How would I price a commando 850?

Hi everyone,

About 10 years ago I inherited my dads mk3 850 commando.

He did a full restoration about 25 years ago... and it has been sitting in a dry shed ever since.

I've never used it, so plan on selling it.

I haven't had it running, but granted I only spent an hour playing with it.

On ebay they seem to go for around £5000 in similar condition and running.

Any idea how I can price it?

I'm in the UK btw.

This is the only photo I currently have of it - after it was restored.


Thanks!
Paul

paulrichardson said:

Hi everyone,

About 10 years ago I inherited my dads mk3 850 commando.

He did a full restoration about 25 years ago... and it has been sitting in a dry shed ever since.

I've never used it, so plan on selling it.

I haven't had it running, but granted I only spent an hour playing with it.

On ebay they seem to go for around £5000 in similar condition and running.

Any idea how I can price it?

I'm in the UK btw.

This is the only photo I currently have of it - after it was restored.

Thanks!
Paul

Click to expand...

eBay would be your friend here !
It's a MK3 so that'd put it up in the higher end
But it's not original and that hurts it's price a lot
If it were running and not smoking with the electric start working it'd be good
Using eBay you may get a "rider" buyer to buy it
You won't get a collector or low mileage show rider I doubt
It looks good to me apart from the tank looks like it's glass fibre
It's got an uprated front brake etc
I really am guessing but at the moment I think it'd sell for less than 6k and more than 4k
But you'd need the right buyer to get the right price
Where in the UK are you?

Agree with Baz.
Ebay will yield the best price, but if you can wait until next spring you'll draw more for it.
Selling it as a non-runner will go against it though.

The point behind the fuel tank observation is, if you work on it to get it running and if the tank is glass fibre, try to avoid fuel containing ethanol. Ethanol can be very unkind to glass fibre.

baz said:

eBay would be your friend here !
It's a MK3 so that'd put it up in the higher end
But it's not original and that hurts it's price a lot
If it were running and not smoking with the electric start working it'd be good
Using eBay you may get a "rider" buyer to buy it
You won't get a collector or low mileage show rider I doubt
It looks good to me apart from the tank looks like it's glass fibre
It's got an uprated front brake etc
I really am guessing but at the moment I think it'd sell for less than 6k and more than 4k
But you'd need the right buyer to get the right price
Where in the UK are you?

Click to expand...

thanks! That makes a lot of sense

Yeah it has an electric start fitted too. I think it's aftermarket - a "power commander" unit if I remember rightly.

Tank is definitely glass. I have the original metal one lying around, but it would need powder coating and stuff. Not sure it would mount with the seat either...

It's in Manchester

paulrichardson said:

thanks! That makes a lot of sense

Yeah it has an electric start fitted too. I think it's aftermarket - a "power commander" unit if I remember rightly.

Tank is definitely glass. I have the original metal one lying around, but it would need powder coating and stuff. Not sure it would mount with the seat either...

It's in Manchester

Click to expand...

No the starter on that bike is original

paulrichardson said:

thanks! That makes a lot of sense

Yeah it has an electric start fitted too. I think it's aftermarket - a "power commander" unit if I remember rightly.

Tank is definitely glass. I have the original metal one lying around, but it would need powder coating and stuff. Not sure it would mount with the seat either...

It's in Manchester

Click to expand...

If you have the original tank etc that'd be a plus for selling

If you offered up a few more recent photos it would really help.

That's a beauty and certainly COULD be worth the equivalent of $7,500 with clean paperwork, and in proper running condition.

I would say your Dad knew his stuff!

What you have would appear to be a "Production Racer" / replica, but painted Black. They were typically Yellow.

That's a very nice commando... With ethanol fuel being the norm, you don't want to put fuel in that tank and even more so don't want fuel from that tank to travel into your carburetors. The ethanol disolves fiberglass in many cases and it sticks to the carbs and the inside of the engine.... Most people would buy a production racer tank made out of metal to replace their fiberglass tank and then keep the fiber tank as a display item. Having a metal tank made to match that tank is very expensive... *(foreign made ebay tanks can be had cheaply and often are fine like my own interstate tank)

As far as value goes, my opinion is more related to the rideablility than how much of a correctly outfitted museum piece your bike is. I would ask $10,000. american and go as low as $8,000. if the buyer was a buyer was going to ride it. I would rather give my bike away then sell it to a collector who would put it somewhere and display it, but won't ride it. After doing rebuilds and upgrades for 30 years to make it a more rideable machine, my bike and your dad's bike are riders not show bikes.

My advise is you find a norton guy locally to get it running, then register it and ride it around all summer as a rememberance of your dad. After that, you'll either fall in love with it and cherish that you think of your dad every time you ride it,.... or you'll not relate to his passion for this bike and you'll have a beautiful running bike to sell.....

Lineslinger said:

If you offered up a few more recent photos it would really help.

Click to expand...

The glitz of a rebuild 25 years ago will surely have worn off by now and having stood idle all those years won’t have helped either, things corrode and seize up both internally and externally and can be a big unknown.
If you can provide a few up to date photos ( as the bike is rather than tarted up for the camera ) you’d be able to get a realistic price relative to any work that will need to be done to have it roadworthy.
Your rebuilt photo looks good and does your father proud !

EBay is a useful selling place but full of chancers with dubious bikes and inflated prices that don’t actually get a sale so take the info from this site with a pinch of salt