. . . . .The rust on the bike is minimal and the bike was stored outside but underneath a carport and is now covered. I don't think he necessary neglected the bike, but just doesn't have a lot of experience with handling the care on bikes.
I'll see if he can replace the battery before I test drive it. The price is $9,000 firm.
Ok that is the info I was searching for as I read down the thread. If rust is minimal (depending on where it is) that is not that big a deal. What kind of wheels does it have, are they rusting ? That can be a easy $1000 to replace if the wheels are rusted.
I imagine your trees are polished aluminum so the other rust would probably be on the bars, the frame or where the paint has corroded. Consider if you can sand and repaint all the areas yourself, if not call a body shop and get an idea of what kind of costs you could be looking at.
Regardless of what his firm offer is, you need to decipher in your mind how much the bike is worth to you. If you can't buy it for that, walk away. And before I bought a bike like that I would want him to let me remove the battery and battery case and just look around under the seat area. If all that looked ok (no frayed wires or other tramatic looking items) then I would want to see the bike function with a good battery BEFORE I bought it.
Oh and just so you know, my bike (bought used) had some rust on it and some badly spotted aluminun rockers and trees. But it did crank and run with no problems. I decided how much the bike was worth to me and that's what I ended up paying for it. My rust was on the wheels (minimal) but I wanted to later buy cast wheels anyhow so I reasoned it out. I don't like laced wheels but I'm still running them. I also had some rust on the frame where his bags rubbed, but I redid that area myself. I hand polished the trees and rockers to an acceptable level. Still not new looking.
I bought my 2007 Street Bob in 2010 with 13,700 miles for $10,000 plus sales tax and tag ($10,825 out the door). It came with a stage 1 AC, and V&H's pipes ($600 value). They wanted $11,830 out the door, but I told them they could sell it to someone else for that.
