I'm going to start work on fully restoring an old Honda PA50i and a Peugeot 103.
I'm not sure if I want to do a full stock restoration or a mild uptune. I just plan to restore them, ride around for some time, sell them, and then restore some more other ones. Not doing it for profit of course, but which way would be more worthwhile in terms of reselling?
Upgrades beat stock restorations in terms of value
You would get more for the Pug, if you do the PA-I redo it to PA-II specs as it will sell for more and be more useful, in that it will go 30, not 20. Both are really nice bikes.
It depends. It really depends on what I plan on doing with a bike. If its something I like but is pretty common, I'll probably so some performance stuff to it. If It's an uncommon bike in any regard I'll probably do my best not to tamper with it too much. Unless the modifications you plan to make will improve the bike significantly weather or not it's performance or functionality. I tend to want to do at least a partial restoration on any bike, even if its ratty. If you plan on selling, then just getting the bike to run well and be decently clean is enough as you'd never make back what you put into it after a restoration. If you love the bike an plan on keeping it and never selling it then a full restoration would probably be worth it. (edited)
I mean, mopeds aren't worth shit, and resting one to showroom costs more than their value, so what's the point?
^ because if you are not in it for money, it is a nice hobby, and there is a satisfaction to bringing something back to showroom or better.
It depends on the condition, price and desirability of the bike when purchased.
Super meticulous restorations? Worth doing? ............not unless you can sell sand in the desert. mopeds ur dumb......enjoy your mopeds, i know i do.
> Nick Haber Wrote:
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> Upgrades beat stock restorations in terms of value
I simply find this untrue. I personally would rather buy a restored bike before I bought one"modified" in any way.
I can also say that stock, unmolested bikes are 3x easier for me to sell
Totally agree here. I really enjoy tearing down a bike and bringing it back to life. Not all of us are in to shitty looking bikes.
Lorenzo. Do you think it's worth doing? If so then do it.
In my book, a meticulously kept or restored condition bike will always be worth more than a fair to good condition, kitted bike of the same model. Kitted bikes might list for $3k on CL or FB, but they languish there month after month and never sell. Most of those kitted bikes also need “minor tuning”. Why should that be when you’re asking 3 times it’s value. I restore what I like, but I’m not stupid either. Unless it’s a bike a highly desire, I either restore one myself or buy top shelf stock bikes.
I think it comes down to personal preference of stock or modified, skill level, how deep your pockets are and how much you like the bike. From what I've read here most, but NOT all, modified bikes need continuous tinkering, so if you want to ride after fixing it my opinion would be stay close to stock. Which makes me agree with LAR about a nice resto being usually worth more than a hot rod especially if you sell to a first-timer.
Meticulousness is something done because it’s for my benefit, really. I just like riding and working on clean, well sorted bikes.
It doesn’t increase the value of a moped much at all so don’t kid yourself that all the trouble will be a big payoff when selling - but you’d most likely get more interest if it is cleaner and in better shape.
Full restorations with all new paint and high wear parts are never a worthwhile expense in my book. I’d much rather have a moped with honest wear (some chips and scrapes, etc.) than worry about keeping a fresh-out-of-the-box type of condition. Can’t really enjoy something if you’re apprehensive about risking some sort of damage.
i like to go through them and get everything 'better than new' condition mechanically but leave the old paint and patina.
a buddy of mine goes through them, repaints them with auto paint, sorts everything out and gets them running better than new, usually with a mild kit. He puts about 10-15 hours of work into each bike and sells them for 1200 or so, ready to hop on and ride. Its definitely not paying the bills but if you are good at the restoration work and have a system dialed in, this is about the only way you can make profit.
most people out there trying to do moped 'restorations' are hacks just polishing a turd and trying to flip it for ebay money. I say most because that is a lot of what i see, but i'm sure there are lots of folks like my buddy that don't make the front page.
any moped from the 70's unless its in perfect garage/basement condition (and even then) needs a full rebuild to be totally ready to hop on and ride. For me its a lot less work to start by tearing it all down and cleaning it up, fixing all the little stuff, and putting it back together- than it is to break down a bunch of times when all the little things go wrong then have to fix them one at a time.
Mmmmm, I love to polish.
No money in mopeds only satisfaction!
I had probably a gross dozen (144) moped bikes go through my hands and gained 100 friends all over the northern hemisphere and many in Europe/countrys due to my Salesman friend from hungry after East blocked countries that opened to the west 1990s that would trade USA puch stuffs for 60cc euro kits, A dozen za50s or more are in Europe because of me, as well as several in Hawaii and Japan,
> Graham Motzing Wrote:
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> a buddy of mine goes through them, repaints them with auto paint, sorts
> everything out and gets them running better than new, usually with a
> mild kit. He puts about 10-15 hours of work into each bike
LOL, Earl Scheib?
^ there's a flashback! :)
hmm, i dunno the reference and i'm not really trying to blow up this guy's spot. the bikes that come out of his shop are better than factory- full automotive paint job, new decals, new tires, chains, cables, all new bearings and seals (usually a mild kit+pipe).
it doesn't take that long to fully restore something like a maxi or minarelli, if you explode the entire thing and get right to it. What takes forever is dicking around with things piece by piece. If you know what you're doing, have all the right tools and take an organized approach, it can go pretty quick
And hey, if it takes 15, 30, or 50 hours. Part of the fun of restoring something is seeing a pristine look at what the past was at one point- if not better.
I'm planning on doing this during the downtime between jobs at my lube tech job. So time doesn't really matter as much as just having something to do at all. Haha
Do both make a hopped up engine and while you whipp the hello out if it for few seasons rebuild to oem specs.. I keep my oem motors an just use frames.
I just try to refurbish them best I can.
I never made money on making bikes nice, and I've done a few that were actually nice. I have way more fun with ratty shit though, i have a lotta fun making stuff run and making something interesting, just less personal satisfaction in making it look nice.
But I also dont have the same basic aesthetic as alotta what's popular. If you're doing custom, and doing it well, you cant do what you think is cool, you gotta do what buyers think k is cool...
> Gator San Juan Wrote:
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> Totally agree here. I really enjoy tearing down a bike and bringing it
> back to life. Not all of us are in to shitty looking bikes.
^^This!
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