Bike flipping

[R3DS!X]

So I'm debating of getting into flipping bikes in my spare time. Been looking out for bikes that may need a little TLC that the owner is willing to sell for cheap-o dollars, do the work and then resell for big boy dollars.

Questions:
How many times can I do this a year without having to get a dealers license?

Is it worth it to get one?

Why is there blood in my stool?

Is this a bad idea?

 

[Caddywumpus]

6.

No.

You tell me.

Yes

 

[bikewanker]

You’re enjoying that 919 project too much.
Disappointed was looking for a front brake or Pastrana thread.

 

[R3DS!X]

You’re enjoying that 919 project too much.

Maybe... this was my wife's idea so maybe she is enjoying the time with me busy.

 

[puckles]

I think the magic number is 5 DMV transfers in a given 12 month span (including cars). Buying and selling counts as 2 transfers if I'm not mistaken.

I looked into this a while back because I found myself purchasing projects and repairing them for fun. You can definitely make money and have fun doing so. Acquiring a dealer's license is difficult in this context and hardly worth it. The idea is to prevent guys like you and me from doing this altogether.

My biggest issue with the process is selling guys bikes that I had repaired personally. A lot of guys were just looking for a reliable bike at a reasonable price, and it didn't always sit right with me that these bikes nearly made it into the recycling bin at some point. For a craigslist sale, there's no responsibility to provide a warranty etc, but I'm still unsure of the morality of the situation. Maybe I'm just self conscious and got shook by some bad attitudes. The other side of the coin is that you're doing work that other people couldn't be bothered to do, and providing additional options on the used market.

 

[HadesOmega]

Oh dude when I saw the the title of the post I thought it was about this:

youtu.be/tKrDxtVGxOI

 

[auntiebling]

Finding bikes will be the hard parr in my estimation. Craigslist is slim pickers since they implemented fees. Yes many are listed as parts, but still fewer than before. Facebook, Letgoffeeup, and others eh.

The ones that do come up, you have to have cash and get there right now

 

[cheez]

Finding bikes people will want to buy is the hard part.

You can always find bikes nobody wants; finding bikes everybody wants is both significantly challenging and frequently a matter of connections or timing.

Classic Harleys are a great example- you can buy and sell shovelheads all day long, they have enough nostalgia value that people will pay for them in any condition. Built and polished they can fetch some value. Finding that $1k barn find that you can make run and polish up and get $5k (or more) for is uncommon.

Classic metric cruisers are the great counter-example. I don't care how shiny the chrome on that 1997 Valkyrie 1500 is, it's not going to sell for more than $3k.

There's plenty of money to be made in small margin transactions, but with the cost of the transfers, repairs, and cleaning you'll do, you'll eat into that margin mighty quickly.

Find a niche with a solid demand base, that way you can accumulate a parts bike or two and a solid inventory of used take-offs for closing gaps quickly and cheaply.

 

[GPzPop]

once, when I was in high school, I had a very vivid dream of looping a wheelie on a rd (rapid death) 400, and landing on my head

totally flipped it !

100% not helpful ha ha

 

[WWWobble]

This troubling thought keeps circling my small brain.

If you keep your love of motorcycles, then you'll always love the one you fix. This does not bode well for selling it.

If you harden, and it just becomes a "transaction" deal, then why not get into real estate or something you can make an obscene profit in?

 

[puckles]

I disagree. I was able to manage a decent profit on run down or blown up dirt bikes/dualsports. Usually they wouldnt start because they needed a valve adjustment, or they had a cracked case/cover that I was able to source on ebay for less than $200 in total parts to get going. Street bikes seem to be another story however.

The real benefit for me was getting to try a variety of different bikes without having to "invest" in bikes. I would pick up a non runner that someone needed gone, replace plastics, repair catastrophic failure, etc. then ride as my primary for a month or so and put up for sale when I/the bike was ready. I didn't make a ton of money, but it definitely wasn't a waste of time. I got deals on these bikes that I had to wait for though. You can't just buy the cheapest bike on craigslist and spin a profit. I usually would check once a day, and every couple months or so, there would be a bike with a ton of potential for ~$1000 that I knew I at least wouldn't lose a ton of money on.

 

[Butch]

I think it was Horsepower or someone who said ... if you want to ruin your hobby just try to make it into a business... or something.

 

[auntiebling]

Another obstacle is the Paperwork. 95% or more of the project bikes that are even remotely interesting have missing or muddy paperwork. DMV back fees are a huge factor and often the main reason a bike is cheap in the first place. Anyone that claims their vehicle is out of the system had better have proof it was last registered in the early early 1990s at the latest.

 

[R3DS!X]

I definitely know that the "diamonds in the rough" are few and far between but with the limit of dmv transfers this works out.

My fear is finding a good deal on a tuono v4 or super duke and then not flipping it...

 

[flipstyledsm22]

Cash only.

Those two words will keep you under the radar.

Buy it, fix it, sell it with BOS (bill of sale). If you run it through the machine (DMV), you will eventually get a dot on your back and they will force you to get a dealers license.

Only mess with things you are familiar with too. If you get in over your head with a bike you are not familiar with, it's gonna put holes in your pockets and possibly put you in a position to spend money than make money.

Try to enjoy the bike while it's in your possession. You'll build enough of a bond with the bike, that when comes selling time, you'll know how to sell it without doubts.

Sounds like you got the itch, might as well scratch it and see what happens! Good luck!

 

[R3DS!X]

advise from "flip style"... ill take it.

 

[usedtobefast]

I have sort of done this, but the DMV fees really kill things. And my desire to set the bike up well (like new tires) hurts any profit potential.

The "has not been started" bikes are great. Put in garage, forgotten about, will ride it some day ... then 5-8 years later they just sell it.

Example: Honda VFR500, sat in garage for 8 years, was running great when parked, super clean, about 12K miles.

Got it for $900, it was non-op, but since I was going to ride it, and you are supposed to to the title transfer, off to DMV and was something like $200.

New tires were like $250ish.

Rest of stuff work work, and low price. Cleaning carbs, brake and clutch fluid, radiator fluid, spark plugs. Maybe a $100 of stuff here. But tons of labor.

Oh, insurance, added something like $60.

So $1510 in it and had it running. Super fun to ride, kept it about 6 months, sold it for I believe $1600. So a whopping $90 profit!!

It was fun, and nice to take a tucked away bike and get it out and running again, but certainly not worth it from a making money perspective.

 

[usedtobefast]

Oh, another profit potential are weird deals no one wants to touch.

Example: Barely used Honda CRF450F. Being sold by a guy for his friend who is getting a divorce and the bike title is in the soon to be ex wife's name.

Wow that sounded off. Went to look at bike, looked like new, really like less than 5 hrs of use. Unsigned title in woman's name. So this buddy guy brokered the deal with the soon to be ex wife, and surprisingly it all went well!

Rode that bike ~ 2 years and at that point it wasn't a "<5hr bike" anymore so ended up getting ~$200 more than I paid. If I had flipped it, maybe I could have made $400 or so?

Another option is going out further and buying odd bikes. Like a Moto Guzzi from someone in Fresno. Or expensive bikes, like a BMW in Stockton or Redding.

You might find a BMW at $7K where the Bay Area it would be $8K. But again the DMV fees are a killer. Register that $7K bike and it might be $800 ish in fees.

So you can have some fun, own some different bikes, break even or make a couple of hundred ... but no big $$$$ in this that I've found.

 

[mrmarklin]

So I'm debating of getting into flipping bikes in my spare time. Been looking out for bikes that may need a little TLC that the owner is willing to sell for cheap-o dollars, do the work and then resell for big boy dollars.

Questions:
How many times can I do this a year without having to get a dealers license?

Is it worth it to get one?

Why is there blood in my stool?

Is this a bad idea?

The mistake most guys make in this business is underpricing the product. It's hard to make money.
You need to put a value on your labor, say $40 per hour. Then you should sell the refurbished bike for DOUBLE cost of the bike+parts and then add labor value @ $40x hours spent.

If you can do that it's worth it. But I think it's really hard. You make most of your money getting the bike cheap.

The above is why retail dealers "lowball" you on trade-ins.

 

[cheez]

So you can have some fun, own some different bikes, break even or make a couple of hundred ... but no big $$$$ in this that I've found.

That was more my point- it's plenty easy to not lose money when buying/selling used bikes, it's just nearly impossible to make a living at it, due to lackluster and broadly-varying demand.