FB Find - 1997 Ural Deco w/ Trailer - $5k

[timbillyosu]

Not mine and not affiliated. Trailer looks a little worse for wear.

Says it has been sitting for "several months", but the 650 ran when parked. The seller isn't the owner, but says the owner replaced heads, pistons, carbs, and alternator.

I love the fender skirt on the hack. What would you say is a fair price for the package?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 908842152/

[Tomcatfixer]

Plusses:
- Deco model is cool
- That fender skirt is unique!
- Comes with a trailer
- Nice custom seat

Minuses:
- Does it run? Who knows? Might be a money pit.
- 1997's are Kickstart-only (not a deal-breaker, but something to note).
- That trailer looks like it's had a hard life.

I like the Deco paint scheme and I dig that fender, but couldn't care less about the Tetanus Trailer, so I would offer $2,000 - $3,000 and offer for the seller to keep the trailer, but that's just me. If the bike ran, I would offer $3,000 - $3,500. Without the seller being able to demonstrate it running, you could be looking at a blown crankshaft or stripped final drive gears, for all you know. It's a crap shoot.

[jaybird]

Might be a money pit

Aren't they all?


Happy trails,
Jaybird

[Lofty]

"ran when parked"

The seller isn't the owner

Two red flags, personally. Others may proceed as they see fit.

[jaybird]

I would have no fear of buying this, depending on the price.
From my perspective any unknown 650 engine/Rig, will need to be gone through, some things checked, some things upgraded, but the price needs to reflect that.

Happy trails,
Jaybird

[Scott E]

Plusses:
- Deco model is cool
- That fender skirt is unique!
- Comes with a trailer
- Nice custom seat

Minuses:
- Does it run? Who knows? Might be a money pit.
- 1997's are Kickstart-only (not a deal-breaker, but something to note).
- That trailer looks like it's had a hard life.

I like the Deco paint scheme and I dig that fender, but couldn't care less about the Tetanus Trailer, so I would offer $2,000 - $3,000 and offer for the seller to keep the trailer, but that's just me. If the bike ran, I would offer $3,000 - $3,500. Without the seller being able to demonstrate it running, you could be looking at a blown crankshaft or stripped final drive gears, for all you know. It's a crap shoot.

It's a one wheel drive bike so the final drive would not be hard to fix if the ring gear is stripped. Assembly is time consuming when you do it correctly. I just rebuilt a Ural final drive about a couple of months ago. During assembly you've got to use shims to get the pinion gear placement correct with the ring gear. You may also need several gaskets between the cover and the housing to get the correct ring gear height correct as well. The way to do that is to use acrylic paint to paint 4 of 5 of the ring gear teeth, assemble the drive, turn it a few revolutions, than take it apart again and look at the paint marks on the pinion gear. Then move the shims and add or subtract cover gaskets until the paint marks are even across the pinion gear teeth and about 3/4 depth of paint marking on the side of the pinion teeth above the pinion gear valley. Then you can assemble the final drive the final time. I spent all day doing that on that Ural final drive. While I had it I installed a magnet in the drain plug and after 500Km he came by and we drained the oil and checked the magnet. There was a small amount of fine metal particles on the magnet which is to be expected during that 500Km run in. He whined a little about riding it in our cool Alabama winter temps but now his Ural is ready to go this coming spring and it didn't cost him his first born child and an arm or leg. When I got my Dnepr MT-11 I took the final drive apart and checked it. It was no where near correctly assembled so I had to do the same thing to it. BTY the reason you use acrylic paint is because it washes away easily with soap and water and it's cheap to buy everywhere hobby supplies are sold. A small bottle cost me 50 cents and was more than enough.

[Tomcatfixer]

Plusses:
- Deco model is cool
- That fender skirt is unique!
- Comes with a trailer
- Nice custom seat

Minuses:
- Does it run? Who knows? Might be a money pit.
- 1997's are Kickstart-only (not a deal-breaker, but something to note).
- That trailer looks like it's had a hard life.

I like the Deco paint scheme and I dig that fender, but couldn't care less about the Tetanus Trailer, so I would offer $2,000 - $3,000 and offer for the seller to keep the trailer, but that's just me. If the bike ran, I would offer $3,000 - $3,500. Without the seller being able to demonstrate it running, you could be looking at a blown crankshaft or stripped final drive gears, for all you know. It's a crap shoot.

It's a one wheel drive bike so the final drive would not be hard to fix if the ring gear is stripped. Assembly is time consuming when you do it correctly. I just rebuilt a Ural final drive about a couple of months ago. During assembly you've got to use shims to get the pinion gear placement correct with the ring gear. You may also need several gaskets between the cover and the housing to get the correct ring gear height correct as well. The way to do that is to use acrylic paint to paint 4 of 5 of the ring gear teeth, assemble the drive, turn it a few revolutions, than take it apart again and look at the paint marks on the pinion gear. Then move the shims and add or subtract cover gaskets until the paint marks are even across the pinion gear teeth and about 3/4 depth of paint marking on the side of the pinion teeth above the pinion gear valley. Then you can assemble the final drive the final time. I spent all day doing that on that Ural final drive. While I had it I installed a magnet in the drain plug and after 500Km he came by and we drained the oil and checked the magnet. There was a small amount of fine metal particles on the magnet which is to be expected during that 500Km run in. He whined a little about riding it in our cool Alabama winter temps but now his Ural is ready to go this coming spring and it didn't cost him his first born child and an arm or leg. When I got my Dnepr MT-11 I took the final drive apart and checked it. It was no where near correctly assembled so I had to do the same thing to it. BTY the reason you use acrylic paint is because it washes away easily with soap and water and it's cheap to buy everywhere hobby supplies are sold. A small bottle cost me 50 cents and was more than enough.

Yeah, I was just using that as an example of one of many potential hidden problems that can't be discovered when purchasing a non-running bike.

[timbillyosu]

I would have no fear of buying this, depending on the price.
From my perspective any unknown 650 engine/Rig, will need to be gone through, some things checked, some things upgraded, but the price needs to reflect that.

Happy trails,
Jaybird

So what would you call a fair price, Jaybird?

Thanks for all your input everyone!

[jaybird]

I would have no fear of buying this, depending on the price.
From my perspective any unknown 650 engine/Rig, will need to be gone through, some things checked, some things upgraded, but the price needs to reflect that.

Happy trails,
Jaybird

So what would you call a fair price, Jaybird?

Thanks for all your input everyone!

That's something you'll need to decide for yourself. If you buy it for a price that you can afford and that you're comfortable with, don't look back, it's a rider grade rig not investment grade so no matter what you pay it's not likely to appreciate in the short term. I do think something around $3k or less would be more appropriate even with the trailer, I'd want to see it run and drive around pretty good for anything more.

Happy trails,
Jaybird

[tgtrotter]

Happy trails,
Jaybird
[/quote]

[/quote]

That's something you'll need to decide for yourself. If you buy it for a price that you can afford and that you're comfortable with, don't look back, it's a rider grade rig not investment grade so no matter what you pay it's not likely to appreciate in the short term.
[/quote]

+1. That what Jaybird said and location location location plays into pricing (1a)
All depends on
(1b) How bad you THINK you want it and FEEL about it, or vice-versa.
(2) There are those who can save money by spending money, my wife for instance. So if you're asking price #1a,b don't really matter.
(3) Are you investing in prominence or ??

I had a 650. Should've would've could've kept it. I'm happy with my 750 and that's all that matters to me. If we were all the same life would be pretty farking boring.

[Scott E]

Plusses:
- Deco model is cool
- That fender skirt is unique!
- Comes with a trailer
- Nice custom seat

Minuses:
- Does it run? Who knows? Might be a money pit.
- 1997's are Kickstart-only (not a deal-breaker, but something to note).
- That trailer looks like it's had a hard life.

I like the Deco paint scheme and I dig that fender, but couldn't care less about the Tetanus Trailer, so I would offer $2,000 - $3,000 and offer for the seller to keep the trailer, but that's just me. If the bike ran, I would offer $3,000 - $3,500. Without the seller being able to demonstrate it running, you could be looking at a blown crankshaft or stripped final drive gears, for all you know. It's a crap shoot.

It's a one wheel drive bike so the final drive would not be hard to fix if the ring gear is stripped. Assembly is time consuming when you do it correctly. I just rebuilt a Ural final drive about a couple of months ago. During assembly you've got to use shims to get the pinion gear placement correct with the ring gear. You may also need several gaskets between the cover and the housing to get the correct ring gear height correct as well. The way to do that is to use acrylic paint to paint 4 of 5 of the ring gear teeth, assemble the drive, turn it a few revolutions, than take it apart again and look at the paint marks on the pinion gear. Then move the shims and add or subtract cover gaskets until the paint marks are even across the pinion gear teeth and about 3/4 depth of paint marking on the side of the pinion teeth above the pinion gear valley. Then you can assemble the final drive the final time. I spent all day doing that on that Ural final drive. While I had it I installed a magnet in the drain plug and after 500Km he came by and we drained the oil and checked the magnet. There was a small amount of fine metal particles on the magnet which is to be expected during that 500Km run in. He whined a little about riding it in our cool Alabama winter temps but now his Ural is ready to go this coming spring and it didn't cost him his first born child and an arm or leg. When I got my Dnepr MT-11 I took the final drive apart and checked it. It was no where near correctly assembled so I had to do the same thing to it. BTY the reason you use acrylic paint is because it washes away easily with soap and water and it's cheap to buy everywhere hobby supplies are sold. A small bottle cost me 50 cents and was more than enough.

Yeah, I was just using that as an example of one of many potential hidden problems that can't be discovered when purchasing a non-running bike.

I purchased my Dnepr MT-11 cheap assuming I would need to take everything and I mean everything apart and put it back together again, which I did. It's best to do the same with that Ural. Assume the worse and make an offer. The worse that could happen is he takes it and you end up with a months long project.

[stagewex]

That fender/fender skirt on the the hack is pretty amazing. Never saw anything like that. Someone loved this rig way in the past.
"Ran when parked" and "moving on to other projects"? Double-whammy.

Agree with the above, assume everything is bad and many parts will need to be replaced even though the seller (who is not the owner?) says they were changed.
That trailer looks to have had a hard rusty life too. My opinion and if I had the room and a lot of time, it's about $4000.00 too high.
I didn't see anything about title or DMV paperwork either?

Assume the worst and don't buy unless you can go to see it. A Black Hole or Diamond In The Rough?

[windmill]

I've seen nice clean running and licensed 650s go for under $2k, and beat up rusty trailers like that for under $500 on craigslist. I've seen much better deals on much newer Urals.

[timbillyosu]

I didn't see anything about title or DMV paperwork either

The seller said they have a clean title for the bike and the trailer read registered in SC, but they don't require titles for the trailer, but offered a bill of sale with it.

I'm thinking about offering them 2k and see if they stop talking to me haha. I'm thinking I wouldn't pay more than $3k

[stagewex]

Are you able to go see it yourself? All the guy can say is "NO" so you have nothing to worry about. Good Luck.