In 1995 I declared that you can own a motorcycle for $1000.00. This was in response that I gave anyone who was interested in getting started in motorcycling but thought it was too expensive based on the going rate of new motorcycles at the time.
The principle is this: If you spent $1000.00 on a used bike you could find one that ran and was in good enough shape to ride at least for one season. If you spent $500.00 on a used bike, you’d probably need to put another $500.00 into it (typically battery, tires, etc.) to get it ready for serious riding. The same goes for $250.00/$750.00, $0.00/$1000.00, etc.
I think this general rule still holds true today, although I might bump the base cost to something like $1200.00.
I’ve started Google Spreadsheet (still trying to figure out how to share it with the general public) to track the cost of my little project here to see if this theory still holds true in the year 2007.