1984 GS550E question

[blitzmw77]

Hi all, new bikeless member here. One of the bike shops in town has a '84 GS550E(with upper fairing) in its used inventory. They want $1,700 for it. they say it has 9,331 miles. I am not sure about the last time it was ran. I am going to go look at it soon. I have a couple general questions. I know that the dealer is always high, but is that price in the right ballpark for that bike in good shape? I know it is hard to say with limited knowledge of the bike in question. Are there any "quirks" associated with this bike that I should ask about or look for? Is there still a good amount of support(factory or aftermarket) for this bike? I have been lurking for a few days and this forum looks to be full of knowledge that will come in handy when questions come up. I hope the parts are as plentiful as the help.

Thanks for all replys,

Paul

[GS550joe]

check it out..

ask to take it outside to start it up... it should start fairly ez when choked and then rev up fairly quickly to above 2500.. listen for ticks in the motor area like about mid way..(cam chain)..... look at the exhaust... is it clear or is it colored?? white-ish is oil.. black is rich.. rev it up slowly and see how the revs climb... do they jerk rising or are they smooth??

open the seat and look at the battery area.. New battery?? check the wires in this area for looseness.. can you move them at the connections by hand??

look at the chain and where is it compared to the marks?? is it nearly all the way to the back end?? (new chain needed)... does it have a lot of slack?? three or four fingers from bottom to top of free play?? do all the lights work??

see if you can take it for a short spin and check the way it shifts..

after these checks you will be able to make a decision on the purchase...

running the bike and shifting may expose some leaks that were cleaned by the dealer..

$1700 is not bad if it all looks good and you can recoup some if the fairing is not to your liking.. ( sell to another GS'r)..

Joe

[blitzmw77]

Thanks for the reply. I got to look at it yesterday. It was busy and near closing time so all I got to do was look. No talking to anyone. It's actually a 550ES, not just a E. The obvious areas of improvement for the bike are mostly cosmetic. The seat wiggles quite a bit. Left side plastic below seat is very loose, perhaps held on by half of what it should be. There is a fairly small dent in the tank. Lower part of fairing has one tab that holds it to the top piece broken. Little bit of rust on the swingarm. One of the front turn signals has lots of play. Not sure how it bolts up, but I am assuming that there are a couple bolts missing. Thats what I see so far. I will have to see if I can get my brother to go give it a test drive. I do not have my license yet. I take the MSF course in the end of July.

[smithbm]

Just from what you've stated so far, I don't think I would go any higher than $1000.

[Billy Ricks]

Just from what you've stated so far, I don't think I would go any higher than $1000.

Ditto. Start out at about $800 so you give yourself some negotiating room. You could pick up a decent 1100 for $1700.

[blitzmw77]

I was kinda thinking the same thing about price. I will have my brother drive it and see what he thinks of the performance. Then we will see how fast they laugh me outta there for offering less than half of the sticker. That would be worth experiencing in itself. Hopefully they will not need to line up a test drive. I would kinda like to just show up and see how it starts cold.

Thanks for all the input!

[smithbm]

I would kinda like to just show up and see how it starts cold.

Good idea. And if they do laugh at a reasonable offer... at least you'll know where not to buy your bikes. I don't tolerate an unprofessional salesman. It's just another tactic to make you feel inexperienced and like you don't know what you're doing (which in my case is normally true 8-[ ).