According to the Kelly Blue Book, the bike is worth $4605 as a trade in. The NADA pricing guide (which is based on what dealers report actually giving people for trade in over the previous 90 days) says the trade in value of a 2006 S83 is $4800. Depreciation on a new vehicle is brutal.
However, when the dealer resells it, it will go for between $6400 and $7400 miles depending on mileage. If you sell it as a private sale, you could expect to get about $6000-6500 for it, far more than trade in but less than retail from a dealer. That's why you are usually better off selling your bike rather than trading it in.
As for the low sales, he is correct. I have a close friend who owns a Suzuki dealership, and know a couple other Suzuki dealers. The close friend told me he sold about 350 C50/ C50T models last year, and only about 6 S83s. The others have told me that they don't keep a S83 on the showroom, but if you want one they will trade for another dealer to get you one. The sales of the S50 are only slightly better.
The sales problem is that both designs date to 1986 (the name changed in 2004 but they are the same bikes as the Intruder 1400 and 800), so Suzuki does not push them at all, spending their ad dollars on the new models instead. Also, while I love the sporty, narrow look of the S83/ S50, the fat custom look of the C50 is much more in style. But these bike are excellent all around performers, have a tremendous reputation for being bullet proof, and have a style that some folks just love. They have a tremendous cult following, so if you want to get rid of yours a private buyer would probably snatch it up.
Both the S83 and S50 will be replaced soon, rumor has it in 2008 or 2009 by a single model of about 1100ccs.
