Husband and wife trying to get started

[lowside]

Admittedly I don't have experience in trials specifically, but thats almost a 10 year old off-road bike.  Regardless of how much or how little it's been ridden, you're looking at a full strip down and inspection of every last little detail, then repair/replacement/upgrade where necessary to get it into decent (safe) condition for riding.  If you have the skills for that, that may not be such an issue.  I don't know what your local market is like, but I feel like it's priced high for its age.  Whatever bling it had on as a special edition, has long been surpassed.

Whats the situation with parts availability?  I was under the impression GasGas had a solvency problem at some point, but I'm sure others have better info on that.

Would $3500 get you a 3 year old Beta Evo 250 in good condition?  If so, I'd go with that.  If you're not particularly mechanical, I'd go with whatever your local reliable dealer has.

[Trials4Wulf]

On 5/18/2023 at 12:09 PM, lowside said:

Admittedly I don't have experience in trials specifically, but thats almost a 10 year old off-road bike.  Regardless of how much or how little it's been ridden, you're looking at a full strip down and inspection of every last little detail, then repair/replacement/upgrade where necessary to get it into decent (safe) condition for riding.  If you have the skills for that, that may not be such an issue.  I don't know what your local market is like, but I feel like it's priced high for its age.  Whatever bling it had on as a special edition, has long been surpassed.

Whats the situation with parts availability?  I was under the impression GasGas had a solvency problem at some point, but I'm sure others have better info on that.

Would $3500 get you a 3 year old Beta Evo 250 in good condition?  If so, I'd go with that.  If you're not particularly mechanical, I'd go with whatever your local reliable dealer has.

Sadly that hasn't been the way the used market has been for a good long time. In fact I can't think of ever being able to buy a 3 year old bike for 35% of new. A new Beta Evo 250 is $8,200, and from calling around it seems they add on about $1,500 to $2,000 between shipping, dealer fees, tax and licensing.

Used bike prices right now are especially crazy, they didn't used to be this jacked.

I ended up buying the KLX140 for my wife, it's 3 years old and I paid about 50% of new for it, which was a screaming deal. Used party are typically asking about 75% of new, even for 5 to 8 year old bikes.

Dealers aren't any better, for example the local Beta dealer has a 2018 Beta 430 RR-Race Edition for $8,000, which is about 80% of brand new for a 5 year old bike.

I probably should have bought the Gas Gas for $3,500, but he's sold it now anyway.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Trials4Wulf

[lowside]

7 hours ago, Trials4Wulf said:

Sadly that hasn't been the way the used market has been for a good long time. In fact I can't think of ever being able to buy a 3 year old bike for 35% of new. A new Beta Evo 250 is $8,200, and from calling around it seems they add on about $1,500 to $2,000 between shipping, dealer fees, tax and licensing.

Used bike prices right now are especially crazy, they didn't used to be this jacked.

I ended up buying the KLX140 for my wife, it's 3 years old and I paid about 50% of new for it, which was a screaming deal. Used party are typically asking about 75% of new, even for 5 to 8 year old bikes.

Dealers aren't any better, for example the local Beta dealer has a 2018 Beta 430 RR-Race Edition for $8,000, which is about 80% of brand new for a 5 year old bike.

I probably should have bought the Gas Gas for $3,500, but he's sold it now anyway.

Thats quite a bit worse than here in terms of new prices.  I've just seen an ex-demo 2022 Beta 250 standard for $6.2k and a 2018 for $4.2k from dealers, so figured target prices at private sale might be within budget in the US.  It must be one of those rare things the USA isn't cheaper for.

On the bright side, I don't see values coming down any time soon as I reckon the manufacturers have now cottoned onto the fact that building vehicles for stock is counter productive, it's far more profitable to build to order as people have shown a willingness to wait crazy periods of time for new vehicles.  No more cheap lease deals from overstock, not over here anyway

Hope your missus likes her new KLX.  Sounds ideal for starting out and you might make a profit on resale once she moves on.

[Trials4Wulf]

4 hours ago, lowside said:

Thats quite a bit worse than here in terms of new prices.  I've just seen an ex-demo 2022 Beta 250 standard for $6.2k and a 2018 for $4.2k from dealers, so figured target prices at private sale might be within budget in the US.  It must be one of those rare things the USA isn't cheaper for.

On the bright side, I don't see values coming down any time soon as I reckon the manufacturers have now cottoned onto the fact that building vehicles for stock is counter productive, it's far more profitable to build to order as people have shown a willingness to wait crazy periods of time for new vehicles.  No more cheap lease deals from overstock, not over here anyway

Hope your missus likes her new KLX.  Sounds ideal for starting out and you might make a profit on resale once she moves on.

I also think part of it is the PNW (Pacific NorthWest) prices are higher than elsewhere. But it does seem to be that prices are just much higher than normal across the entire USA.

I saw a woman the other day asking $1,500 OVER MSRP for a 2 year old motorcycle that needed a battery and a "Tune-up" (ie, it won't run right)

I am noticing that prices are slowly starting to come down though, but not very fast.

Thanks about the KLX. We're going to try her out on it this morning, I think I'm even more excited than she is, even though she's been asking for one for years. 

Edited May 20, 2023 by Trials4Wulf

[markbxr400]

We have 3 Montesa's - 2 300RR's and a 260.  Daughter in law learned trials on the 260.  Her only experience before that was learning to ride on a CRF230F and KLX140 big wheel (which is also an awesome electric start beginner bike) on singletrack.

At my property, I have a barn full of ranges of bikes to teach kids and adults (and wives) on.  OSET 12R, Stacyc 16", 2 CRF50's for kids (one with training wheels), and a CRF110 and KLX110 - all no clutch, so a lot less to teach starting out - all have throttle stops as well so I can regulate speed.  Usually, in just a couple of hours of riding the oval track on these, I can move them up to a CRF150F with a clutch (also electric start).  For the larger ones, I'll have them doing the loop around the property on a CRF250F before the day is out.  All of these bikes are ultra reliable, easy to maintain, bulletproof and easily resalable for what you paid for them or more.  I wouldn't put them on a trials bike until they have good control on a dirtbike.

Point is - a path could be to buy and sell, trading your way up as your wife progresses.  This could all happen within a matter of a few weeks or months - again, you can quickly, easily sell and get your money out of any of the smaller CRF or KLX trail bikes.  If she has never ridden before, adding the complexity of standing on a trials bike may be too much.  Clutchless, throttle control with a seat would be my recommendation so as not to scare her away from riding from the start.  One case of whiskey throttle in a panic has done quite a few in from my experience.

JMHO