Standard (03) Mille to RSV4 - Worth changing?

A mate of mine has decided to jump in with both feet, and go from a ZXR400 to an RSV4. Looking at the bill of sale, and the bike itself, and they don't seem to tie in with each other. The bill of sale states that this guy paid £2,699 for an '09 RSV4, and the bike itself is pretty damn tidy.

Now laddo works in the motor trade (and has done for a while) and claims that while the markup at bike dealers is insane (which explains how [unnamed dealer] gave me a ballpark figure of £1800 for my 03 mille*, but had an 01 up for sale at £4099), a dealer will sell to another dealer at a substantially lower price.
Which seems to explain the bill of sale.

This is not so much a "Do you smell a rat?" thread as: For those of you who have gone from a 1st gen RSV to an RSV4, how did you find the experience?
This is a bit of a cursory fishing around, seeing if it's conceivable that a 6 year old bike could go for that low a price, and if they can, would the change be worth it to someone who already rides a Mille. I love the old girl, she's a pleasure to ride and she sounds/looks great. But getting something similar in a smaller more manageable (weight and physical size-wise anyway), would be good.

motocorsaro3 said:

There is no way you're buying an RSV4 for even double that money. Fantasy. Even a CAT D insurance write-off would make over £3000.

Click to expand...

I'd suspected as much :biggrin

Laddo now claims that the bike's ABS was fitted after the bike left the factory, from a newer bike. He claims the hardware was installed and the electronics modified or updated to "drive" the ABS system.

Is this even possible? Bike is an 09 plate RSV4R, and the discs sure look like ABS ones.

At this point, it's just fun figuring out what is true and how it's come about . I'm surprised that there actually is a rational reason for it to be done/possible though .