NC30 Buying Advice

[pockets]

Hi, new member here from Jersey.

I've been considering starting a very small but modest collection of say four or five sportsbikes from the late eighties/early nineties, I just love that age of bikes with the two round headlights. I've already got a nice low mileage GSXR1100L and I've been thinking how much I'd like to add an NC30 to keep it company, I live in Jersey where NC30s are few and far between so I was quite suprised to see one for sale locally, its an import but in tidy condition, its obviously had some paintwork done but overall its quite nice, not mint (nothing a repspray wouldn't solve) but its nice nonetheless.

I know its difficult trying to price a bike especially when there aren't any pics but I was wondering what a fairly tidy import NC30 would go for? I've tried to do some up-to-date rsearch but not getting much joy, its in the red, white and blue HRC colours and has been garaged so the alloy bits are in good condition, the odo shows 13k miles but having done some research I'm prepared to bet that being a Jap import it has probably 'lost' its original mileage when the odo was changed to MPH. The chap is asking £2500 but has indicated he'd settle on £2100 (I'm thinking £2000)

I was aiming at buying one from the UK mainland in about six months time but doing that will add probably a grand to the overall cost by the time I've got a van, ferry tickets, paid import duty and then re-registered it.

I guess after all this rambling is what sort of money would an average-nice and what would a really nice NC30 go for at the moment?

Thanks for any forthcoming advice chaps.

[Le_Blur]

Nowhere near that much. I suppose you should be able to get a pretty clean one for £1500. If it's fully original, UK-spec, and never seen a wet mile you might justify £2.5k. Otherwise, I think he's being more than a little optimistic.

[pockets]

Really, thanks for your input.

I would say everything is more expensive here so even if I got one in England for £1500 I'd easily be looking at more than £2000 by the time I've imported it and re-registered it.

They are beautiful machines though and I'm gonna have me one at some point :)

[Bike_Nut]

If you can afford it then buy it. I have owned quite a few newer sportsbikes but they have gone and the nc30 stays. It is just a fantastic bike built at the peak of Hondas quality. My 20 year old tank shines like a new bike and it's not a horrid plastic cover. Although it is way down on power compared to 600's it is still plenty fast enough for the real world and the subtle suspension is just fantastic on real roads with potholes etc. Then there is the looks, absolutely spot on from all angles, especially those twin lights. A 916 might just pip it for looks but its such an easy bike to own.

[CMSMJ1]

Get some pics of the advert up..

[pockets]

To be fair the pics on the advert are so small and crappy that you can't make out much detail.

[porndoguk]

FWIW i would hope on a ferry buy one here and take it back with some change to boot mate

[pockets]

Yeah but if an average one over there is around £1500 then the ferry is going to be around £300, import duty at around £75 and re-registration around £100 so its not far off the £2000 that I could probably get this one for. If I were being picky then if the plastics were repainted it would be mint, all the metalwork and mechanicals are very clean.

I've contacted the owner and mentioned that because its a grey import but has MPH speedo it probably has more miles on it so he's going to have a look to see if he has any info that might give us a clue as to what the mileage might really be.

Oh man I've got the NC30 bug something rotten

[CMSMJ1]

you need to do some more swotting up matey. Is it a type K model - with lower spec forks and shock form 1989 (the only colours for the RC30 a like Red White Blue)

What state is the exhaust in? Is it original? Valve clearances need checking at 16k kms

MPH speedo....overlay? Proper UK bike speedo?

What state are the rads in? The hub adjuster? The panels?

get him to tell you the code from under the pillion seat - VFR400R *something* K, L M N..etc..

Only advice I'd say is not to get fished in. There are enough about and at that price that you can find a lovely one.

[pockets]

Well here's some pics albeit very small pics. I know the screen isn't standard before anyone says....





I've phoned the owner and asked him if he can find any paperwork that might indicate the actual mileage, in answer to an earlier question it has uk spec MPH clocks rather than overlaid numbers so I'm pretty sure it will have done more than its indicated 13k miles.
The panels look in good nic, its got some very minor damage on the bottom of the main fairing where someone has caught something but its almost not visible, one panel has had a blow-in and the red isn't a good match apart from that it looks quite presentable but I know its had paint at some point in its past.