True trike value ?

[madtriker]

Trikes seem to vary so much in price, is their somewhere you can send pics etc to get a true valuation for a trike, as i think some people are on another planet when you look at some ebay prices etc, or are they starting to rocket cheers

[RIDLER]

Im with you on this , I look at trikes on the net all the time since buying mine a year ago , I can only seem to tell that alot of it comes down to the use of it , big car engined trikes dont seem badly priced but smaller single or twin seat bike engined trikes seem to fetch alot more .

Also the looks play a massive part in the price , hence I went for an exile look on my build :thumbu:

[oneleggedfreak]

The value of a trike is determined by the seller/buyer if you have built the trike yourself & spent X amount on parts/labour ext when you come to sell the trike you will ask for something that reflect the work you put into it.

From an insurance point of view, trikes being some what specialised and unique they do hold there value very well. say you purchase a trike for £2000 and insure it as such then over the year you spend another £2000 on paint/bobywork ect (I ADVICE TO KEEP ALL RECIEPTS FOR PARTS/PAINT ECT) you can then reasonably increase the value to £4000.

If you want to insure a trike for a certain value I would also advice to put to gether a small file containing simular trikes in style,year and value ect so in the event of a claim when an offer is made if less than what you expect you can say look this is what it will cost to replace.

I hope this is of some help.

[lemmykilmister]

SVA has certainly pushed up the value of already registered trikes. So also has the popularity of Boom trikes. i.e. If a Veedub engined boom with this, that and the other extras costs £30k new the phoenix, mantis etc without the extras and second hand is £3-5k

[Kingo]

Basically a trike like everything else is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
You can buy trikes from a few hundred pounds up to many thousands of pounds.
It depends what you are willing to spend.

[Wacker]

Yep
It's definatly affected by the lack of supply and demand. For instance when Chris Ireland was running Desperate Dans you could get a big car engined trike for a reasonable price and it was properly constructed. Now trikes are demanding big money and some unscrupuless pepole are masquerading as trike dealers and just ripping off the un-suspecting.
My neighbour has recently been a victim of one such "Dealer" and we are not talking of small change.
All I can say is be very carefull and get an independant enginer's report (RAC, AA, ETC) BEFORE you hand over your hard earnd cash !!!

[northernpesant]

im no proffesional, but you always get what you pay for. i have seen a few trikes, worked out what i wanted, asked trikers where they had theirs done. Then been to see the man, told him what i want. This guy told me what he could do and how long i would have to wait. Waiting is the hard bit but watching it beeing built and a realistic veiw on how mutch time and skill it takes to build these things. I now have an apreciation of how mutch trikes cost to build. if you get a good one dont exspect change from 5-6k. then pay plenty more if you want lots of chrome and fancy paint job.

[Wacker]

im no proffesional, but you always get what you pay for.
I dont think "Titus" would agree with that statement.

[northernpesant]

Titus....?:confused:

not educated, any explanation:o

[Wacker]

Titus....?:confused:

not educated, any explanation:o
Member name "Titus" has been the victim of one such Robin Hood dealer.

[northernpesant]

Ta Wacker. Saved me from a nite of readin roman history:thumbsu:

[Titus]

Ta Wacker. Saved me from a nite of readin roman history

Its good for the soul, is history:confused:

Long story on trike of which will be coming soon, not a happy bunny.

[Titus]

I know most people in the biking/triking world think that talking bad of “people” on a forum is not a good idea, however I thought I would put my experience down for people to read and make their own minds up.

So you want to buy a trike, where do you start?

If you were like me you look around the net and join a couple of forums to gauge peoples advice, ideas etc. see if anyone is doing what you want.

I found such a place and paid a few visits to look at a couple of trike's, felt I got a good rapport with the bloke and bought said trike fully serviced, fully MOTed, New battery etc. it's April 08 you'll see why the dates there the further you go.

Drove trike home all good and put it in the garage, next day or two go out for a blast, store trike away, go to ride it again only to discover the petrol tank is leaking, speak to the person (will call him Bob) to see what he will do to sort it, told that a bottle of tank sealer will be in the post, explained that he would not have known about the leak as he does not fill up the tanks due to storage issues if there was a fire.

Decided to run tank dry so took trike out, about 10 miles in at approx 35mph brakes seize causing a quick stop and breakdown on the side of the road. Speak to “Bob” and explain what has happened, he says he will have the trike back and sort the petrol tank and the brakes. I get towed home (Bikesure breakdown cover phew), and trike is back in garage ready to be picked up and dropped back which they do.

Trike gone for a couple of weeks, then brought back to me all fixed good service.

Take trike out for a couple of blasts and things seem to be going ok, until I go to fill up with petrol and the thing breaks down again, phone Bob who suggests I get a Haynes manual, but then runs me through a couple of quick fixes, it does not work, a mate pops up and gives me a hand after ½ an hour we discover the battery is fucked (yes the new one), give it a quick charge and away we go, run trike for an hour get it home try and start it no good, oh and petrol tank is leaking again and the shock absorbers on the thing are fucked also and it has taken a chunk out of the trike, needless to say it is in the garage again. I can also see that the original design of the trike is not working, where it flexes on the suspension it is actually rubbing the tires and taking away the rim, not good, also this effects the mud guards as they are breaking on the fasteners due to the amount of flex also the torsion bar has a crack in it.

Speak to Bob who says I need to put sealer in tank to solve leak, the rest is up to me, so I have a trike in the garage I can't use. Speak to Bob again, and away we go with the e-mails back and forth in the end they agree to supply a new battery and new shock absorbers, the battery arrives but the shocks don't (on there way), So go and put battery in only to find the wrong size has been ordered, take it back to the dealer take my old one and get it sorted, so I have a trike that has power but no bounce. The shocks arrive two weeks later (it's June 08) and I fit them but the petrol leak is worse and is starting to strip even more paint off.

In the end I have to bite the bullet if I want a usable trike and have the petrol tank leak solved properly I.e. the bottom cut out and a new base put in with new mounting points as the existing just vibrated the hell out of it and caused the leaks, yep more than one on the tank, the framework for the suspension removed and new tube put in, I also need a new swing arm as that is knackered all at my expense. When the petrol tank is cut out we find that no acid etcher was used to get the rust out of the tank and in some places the sealer is ½'' thick and has covered some of the petrol outlet, no wonder it did not work.

The work done we give it a test drive, only to find a leak on the transmission side of the brake drum ( nothing to do with the work that has been done by others) we find that where there should have been O rings, there is none only loads of red silicone. This is how I see it, the transmission fluid was dropped out, (there was bugger all in it when it was drained for the works, we put 2 litres in which means that there was less than ½ a litre in the transmission) due to the leak that the silicone did not solve, and that is what I had been driving around on, instead of an £8.00 seal set that should have been pit in, that we have now bought and is being fitted soon. If you have not guessed trike is in the garage its August 08. Summer what we have had is gone and I have been out on it bugger all this year, waste of tax, insurance and MOT.

That's the story so far, now I know with a trike built in 1985 you are going to get problems but when you spend £6,000.00 on it originally you expect it to be usable and not to have all this shit, some of you may say that its my fault for not looking at the trike properly and to stop bitching! As I see it I was knowingly sold a dog of a trike that I am now spending my money on to get it to the standard that it should have been at when I originally bought it!!!

I have not named the person or company involved deliberately as they are not here to defend themselves, but I had to put this down so that people can see what goes on out there.

That's it. :mad:

[Wacker]

Titus This may be of use (it was coppied from):-

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/calitem.cgi?file=ADV0003-1011.txt

The onus is normally on you rather than the trader to prove a claim, i.e. that the car is defective in some way. However, the law now states that if you are claiming replacement, repair, full or partial refund within the first six months of ownership, the onus is on the trader to prove that the goods were acceptable when they were sold. This is called the ‘reversed burden of proof’.

After six months, it is up to you to provide evidence to support your claim that the car was defective when it was sold, so you may need an independent report. If you need to pay for a report, which can be used in court, try to get the trader to agree beforehand that the report can be used as a basis for negotiations. Write to the trader to suggest this, so that you can show you have tried, but you should not let failure of the trader to agree or respond prevent you from getting an expert report when you need one.

Some points to note about accepting a repair:

If the repair will take a long time, you may also be able to claim compensation. For example, you may be able to claim for the cost of hiring a car or the trader may, of course, offer a loan car.
If the repair adds to the value of the car, the trader could have a case for asking you to make a contribution.
You may choose to use your rights under any warranty you were given with the car but, if you do, you must comply with all the terms of the warranty. Remember that you do not have to rely on the warranty, you can use your legal rights instead.

So it seems that the faults you had would still be claimable regadless of the warranty the trader gave you.

[harris]

Bought my trike some 11 years ago now from stcking shelves while at uni. TBH its probably now worth double what I paid for it judging by current prices. Think theyre just gonna keep on going up as people avoid the sva.

[matthewmosse]

Personally I'd not be too shy of saying about poor service if the guy is trading. I'd rather find out before I part with cash for dodgy goods. I bough a BMW off a guy as a 'private' sale then, after I'd lost a load of money and pretty much rebuilt the thing a colleuge told me the chap who sold me the bike is a locally fairly well known wheeler dealer and trader who cuts corners and knowingly sells dodgy kit. Wish I'd known before:mad:

[Titus]

Anyone want to know feel free to PM me and I'll tell you.:)

[spookbass]

Thing is, a trike's true value depends on whether you're selling or buying, whether or not you've put time and effort into building it yourself, and if you're buying, how much you want it.

We've all been on evil bay and seen trikes that are grossly over valued, but as we all know, there are a lot of unscrupulous bastards who will sell any old shed just to make money, (there's many builders that are the same).

Thing is, trikes seem to be a very fast growing trend, and as a consequence the price generally has risen massively in the last couple of years - time was you could pick up a well built, safe, decent trike for a couple of grand (Still can if you're exceptionally lucky), but you're unlikely to find anything legal you can just get on and ride for half as much again.

At the last NABD rally, I was looking at BOOM trikes - in my mind a complete rip off - £20K+ for something that looks like every other one made? Don't make me laugh!
Guess it's a similar idea to Harleys - buy the product for a lot of money, spend more money getting it to work right, then even more money to individualise it.

Still as I say, if that's what you want, then I suppose it's worth the money.

[spookbass]

I know most people in the biking/triking world think that talking bad of “people” on a forum is not a good idea, however I thought I would put my experience down for people to read and make their own minds up.

So you want to buy a trike, where do you start?

If you were like me you look around the net and join a couple of forums to gauge peoples advice, ideas etc. see if anyone is doing what you want.

I found such a place and paid a few visits to look at a couple of trike's, felt I got a good rapport with the bloke and bought said trike fully serviced, fully MOTed, New battery etc. it's April 08 you'll see why the dates there the further you go.

Drove trike home all good and put it in the garage, next day or two go out for a blast, store trike away, go to ride it again only to discover the petrol tank is leaking, speak to the person (will call him Bob) to see what he will do to sort it, told that a bottle of tank sealer will be in the post, explained that he would not have known about the leak as he does not fill up the tanks due to storage issues if there was a fire.

Decided to run tank dry so took trike out, about 10 miles in at approx 35mph brakes seize causing a quick stop and breakdown on the side of the road. Speak to “Bob” and explain what has happened, he says he will have the trike back and sort the petrol tank and the brakes. I get towed home (Bikesure breakdown cover phew), and trike is back in garage ready to be picked up and dropped back which they do.

Trike gone for a couple of weeks, then brought back to me all fixed good service.

Take trike out for a couple of blasts and things seem to be going ok, until I go to fill up with petrol and the thing breaks down again, phone Bob who suggests I get a Haynes manual, but then runs me through a couple of quick fixes, it does not work, a mate pops up and gives me a hand after ½ an hour we discover the battery is fucked (yes the new one), give it a quick charge and away we go, run trike for an hour get it home try and start it no good, oh and petrol tank is leaking again and the shock absorbers on the thing are fucked also and it has taken a chunk out of the trike, needless to say it is in the garage again. I can also see that the original design of the trike is not working, where it flexes on the suspension it is actually rubbing the tires and taking away the rim, not good, also this effects the mud guards as they are breaking on the fasteners due to the amount of flex also the torsion bar has a crack in it.

Speak to Bob who says I need to put sealer in tank to solve leak, the rest is up to me, so I have a trike in the garage I can't use. Speak to Bob again, and away we go with the e-mails back and forth in the end they agree to supply a new battery and new shock absorbers, the battery arrives but the shocks don't (on there way), So go and put battery in only to find the wrong size has been ordered, take it back to the dealer take my old one and get it sorted, so I have a trike that has power but no bounce. The shocks arrive two weeks later (it's June 08) and I fit them but the petrol leak is worse and is starting to strip even more paint off.

In the end I have to bite the bullet if I want a usable trike and have the petrol tank leak solved properly I.e. the bottom cut out and a new base put in with new mounting points as the existing just vibrated the hell out of it and caused the leaks, yep more than one on the tank, the framework for the suspension removed and new tube put in, I also need a new swing arm as that is knackered all at my expense. When the petrol tank is cut out we find that no acid etcher was used to get the rust out of the tank and in some places the sealer is ½'' thick and has covered some of the petrol outlet, no wonder it did not work.

The work done we give it a test drive, only to find a leak on the transmission side of the brake drum ( nothing to do with the work that has been done by others) we find that where there should have been O rings, there is none only loads of red silicone. This is how I see it, the transmission fluid was dropped out, (there was bugger all in it when it was drained for the works, we put 2 litres in which means that there was less than ½ a litre in the transmission) due to the leak that the silicone did not solve, and that is what I had been driving around on, instead of an £8.00 seal set that should have been pit in, that we have now bought and is being fitted soon. If you have not guessed trike is in the garage its August 08. Summer what we have had is gone and I have been out on it bugger all this year, waste of tax, insurance and MOT.

That's the story so far, now I know with a trike built in 1985 you are going to get problems but when you spend £6,000.00 on it originally you expect it to be usable and not to have all this shit, some of you may say that its my fault for not looking at the trike properly and to stop bitching! As I see it I was knowingly sold a dog of a trike that I am now spending my money on to get it to the standard that it should have been at when I originally bought it!!!

I have not named the person or company involved deliberately as they are not here to defend themselves, but I had to put this down so that people can see what goes on out there.



That's it. :mad:

I've always thought these people should be named and shamed on every forum possible.
One of the reasons for the extra tests is that scumbags were putting death traps on the road and selling them to people wanting their first trike.


Many self builders I know fear that this could be another nail in the coffin for us.

I've built and subsequently sold a couple of trikes (The "Next Project" bug comes to bite!), but I would NEVER sell any trike I wouldn't be prepared to put my wife and kids on, an I'm certain many self - builders think the same. way

[Mistress Maker]

I've always thought these people should be named and shamed on every forum possible.
One of the reasons for the extra tests is that scumbags were putting death traps on the road and selling them to people wanting their first trike.


Many self builders I know fear that this could be another nail in the coffin for us.

I've built and subsequently sold a couple of trikes (The "Next Project" bug comes to bite!), but I would NEVER sell any trike I wouldn't be prepared to put my wife and kids on, an I'm certain many self - builders think the same. way


couldnt agree more............but we had a bad experience with a so called pro builder previously........so mine was built at home.

To buy a trike on the open market you really need to do alot of research, ask around word of mouth.... about good and bad builds and builders is worth its weight in gold...nice to see there are less death traps about , but there are still alot. if your going to look at one take someone with you who realy does know their stuff.

As for what are they worth......supply and demand........they are only worth what some one is prepared to pay for them. But having watched how much time and thought, then work goes in to a decent trike I can fully understand why the prices are so high.

A

[spookbass]

Too right there - You've probably seen as many "Professionally" built trikes as me - most of which seem to have been built by people not in the engineering profession.

What I dislike most is what happened to Titus, once they have your cash, they don't give a fuck.

Yeah, I can agree with "caviat emptor", (Let the buyer beware), and I'll say again if you're not sure what you're looking at, take someone who is, but in the end simply paying a lot is no guarantee of quality.

[Titus]

Just an update, had the trike out and about round the lovely isle of Bristol and all seems to be going well at last :thumbsu: next job is replace the brake pads and enjoy shame it's not hotter but heh at least I get too ride now.

Did anyone else see the amount of bikes and trikes down Weston super mud over the weekend it was heaving some nice stuff around.

[madtriker]

so i take it no one knows if their is somewhere you can get a valuation certificate for a trike

[Titus]

Fraid i dont

[matthewmosse]

so i take it no one knows if their is somewhere you can get a valuation certificate for a trike

send pictures to your insurer as they have valuers, also find pictures of similar trikes for sale in mags or off ebay as insurerers will accept this as evidence of valation. this is having read my renewal notice which just came through. Also ask if they'll do agreed valuation to avoid any fallouts in the event of a claim. My bmw is on agreed value of £2000 due to the rare 1950's chair and its pricy forks.