Should I buy this wreck; DL650

Here is an 07 Wee which high sided and has mostly front-body damage. Seller says forks are still straight and it comes with clean title. $2800.-
What says you strommers

Looks like an easy enough fix, but that's too much money for it.

What is price new?

Take that price and then do a quick shop for all that will be needed to fix it. Add a couple hundred for unseen damage and then $200-300 for the time it takes to do all that... if that final tally is about $1500 under the price of new... I'd do it.

The extent of damage is hard to see in those low-res pics....and small (and underlaying) damage can quickly add up in repairs.
The right fork-tube doesn't line up in pics 2 and 4....there's about 250 bux for the start.
Bears the question what the other side looks like....then new head-bearings and getting the triple clamps checked/ straightened...
Fairing-frame will be bent (no use trying to straighten, buy new), and even if the headlight doesn't show scratches it could well be busted at the rear of the housing/ mounting lugs....another replacement.
That's 2800US?
Looking at new-prices, it seems a little overpriced...

At around the $2k it's a prime candidate for "Thin-Strom" project!!!

yeah, that's too much for a wrecked DL650. You can almost get a running used one for that price.

That is funny, I was just looking at that one!

I would say that is too much, but I did see a thread somewhere where someone put dirtbike forks and a 21 inch wheel on one.

If you could get the bike cheap enough that might be a project to consider.

I think a stripped down street fighterish DL650 would be cool, but that seems way too much money for a crashed up one to me.

I have had the experience of fixing a couple of crashed bikes. It always costs a LOT more than you first think. Parts are very expensive, and you always find more damage than you expect. Having to buy a couple $300-$400 dollar parts you did not expect to have to buy will really blow your budget.
How about taking it to a shop for a repair estimate?

Does it have a salvage title? If so, count on the re-sale value being very low and having a difficult time selling it to anybody serious about motorcycles.

Plus depreciation for a bike that's been wrecked, even if it's fixed to new condition.

Project, piss the faring off and do sometin esle to it and whhheyy sweet unike (can't spell) bike.

For what it's worth, after I lowsided my Bandit last summer, I picked it up and rode 80 miles back home. Initial inspection revealed mostly minor cosmetic damage. I replaced a mirror, took a little rubbing compound to the scuffs and continued to ride.

After this happened, if I would go hands off, the bike would pull to the left. If I wrapped my knees tight to the tank and shifted my butt, I could keep the bike going straight. But it was definitely pulling to the left. I also felt a strange twist in the handle bars as I would come to a stop...especially if I pulled a handful of brake from a very slow roll in neutral.

I posted the symptoms on various boards and got all kinds of "expert" opinions ranging from the the forks being twisted in the trees to the frame being bent.

I rode nearly 8000 miles like this but I wanted to know (for my own edification, if nothing else) what was causing the pull.

I even had a very well respected suspension guy inspect the bike. I was very impressed with his thoroughness and all of the measurements he took. But even he, at the end of the day, could not conclusively determine the cause.

Ultimately, I had nothing more than a gut feeling that the forks were ever-so-slightly bent. After a patient eBay search, I found a reasonable set of B12 forks. Once the old forks were removed, placing an engineers straight-edge along the upper left no doubt that the forks were just slightly bent. Maybe just a degree or so. With the forks installed in the bike, it was invisible to the naked eye and even virtually impossible to detect with measurements.

With the new set of forks installed, the bike rode straight and true.

This was a slow speed lowside with no frontal impact. If that was insidious enough to result in a bent forks, imagine what could happen after a high side.

Do you really want to take someones word for this?

Tipsy

Hell, mine was in MUCH better shape than that one and the insurer gave me a value of $2200.

Call GMD Computrak and let them see if the frame is straight. $125 or so to measure it plus any costs of fixing it.

I can't see how something is NOT bent when you take something of that size and have a high-side.

Dealer said my GSXR750 was perfectly straight, they measured it (with string and a tape) but I took it down anyway. That bike was so far from being true that it was virtually unrideable.

They didn't total yours, did they? (ie did you replace it?)

I've now repaired/ restored 6 DLKs and being in the process of the current W-rebuilt (all of them insurance write-offs)
I'm trusting the Strom's frame to be a very strong one, particularly in the neck/ head area (where most 'hits" are taken and show their toll).

There are other bikes which are weak in certain frame-sections, like the weak neck of the Blackbird.... necks and downtube-bottom-rails of just about all Hogs.... any Aprilia with the air-duct-cutouts in the shoulder-area of the frame, XJ900 Diversion in the headstock and shoulder etc etc.

I string-lined all frames...then had them professionally checked, same with forktubes (straight-edging is only a rough, but a good guide) and triple clamps/ triple-stems.
I just hate to be proven wrong by missing something and paying in pain-currency after finding out the hard way....

Even the DL that found it's way into the garage as a structural write off (non-repairable) had a straight frame after string-lining it just-for-fun, despite broken forktubes, shattered front-wheel, cracked sliders and a banana-shaped headstemtube sitting in triples that had been forced off-centre/ popped the headbearings by the impact.

Still, checking is better than blind trust....but looking at those pics in the OP, I'd be surprised if there'd be a frame-problem at all.
The price is still way too high, though...particularly, if a repair to stock-condition enters the equation (which is what one should work on, as that represents the true-value of the bike).

Good advice on getting it checked properly.

As to the rest....you might be surprised, but the DL's can take a lot more than most other bikes....and get away with it. Frames and headcasts are generally rocksolid.

I cashed it out and kept it. Farkled it up some and bought some better gear and a set of E41 cases. Still waiting for the ijits at State Farm to send me the paperwork for my salvage title.

There's no requirement for a State Patrol inspection nowadays apparently.

Just gonna keep riding it until it falls apart. I figure that'll probably be another 4-5 years with the way these things just keep going & going.