Used Or Abused?
USED OR ABUSED?
5 tips for buying a “previously owned” motorcycle
When Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” he wasn’t referring to the two most likely consequences of buying a used motorcycle, but he very well could have been. Bought methodically, a used bike can leave you with a screaming deal; bought haphazardly, it’s more likely just to leave you screaming, period.
Never forget that when shopping for a used bike, you’re looking to buy something that its owner doesn’t want anymore. And in most cases, you won’t really know why. Is he selling a perfectly good machine so he can upgrade to something newer/ bigger/better or is he unloading a lemon that has been nothing but trouble from Day One? Has the bike been meticulously maintained or is it merely a dolled-up mechanical nightmare?
In your search for answers to such questions, you should always ask to ride the bike, but don’t be surprised if your request is denied; sellers don’t know how well you can ride or if your intentions are honorable, so they tend to be reluctant to let a stranger motor off on their as-yet-unsold machine. You also should ask to see maintenance records, but again, don’t be surprised if no such documentation exists; many people take excellent care of their bikes but don’t keep receipts or maintain a logbook.
So, to help you navigate your way through these uncertainties, we offer the following five tips that should prove useful for anyone in the market for a used bike. They can’t guarantee that you won’t end up buying someone else’s troubles, but they will help you tiptoe through the minefield that litters the used-bike landscape. -Paul Dean
1 lf you don’t know much about how motorcycles work, take someone with you who does—preferably an experienced bike technician-when you go to check out a possible purchase. There are several ways to go about finding such a “consultant,” ranging from soliciting the services of a friend who reputedly is a capable mechanic to paying one of the wrenches at the local shop a few bucks to accompany you.
Getting this kind of advice offers three distinct advantages. First and most obvious, the consultant has the ability to spot the kinds of trouble areas that you might not. When you ask about the ticking noise you hear in the engine, for example, the seller may tell you that “they all do that,” but your advisor will likely know better.
Second, a mechanic probably can give you a reasonable estimate of what it might cost-in parts, in labor or even in sheer man-hours-to bring the bike up to snuff. This can be critical, because some repair/ rebuild jobs may seem straightforward on the surface but in actuality are complex and expensive.
And third, a consultant has no vested interest in the purchase, so he can offer a dispassionate, objective opinion about whether or not buying the bike would be a wise move. It’s easy for a buyer to make an irrational purchase by falling in love with the way a bike looks or sounds; an advisor, on the other hand, doesn’t care one way or the other.
2 Buy within your abilities, both financial and mechanical. Don’t spend so much money on the bike, either to buy it in the first place or to fix it up afterward, that you can’t afford to go anywhere on it. If you’re a half-decent mechanic with a fair selection of tools and a lot of time on your hands, a cheap fixer-upper can get you into a pretty nice ride at an amazingly low price. But if you don’t know a master link from the missing link, shy away from bikes that need a lot of work. If you have the necessary skills and equipment, you can fiddle in your garage endlessly at no real cost other than your time; but if a shop has to do the majority of the work, their $65 to $70-per-hour labor charges will quickly turn your so-called “bargain” bike into a money pit. If you’re going to end up spending that kind of dough, make a more intelligent investment and splurge for a newer, better bike right from the get-go.
3 Use the Internet. Employ the usual obvious shopping methods, of course, like checking newspaper want ads, visiting local dealerships and reading your regional Cycle Trader or equivalent bikes-for-sale publication. But a little time spent cruising the web can provide you with a world
of useful used-bike buying information that you might not get elsewhere. Just type “used motorcycles” into your search engine and you’ll get links to literally millions of potential sites on that subject. Most of the applicable ones allow you to search for bikes by year, make and model. And even though many of the bikes that might interest you probably will be in locations too far away for you to consider, you still get a good idea of what’s available out there and how much it costs. Even if you find a bike locally through conventional means, the Internet can help you gain all sorts of insight into that make and model-potential problems, spare-parts availability, maintenance tips, etc.-before you buy. Virtually every type of motorcycle has at least several websites dedicated to it, run by enthusiasts anxious to recruit more riders to their cause, maybe even sell off some of the surplus. Don’t forget user-group chatrooms and bulletin boards, either. Online Editor Calvin Kim went to the www.cycle world.com forums in search of a cheap ride and had his $500 Ascot within two days.
4 Unless you’re a glutton for frustration or aspire to start your own restoration shop, stick to fairly common models. It might be tempting to pick up a ’78 Laverda Zeta 500 or an ’87 TRAC DH100 for a song, but what you’ll soon be singing is the blues as you struggle to find parts and technical information about oddball bikes such as these.
Conversely, if you happen to come upon something truly rare and valuable-say, an unrestored ’64 Rabbit Superflow scooter (with torqueconverter automatic transmission and air suspension, no less)—being sold for pocket change by an unsuspecting widow who discovered it in the back of the barn, buy it! But rather than trying to transform it into a running, usable piece, turn a sizable profit instead by selling it to a collector. You can then use those earnings either to buy a better used bike or fix up the one you already have.
5 Don’t buy the wrong bike just because you can afford it. You might, for example, come across a killer deal on a 250cc dual-purpose bike, but you need to ride 75 miles a day on freeways and open highways; both you and the bike will tire of that commute before you buzz your way through the second tank of gas. Same goes for a nice late-’80s sportbike you could practically steal from its previous owner: If your intention is to take long rides and weekend trips, the low price you paid for the bike won’t even come close to compensating for your aching back, wrists and forearms. No bike is a bargain-regardless of how little you paid for it-if you dread having to ride the thing.
