Stick or twist (repair or get rid)
 

In quite the dilemma with my curvy SV650, which I would appreciate some opinions on.

My SV650 was my first bike and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed owning it over the last few years, but my circumstances have changed and the time has come to move it on - which would be pretty straightforward except it’s currently not running.

I’ve had a tough time with the bike over the last year or so with rough running through sporadic use. When I was using it every day it would start on the button and run beautifully, leave the bike a week or two and it would run on a single cylinder to begin with and then clear its throat as it warmed up and be fine. I removed, stripped, cleaned and rebuilt the carbs and the bike ran beautifully for about 4-6 weeks, but has now gone back to its rough running and now won’t even start. I suspect that the cause is rust inside the fuel tank, which is being dragged through and clogging up the carbs but trying (waiting) to find a good condition tank at a reasonable price is not proving fun.

As I no longer ‘need’ the bike I was already looking to sell it, but would other people invest the time and money to try and fix the running problems before selling it or would they just cut their losses on it and sell it on as a spares/repairs/non-runner? I’m imagining that the bike fully running (24k miles, quite a few good upgrades, LOTS of extra spares) would be worth about £1200 at the start of the season and probably only about £700-£800 as a non-running project - does this sound reasonable numbers? Or would people break it for spares and flog it in pieces on eBay/Gumtree?

I promise this is not a badly camouflaged ‘for sale’ post, but a genuine ‘what would you do’. Ordinarily I see fixing things as a challenge to overcome and take great pleasure in getting things sorted and fully working before moving them on - but this one has had me tearing my hair out in frustration.

Re: Stick or twist (repair or get rid)
 

If you need the money and don't mind doing the work, get a tank and sell it as a runner in the spring. Its not that hard to sort out, and could net you a few hundred for your time.

Otherwise sell it for what you can get, and move on.

Re: Stick or twist (repair or get rid)
 

Get rid.
Life's too short to waste time farting around.
Bikes are for riding, if it can't be ridden its scrap.

Re: Stick or twist (repair or get rid)
 

If you're sure it's the tank that's causing the problem it might be worth sorting. But if you're not sure then it could be a money pit and waste of time that you won't add value to to be able to sell. If you'll enjoy solving it then do it, otherwise I'd sell it with the info you've provided.. ie. you think it needs a new tank. Someone who wants it will be able to sort that themselves and benefit from the effort and small outlay.

Re: Stick or twist (repair or get rid)
 

Break it and sell for parts, if you have time and space. I reckon that would make you the most money but over a longer period.

Re: Stick or twist (repair or get rid)
 

Tricky one. Maybe breaking will get you more money but can you be bothered? I'm not up on prices but I think you're a bit optimistic there to be honest. Sounds like it could be worth giving the carbs a clean to see if there is indeed rust in there, or it could just be starvation. If it's rust you'll see it, no question. I have an old tank, it's good but you would need to swap all your fittings, and it has a piece of epoxy in the bottom corner that plugs a fuel leak from 2009 - it's not going anywhere. God knows what postage would be but it's just hanging there waiting for my thumb to come out, probably not that much TBH. PM me if you want it.
If you just want to ride then it's worth trying to run it, and waiting until spring to flog it, you'll get peanuts in January and less for something that can't be seen running.

Re: Stick or twist (repair or get rid)
 

Tbh bad runner you'll be lucky to get £500 with a sorted tank about £800 you can buy a late pointy in decent condition for around £1300-£1600.