Rescue project

[hoonu]

First, if the PO of this bike is on the board, my apologies for the following description.

Second, to the Mods: If you want to move this to buy/sell, suits me, but I'm not selling it, just passing along a poor Rockster's plea for help.

There's a 2004 Rockster on the lot at Performance Honda/Suzuki in Charlotte NC. About 15K miles. Bag racks but no bags. The passenger seat is MIA; the dealer didn't know if they had it (the metal piece that either replaces the seat or is under it is there). it's been de-striped, so all the bodywork is flat black, except the oil cooler shrouds, which are gloss black. The wheels are black, but don't look factory. I wondered if it might have been a ravaged Edition 80, but there's no white anywhere, and the forks are blue, not black like in the photos I've seen. The valve covers are black, but I can't tell if it's powdercoat or paint. Some doofus painted the valve cover harware with gloss black paint. They also painted the sparkplug covers black, but it's flaking off. The CF fender has suffered a couple licks; the clearcoat doesn't look good. Heated grips, but the rubber is in rough shape, at least on the left. Tires are fairly new; I didn't see the brand. It starts easy, and sounds quiet. They "serviced" it there, but the salesman didn't know exactly what was done. The engine is smooth and strong. The transmission shifts really well. It appears to have Roadster shocks on it, as it is lower than I expected--maybe a little lower than an R1200R. It handled strangely, kind of flopping into turns, rather than rolling smoothly in. That could have been tire pressure, the lower position, or shot shocks.

Having said all that, I think that it's a fundamentally sound bike, and with some TLC, it would make a nice ride for someone. I think they're asking $6995 for it, but don't quote me.

Just thought I'd post it up for the collective, and maybe this orphan could find a home.

[Airman]

First, if the PO of this bike is on the board, my apologies for the following description.

Second, to the Mods: If you want to move this to buy/sell, suits me, but I'm not selling it, just passing along a poor Rockster's plea for help.

There's a 2004 Rockster on the lot at Performance Honda/Suzuki in Charlotte NC. About 15K miles. Bag racks but no bags. The passenger seat is MIA; the dealer didn't know if they had it (the metal piece that either replaces the seat or is under it is there). it's been de-striped, so all the bodywork is flat black, except the oil cooler shrouds, which are gloss black. The wheels are black, but don't look factory. I wondered if it might have been a ravaged Edition 80, but there's no white anywhere, and the forks are blue, not black like in the photos I've seen. The valve covers are black, but I can't tell if it's powdercoat or paint. Some doofus painted the valve cover harware with gloss black paint. They also painted the sparkplug covers black, but it's flaking off. The CF fender has suffered a couple licks; the clearcoat doesn't look good. Heated grips, but the rubber is in rough shape, at least on the left. Tires are fairly new; I didn't see the brand. It starts easy, and sounds quiet. They "serviced" it there, but the salesman didn't know exactly what was done. The engine is smooth and strong. The transmission shifts really well. It appears to have Roadster shocks on it, as it is lower than I expected--maybe a little lower than an R1200R. It handled strangely, kind of flopping into turns, rather than rolling smoothly in. That could have been tire pressure, the lower position, or shot shocks.

Having said all that, I think that it's a fundamentally sound bike, and with some TLC, it would make a nice ride for someone. I think they're asking $6995 for it, but don't quote me.

Just thought I'd post it up for the collective, and maybe this orphan could find a home.

I think they need to knock a couple of thousand off. Someone could run up a serious bill making this bike look good. The apparent lack of maintenance and loss of parts makes this a risky buy in my view. Think maybe it was a wreck somebody put together out of mismatched parts ? I'm a little bit surprised the dealership didn't just wholesale it to the BMW dealer for whatever they could get. An RR ratbike isn't going to show well in a sea of shiny new jap bikes for less money.

[riceburner]

Pics needed but does sound like a bit of a mess.

[hoonu]

Well, here is the ad, and here is a picture of its sad self:



The listing says $7999, which is nuts. I considered offering them $4k, but I don't want the project. My guess is that's about what they have in it. They list it at $8k, offer you a deal at $7k, and then act like you've broken their arm at $6500. Pah.

[arbik]

heh.
My bike looks exactly like that
Except, I'm too cheap to powdercoat the wheels black.

then again, mine has 30K on it...so its no spring chicken.
In all honesty, I think it looks great. It needs to have the emissions can removed and a once-over, but I dont think it looks sad at all.

-arbi

[boxermania]

$7,900......Wow, that's way out of line........Oooops, I take that back, just noticed that it still has the carbon canister, Yep she is priced right....

[riceburner]

Those aren't the standard pannier rails - they're the 1100R/GS rails.

Looks like the rear-mudguard has been cut away too - that's deffo not standard.

[hoonu]

Those aren't the standard pannier rails - they're the 1100R/GS rails.

Looks like the rear-mudguard has been cut away too - that's deffo not standard.

Well, since the bag rails looked like the ones on my GS, I didn't suspect. There's a difference, I take it?

Yeah there's been a bobjob of the rear fender/tag. Not too much of a hatchet job.

[hoonu]

***Old thread alert!***

I happened to be by Performance Honda again yesterday, and the forlorn Rockster is still there. With the summer winding down, and as long as they've sat on it, an adventuresome type could probably score it for a song.

I ain't so adventuresome...

[kiteman]

That would be a hacked up Ed 80. The forks are blue and the piece around the bmw logo is black. Nice rattle can paint job on what used to be a white tank. It could be diamond in the rough, but my guess is that it is just rough. You can do much better for the $$.

[hoonu]

That would be a hacked up Ed 80. The forks are blue and the piece around the bmw logo is black. Nice rattle can paint job on what used to be a white tank. It could be diamond in the rough, but my guess is that it is just rough. You can do much better for the $$.

You know, I wondered if it was an Ed80, but there's no Ed80 plate on the frame. It should be up around the headstock, right?

To make it somewhat worse, I'm pretty sure it's been lowered.