The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
General Category => General Announcements => Topic started by: BigJohn on July 07, 2008, 05:47:22 AM
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Anyone have any idea what these bikes cost when new? I'm curious to know what my '81 R65 would have gone for at the dealer. I'd love to see a scan of the dealer price sheet if someone had one. Thanks!
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John, someone else will no doubt chime in on this later, but you might want to take a look at this site too, for specs, prices, production numbers, etc.
http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/specpages/R65.htm
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Can't remember the price when I bought my 1982 R65 it was around $3200.00 with the BMW bags and mount.
Don
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Gotta dig out some financial inflation data for the past 2 decades to figure this one out precisely, as I am now intrigued..
On the surface, it appears that our bikes have almost the same $$ monetary value as they did when they were new,
except when one factors in for the inflationary factors of the past quarter century, that $3200 in 1982 dollars is worth
over $6500 in 2008 dollars...
Now I gotta go lie down.. :(
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My 1979 model year I bought in the spring of 1980 as a leftover. It cost $3600 (USD) new. I am pretty sure it was the 1980 model year that BMW dropped the price by at least $400 to better attract buyers.
I will admit I was a little disappointed at the time, but in retrospect, I have enjoyed it even with it's front coil falling off (but the 2nd gen's all cracked...). Mostly I am happy to have an airhead with the clam-shell air filter housing. Although that could be easily retrofitted to a later bike, I suppose.
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Big John, I paid just about $3,600 when I bought my '81 new. I'll start diggin' - I have all the original paperwork, including a little glossy flyer that had the list prices of all the models. I think something similar is posted on Duane Ausherman's site, but I'm sure it's pre-1981.
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My 73 R75/5 cost 2300 naked as a baby. My 84 R65 with a dealer installed rifle sport fairing and bmw hard bags mounted cost 4600 new. My currant 82 R65LS modified cost 2100 in 2006. makes you wonder ??
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My '81 R65, purchased in January, 1981 from Abt BMW, ( which is now Chicago BMW/ Harley) was $3295US, before taxes and registration.
The bike came with a Vetter Windjammer fairing, it didn't take long to learn, that I was not a 'fairing person', I returned the fairing to the dealer, in return for a replacement headlight bracket, that was cut to allow installation of the fairing.
A lot of people said I was crazy to pay that much for a 650 cc bike, at the time the Japanese bike manufacturers were dumping bikes into the US market.
You could get a 650 Yamaha for $1800US, new from a dealer, at least in the Chicago area, where I was living at the time.
Like Rob Valdez has said, at the time of the purchase, it was a lot of money, but this has been the most reliable vehicle I've owned, and I still look forward to getting on it and exploring the desert southwest, any chance I get.
I have an '02 R1150R, and this bike is a quantum leap from the R65, but still thoroughly enjoy riding the R65, it's only 100 pounds lighter than the 1150, but it feels 'weightless' compared to the bigger bike.
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You big spenders! I've never bought any vehicle new. I've been trying to talk myself into buying a 2005 F650GS Dakar, but it's 6 grand! Do the modern BMWs hold their value like the airheads have? My most expensive vehicle was my CRX, for $2300. It had 120,000 miles on it at the time.
I calculated that the savings in gas between my R65 and the F650gs would pay for the bike in 19 years.
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Ed,
The newer oilhead bikes, don't hold their value as well as the old airheads.
Keep an eye on Craigslist in your area, especially near the end of the riding season, when riders tend to put bikes up for sale, after they find out that maybe a motorcycle isn't the best transportation for them.
That coupled with the financial distress that people are feeling today, you may snag a great deal as cold weather approaches.
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Anyone know a formula that might show the bike's original date purchase price adjusted for inflation and then stated in today's dollar? Now that would be an eye opener.
Just remembering riding to the "service station" with my mom in her Coupe deVille and buying "Hi-Test" (premium, or ethyl, as it was called) for 25-cents/gallon. Mortgage payment, home owners insurance and taxes on our brand new North Dallas home ran $100.00/month on an $18,000.00 purchase price.
Don't get me started on groceries... and college tuitions... and
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Don't get me started on groceries... and college tuitions... and
And pay rates - then vs. now...
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And we were so poor that we had to walk barefeet 10 miles to school in a raging blizzard every day year round except in summer when the sun shone every day ...
greetings from a showery and partly sunny north
trolle
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And we were so poor that we had to walk barefeet 10 miles to school in a raging blizzard every day year round ...trolle
Uphill. Both ways.
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and against the storm!
greetings from a partly sunny and cool north
trolle
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Bob_Roller wrote: << The newer oilhead bikes, don't hold their value as well as the old airheads. >>
I've had difficulty understanding the market for airheads in general, and R65s in particular.
There seems to be a paradox regarding R65s: Everyone praises them, but the market price has been slow to respond (unless you find one at a BMW dealer -- more about that later). Is this a mindset peculiar to BMW people: I love the bike, but I won't pay a premium for an especially good specimen?
I live in Virginia. By state law, property must be assessed for local property tax purposes (real estate and personal property) at 100% valuation. I just received my first personal property tax bill for my 1981, valuing the bike at $2975 US. Would I accept anything near that valuation in an unforced sale? Not a chance! Still, when I look on the MOA Flea Market web page, I see R65s offered for not much more than that amount. I vaguely recall one R65, accompanied by a photo that looks *really* good cosmetically, offered for about that amount, complete with touring cases and fairing. So, while I'm not about to second-guess a favorable tax assessment, I can't help but wonder why R65s that look so good and are purportedly so well maintained (and that includes some belonging by our compadres in this forum) are on the block for so few $$. Are we R65 owners not being hard-a$$ed enough in pricing our wares?
The dealers certainly don't have that mentality. The mindset of at least two dealers in my area is to keep an unsold R65 until it reaches Vintage status, if necessary. (One dealer did reduce the price of a Bronco '79 by a considerable amount at about the time I was shopping for mine. I passed on it because I wanted twin front disks, the Bronco color is one of my less favorite colors, and the bike was bleeding fluids from one or more sources. (The sales rep admitted that there was a small leak from a seal.) I've seen several R65s in area dealerships, and the least pricey of them was $4K (and it was below my expectations.
Now, I recognize that there are hidden costs of buying a bike, particularly in a private sale. Transportation costs, the uncertainty factor regarding the bike's advertised mechanical condition and degree of assembly (rather disassembly), and the PITA factor are three prominent ones. My auto mechanic (until he retired) once hauled a trailer to a remote (from our area) part of Ohio, only to find that the airhead that had been advertised as pristine and running was actually in a state of complete disassembly. So, I guess ya pays yer money and ya makes yer choices.
In my situation, I decided that life's too short to go seeking the Holy Grail of an R65 in Concours condition and low miles for $2,000 US. Also, I specifically did not want to go the project-bike route, thereby infuriating a spouse with 1/2 the garage converted into a parts area & shop, not to mention the time, heartburn, learning curve (see heartburn) and sheer uncertainty involved in completing (?) the project. So, when I found an '81 in good condition, dealer-maintained to include recent scheduled service and some major items serviced or replaced, with low mileage, I knowingly paid quite a bit more than $2975 for bike, equipped with Konis (interestingly, the dealer did not tout the shocks), and Shoei cafe fairing. Add to that a pair of touring cases and their mounting frames, plus a few other farkles, and I've spent significantly more than the commonly-advertised price of an R65. (For the same rationale as that underlying the bike, I chose not to try searching the internet lists and auctions for the bags & farkles.)
I just wish I could spend more time on it to bring down the average cost per hour of riding. This summer has been complicated by eye surgery, with more to come this fall (when the surgeon returns from vacation), so that I can continue to ride when my driver's license is due for renewal. I suspect I'll be required to take an eye test for the license, and I passed the previous one by only a small margin.