ThePass

I agree, I've always haggled a bit for anything I've bought second-hand. Although what I consider to be the best deal I've ever gotten on a bike, was one which I did almost no haggling over.. go figure. But, if a guy is asking for $3500 for an average condition bike that blue books for $2300, he's not going to take an offer for $2500, even if that would be a fair price. I wouldn't insult him with such a low-ball offer - he obviously feels like the sun orbits around his mediocre dual sport... -Ryan

I personally am only at the 350-400 mile per day stage. Working on increasing my mileage abilities. I'm riding a 1000RR though, I'm sure a cruiser changes the equation. Something like Monument Valley would be downright epic. 700 miles from SD though, that's more like a 4-day round trip for me, because I would want to spend at least one day exploring that area, not just show up then turn around. Here's day 1 of the ride my buddy and I are doing next Tuesday and Wednesday: Google Maps Route For this first day I wanted to create the challenge for myself of getting to the North side of LA from SD without touching a freeway, spending the maximum amount of time away from civilization, and spending the maximum time on twisty roads. Rides like this can make you feel a thousand miles from home even though you're still within AAA Premier towing distance ;)/>/> This is a two-dayer for me because it's one day up, one day returning. I think anything more than 400 miles away from home has to be over a 2-day trip for me, at least for how my bike is setup as-is. Shopping for heli-bars though.. (Day 2 is exploring all the famous twisty roads in the Angeles Ntl Forest, etc. and climbing up to Mt. Baldy before heading back home on the 15.) -Ryan

Hey guys, my first post on this forum. I've been lurking around here for a couple months but it took forever for my account to get activated. Just sold one of my two sportbikes in order to fund a street legal dual sport purchase after my close buddy and I decided we wanted to get into adventure and trail riding. Now that I've sold the 600RR, I'm getting serious with my hunt for a new bike, and I've been rather dismayed by the prices guys want for most of the dual sports out there... I've almost never paid over blue book for a used motorcycle (I've bought 5 over the years), and the only time I did pay just a little over, it had literally thousands and thousands of dollars in extras. Now here I am searching for dual sports and I come across listing after listing for bikes that are 50% over blue book...? And they aren't all pristine bikes with a metric ton of dollars sunk into them. For example there's a DRZ-400E that I just saw and liked - it's got a few tasteful mods, seems well kept but not like new or anything. Blue book is under $2300. Guy wants $3300 or so. Last winter I was at a dealership looking at a KLX250 - on the showroom floor they wanted $4000. I can't find one of those used on craigslist for under $3500 right now. What's going on? I know prices are a bit higher in summer but I didn't think it was that drastic. Are people just sipping the kool aid, seeing everyone else puting their bikes up for ridiculous prices so they do it too, hoping they too can find some poor guy who doesn't know any better and get top dollar out of them? Maybe I'll just wait until December... -Ryan