewhere in the $1500-2000 range for parts and labor. In this case, you aren’t going to get most of that back if you sell the bike after the rebuild. If you’re on a tight budget, doing a rebuild is probably not the best way to go unless it’s a few hundred dollars or less.
Sell It Like It Is
Selling your bike as-is may be the easiest way to go since you don’t need to do any work on it. The down side is that you will get a lot less for it, due to the fact that it needs a rebuild. People that are looking to buy blown up bikes want them for dirt cheap.
You can ask a little more for it, but you may be sitting on it for months before it sells. Unfortunately, this is the risk that you have to take. The only reasons I would sell a dirt bike like this is if I really needed cash fast, or if I bought the bike for next to nothing so I know I’m not losing much.
Can I Make More Parting It Out?
What dirt bike do you have? Is it a popular one that has a high demand for used parts? If so, then it shouldn’t be too difficult to break even. Depending on what broke on the bike, you can sell whatever engine parts are good, the wheels, forks, swing-arm, shock, triple clamps, handlebars, plastics, gas tank, electronics, carburetor, foot-pegs, frame, levers, and quite a few more miscellaneous parts and bolts.
Unfortunately, to make the most money you will have to use eBay for most of your used dirt bike parts. You’re going to lose a fraction of your profit, but it will be much easier to sell the parts, and you might be able to get more out of them anyway.
Go to eBay and start looking at prices of some of those parts I just listed and write them down. They all start to add up, and if you still have a lot of good engine parts, there’s a good chance you’ll break even, and possibly make money…
If it’s so easy to sell parts on eBay, why isn’t everyone doing it? That’s a good question, and there’s a good reason for it; it takes a lot of time if you want to sell every part. If you are busy with a full-time job, family, or other activities, it’s going to be difficult to take pictures of all the parts, post them on eBay, wait for someone to buy them, package them, and bring them to the post office.
This can take weeks, if not months to sell most of the parts. You can expect to sit on several piddly parts that people aren’t interested in.
That may sound like quite a bit of work, and it is, but if you have the time and patience then it can be worth it. I would consider myself a cheapskate, and if I had more time on my hands I would definitely consider doing this as a part-time job. Some people do this as a full-time job, so you know it’s possible to make money.
Well, there you have it. It’s now up to you to decide which best fits your scenario. Good luck, and if you need any help feel free to comment or email me through the ‘Contact‘ page.