When to sell your bike to get the most value out of it?

With COVID effecting values so drastically as of late, now may be the best time to sell. You may be able to get well over 5k for that bike and that wasn’t the case pre Corona.

133 has a good point

Sell now.

And then you have to buy a new bike in the high market

Sure, you could sell it. Good luck finding a new one to buy right now

I just sold my 2018 CRF250R with 70 hours. The main reason I sold it was because I wanted something else. Just because a bike has a set amount of hours doesn't really mean anything. If you like your bike, keep riding it until you feel you want something different. The bike I had prior to my Honda was a KTM 350 XCF-W. I had 150 hours on it before I wanted something else. My friend has over 420 hours on his 2017 KTM 300 XC, and he now just decided to sell it. Again, if you like your bike keep riding it.

I save my pennies one year and bought a bike cash and every year since then when the new model year come out I sell the previous one and get a brand new bike for 2-2500. They usually have 70-100 hours on them.

You're selling your 70-100h old (stock?)bikes for 2-2,5k less than a brand new bike? That is pretty crazy, can i send my bikes to you every fall? I'll give you a 5% commission for selling them

The longer you keep it, the more value YOU will get out of it. If you want to get the most money for a bike when you sell it, the sooner you sell it, the more you will get out of it. Seems pretty obvious.
With 40 hours on a 450, the thing is barely broken in. You’ve already taken the hit when you brought it home from the dealership, so the difference in selling value between this year and next will never get anywhere close to the depreciation you’ll see the day you bring a new bike home from the dealership.

To the OP. In your case i would probably keep it and sell it in the summer. If Yamahas update schedule stays the same, the 2022 450 should be brand new. If that is the case, your 18 450 will drop in value pretty fast once the 22 gets revealed.

So try to time the selling of the bike before the 2022 Yamaha release. At least here in my market an old generation bike drops in value hard once the next gen comes out.

I would wait till spring to sell it, the COVID craziness has kind of died off around us. The snow the other day didn't help the market any.
I usually ride mine till the 50 hour mark and get a fresh one.

Bikes in this area are selling for stupid $$. Listed my 2011 CRF450 with 60 hours on it for $5k and got calls/offers pretty quick. However, once i started looking for what i would replace it with, decided just to hang on to it for now. I have a feeling the used powersports market is going to be flooded with bikes and toys once payments start being due...

Sell it now, get the COVID tax everyone else is getting. Bikes are stupid expensive right now (at least in my area).

Buy in January/ early February. Sell in late October. Those are your traditional seasonal times for the off-road market.
Everything is out of whack right now because of the supply interruption due to Covid, however. Prices will remain higher than normal until the glut of inventory that Motox627 mentioned hits the market - then everything will be cheap.

I know people who flip bikes every year, but that's not for me. It's way too much of a buyer's market these days, unless you have an angle. I prefer to rebuild and customize until I'm really comfortable with it, and just keep it going. The use value of a used bike will always be greater than the exchange value, and I'm sick of insulting low-ball offers, so I'll probably keep my bikes until electrics take over and then sell them for "farm-bike" prices. I have a 2008 CRF450 with Rekluse Core 3.0 and Factory Connection suspension, and I feel faster on it than on my 2017 KTM 450. Just to back that up, there was a story in MXA a while back by Darryl Ecklund (former national pro,) who said he feels as fast on his 2011 YZ450F as on any new bike.

I think 30-40 hours is a nice time to sell a bike if you keep your bike really fresh. You get a good price for it, and have gotten good use out of it. It's also due for some maintenance.

Imagine a YZ250F with 30-40 hours. It needs a suspension rebuild ($500), new tires ($150), clutch ($100), new chain and sprockets ($150), maybe some new plastics/graphics ($100) and maybe a top end ($500 if you pay someone to do it). If you want to keep it really fresh, you need $1000 to $1,500 dollars.

Scenario 1: You sell it now for $6200, go pick up a new one for $8400. You do this every year, so your dirt bike costs you 2200 a year, or $4400 over two years.
Scenario 2: You rebuild the bike you have ($1000-1500) and ride it for another year. You can only get 5400 for it now, since it's older. You go pick up a new one for 8400. Two years of having a dirt bike cost you 4000-4500.

Now, prices are a bit different on the 450, since they are a higher ticket price, so that 1000-1500 rebuild is not as large a factor. I also know prices are crazy right now, but that also means you'll get more for your bike / pay more for what you buy, so the ratio doesn't change much.

This also assumes you keep your bike stock. Did you buy different spring rates? Do you have an aftermarket exhaust or clutch or ECU that won't work on the new model? If you like to heavily modify your bike, then buying every 30-40 hours gets tough.

40 years, Have you seen what Vintage bikes are going for!

I’m going to be that guy...you know what, I’m gonna say it. 2 strokes!!!!

Your best return is going to be after about 60 seasons:

I just listed my 2018 YZ 450F on here for sale for $6400. It's been sitting for a year and a half. I put over $600 in to it to make sure it's a bike I can sell without worry to someone. I paid premium for it when they came out...I was about 12.5G out the door.

Your best return is riding the thing!

You guys say you can't find any new bikes.....but I'm sure you could find a new RMZ450 lol

I was going to sell mine at 60 hours, then 80, then 100. Before I knew it I was at 160! I rebuilt everything top to bottom and still ride it now. I didn’t want to start over with having to set a bike up for me all over again when my current one works awesome.