Yes, as you have so aptly stated, your CBR 600 F4i is in showroom shape and has been ridden hard upon occasion. But you didn't say, you've been riding stoppies or wheelies, or drag racing the bike on the street. If you are over 50 like me, riding a bike hard, is pushing it in corners challenging yourself on new and exciting roads for thrill. I have many friends who have mint well used sportbikes as well, but they, like myself are riders, not exhibitionists, who value their health (because it's a more difficult road to heal as you get older) and the health of their machine, over stunting and showing off. I've often said, and this pertains to gun control as well, "it's not the device that causes the carnage, but the operator, guns don't kill, bikes don't wreck, unless someone uses them in a reckless manner". So, in reality, a well cared for sportbike should be a decent value. Sportbike technology, like computers, races upwards, since the advent of injected bikes, the improvements in chassis design from year to year are tweaks. As for horsepower, what's the difference between 160 and 180 crank horsepower? They both are more than one needs for the street. When I got the 929, I was asked by friends what I felt of it's horsepower, I replied, "I run out of street before I can ever dream of utilizing it". Traffic, rough roads, poor visibility, keep savvy riders in check, limiting how many times that right hand is wrapped back. I think I've run that CBR to redline 7 times, in the eight years I've owned it. And that was entering an interstate on a Sunday morning with no traffic! There just isn't many openings to SAFELY push a sportbike, that's the ADULT perspective, and why, when I look for used machines I seek an adult owned bike ONLY, and perhaps pay a little more, but I get a showroom piece. I'm just looking to get that $500. premium for a well cared, respected bike, on my sale. I think my strategy will be to sell locally on Craigslist where I won't have to compete with the E-bay "pit" where a lot of BEAT bikes are sold.
John