Demand for earlier 800 Drifters

[tedley]

Personaly i like the smattering of chrome on the blacked out version of the 99. Looks more nostalgic. I'm just not into chrome billet barges so it's all personal preferance i guess.

[TripWire]

Switch to a 1500 this spring and my 2000 800 sold on Craigslist in just about 18 hours.

[mbk]

That's interesting - yes, I did a little homework on the site and found that I was wrong about the '99s.  I actually liked the 2000's blacked-out look a lot and I even thought the two-up seat, with the metal rail around the back, was pretty cool.  The one I am interested in getting is a 2004.  Never saw any of the 2000s for sale either here in Michigan.  Like I said, the Drifters on Ebay - completed auctions - are all commanding above $4,000 (even though some had higher reserves and did not sell).  I am buying because I like it and want to ride it, not as an investment, but these days you never know when you may need to sell something, so it is good to know that it's a pretty safe buy with interested buyers out there willing to pay a fair price.  Not the case with Yamaha V-stars I had been looking at, of which there are dozens locally for sale.  They only seem to go for mid-to-high-$2,000 range, but of course lower displacement (650), air-cooled only, rear drum, two valves, and while they look good, do not have the wow factor of the Drifter (IMHO).  I had my eye on a 2007 model and if the seller would have taken $3400 I'd of gotten that, but he wanted $3,800 which means I'd lose at least $800 if I had to sell it later and that just is not a good situation.  Anyway, I may be off topic but glad I found the Drifter!   

[chief]

Well, there were no 99 800's sold in the USA (99's were sold outside the USA). So there was only the 2000 models. They added more chrome in 2001, so you only have that one year. Added to that, the American market is more interested in higher displacement engines. I think more 800's were sold outside the USA.

And, lastly, the blacked out look didn't necessarily appeal to US buyers... we seem to want chrome.
At this point, I think the demand for the early 800's is low - which is good since there aren't that many in the USA, and many of those are actually Canadian bikes which have been brought south.

[CDNRatMan]

  Not sure if there is more of a demand for aan older bike, but prior to buying mine I had a 99 and 02 that were for sale, I did a search across Canada on Kijiji and The Auto Trader for both of them. I had very few 99's, I'll venture that there was only like 5 of them across the country and perhaps  10 to 12 02's on the market. I had the Kelly blue book prices and I did notice that all the sellers were in the same ball park which was higher then the Kelly prices were, but most would deal if you were serious about buying.

[mbk]

Is there more of a demand for the earlier Drifter 800 with the blacked-out forks, dual seat, and more muted, nostalgic factory paint than say the 2004 model in silver and black that I am getting?  Not that it matters, it just seems like those earlier ones are harder to find.  All Drifters seem to go for a pretty good price, based on completed Ebay auctions - again, not that it matters, but I was just wondering if the earlier models were more sought after.