Sell your dirt bike

Motocross bikes: hours matter more than the year

If you want to sell your dirt bike and it's a motocross bike, the first thing we'll ask is how many hours it has done since the last rebuild. A 2019 KTM SX-F with a fresh piston and the invoice to prove it can be worth more than a 2021 bike that has never been opened up.

Few MX bikes leave the factory with an odometer. Some owners fit an hour meter. If yours hasn't got one, tell us roughly how often it went out and when the top end was last done. An honest guess is fine.

Raced, crashed or parked up for a year

Track bikes get dropped. Bent bars and scuffed plastics are normal and we price them in. Bigger damage, like a bent subframe, needs a clear photo. If the engine has seized or the bike won't fire, we still buy it as a non-runner.

MX bikes are off-road only. No V5C, and you don't need one to sell to us.

Enduro and trail bikes with a V5C

Plated enduro bikes sell to a different crowd. Put a V5C and a current MOT on a KTM EXC and it can be ridden to the start of a green lane. That is exactly what the next owner wants to do with it.

Getting an unregistered bike onto the road later means a Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval test and DVLA paperwork. So a bike that's already registered carries part of its value in the logbook. Have the V5C ready and we'll check the name and address on it against your ID.

Two-stroke or four-stroke

We buy both. Two-stroke 250s and 300s are the hard enduro favourites, and their top ends are cheap to rebuild. Four-strokes with tired engines need more work, so we'll want to know when the valve clearances were last checked. Don't know? Say so.

Is yours electric? That has its own page: selling an electric dirt bike.

Supermotos

Supermotos are dirt bikes on 17-inch road wheels. Some came from the factory that way, like the KTM 690 SMC R. Others started life as enduro bikes and were converted by an owner who wanted to ride on tarmac.

With a converted bike, tell us if you still have the original spoked off-road wheels. Those wheels are worth real money. With both sets, the next owner can swap between trail and tarmac. Road-registered? Then we need the V5C, same as for a plated enduro.

Pipes, graphics and fork work

Most dirt bikes we're offered have had something changed. Usually it's an aftermarket exhaust and a new set of graphics. None of that puts us off.

Graphics kits make a bike look good in photos. They barely move our figure. Suspension revalved by a known tuner is a different matter, so send that receipt if you have it. Same for a big-bore kit: we want the name of whoever fitted it.

Took the standard silencer off? Keep it with the bike. Tracks run noise tests, and the next owner may need a quieter pipe to pass one.

Frame numbers and stolen bikes

Off-road bikes get stolen a lot. Most were never registered, so there's no DVLA record to lean on, which is why we're careful. On most dirt bikes the frame number is stamped on the steering head and the engine number is on the crankcase.

First we look at your photo ID. Then we match the frame number to your V5C or to the receipt from whoever sold you the bike. If a number has been ground off or doesn't match, we can't buy it.

Our guide to avoiding scams when you sell covers the other side of it, from fake payment screenshots to the buyer who asks for a test ride and never comes back.

Kids' motocross bikes

Junior bikes change hands every time a rider grows out of one. Most families go from a 50 to a 65 and on to an 85, and we buy each size, including big-wheel 85s.

Tell us the wheel size and whether it has been raced. A 65 that has done a season of club racing has had a harder life than one ridden round a paddock, and the price reflects that. Spare plastics and the stand are worth putting in with it.

Collecting dirt bikes across Kent

Kent takes its motocross seriously. Canada Heights, the club track just outside Swanley, has hosted rounds of the British championship. Plenty of bikes round here live in a garage or lock-up between race weekends.

Dirt bikes are light. Collection takes minutes. Driveway or storage unit, both work. We collect across England, Scotland and Wales, and our Kent collection page lists the towns we cover most. When you're ready, start your dirt bike offer. It takes about two minutes.