I have endemic many bikes. I'one thousand over the triple-digit marker by a long shot. I've been able to exercise that by buying really nice bikes for fair prices. Then I am able to resell them without taking a loss.
I recognize not anybody wants to be a used-bike mogul, so knowing how to avoid a bike that's a turd can be a scrap more hard for people who actually spend rational amounts of income on motorcycles. That's where this guide comes in. It's non comprehensive, just some of the items in here might salve you from ending up with a junker. (And if a junker is what you lot are buying, I'd like to plug my recent haggling article, so at very least you won't spend much coin on crap.)
Some people are baffled by how to sort the wheat from the chaff when information technology comes to used bikes. If you are really dark-green, call up that there's no shame in picking up a wheel from a dealer. They have a vested interest in making sure the bike is in good shape! If yous're hellbent on buying private party (read my checklist, if you lot're new to the game), generally newer is better. Peradventure you're running out to look at a bicycle in 20 minutes, so permit'south start with the CliffsNotes. If the following three atmospheric condition are met, you're probably looking at a cycle that's at least halfway decent. All these points are covered more thoroughly afterward, simply here are your takeaways:
The bicycle does not appear to have crash impairment
The bike does not appear to be leaking any fluids
The bike generally looks like it was cared for
Now, permit'southward go deeper, eh?
Harley's Posident characters are intentionally distinctive looking to help proceed unscrupulous sellers from swindling honest folks. It pays to know what you should exist looking at. Harley-Davidson paradigm.
Check the VIN
This is the starting point. The residuum of this guide is useless if you're looking over a hot cycle. (Stolen, not souped-upwards!) Physically check the numbers and make sure numbers are not re-stamped. If you're looking at bikes that accept a high theft rate, like Harley-Davidsons, you lot might fifty-fifty want to bring pictures of manufactory-stamped numbers along for comparison if yous don't know what "knocked-over" numbers look similar. Once y'all've eyeballed that, cheque that the title numbers match the headstock. I have had my share of titling errors and fixes. If you can navigate the local motor vehicles bureaucracy, yous tin can make some money on titling errors, merely for most people who ain't in the flippin' game, title inconsistencies are a headache. Run.
Examine the bike cold
I accept mentioned this tip earlier, and then have many of our readers, and I am fanatical about it. Particularly on an older bicycle, I tell the seller to leave the bicycle cold before I become there, and I stick to it. Information technology's unbelievably easy to hide starting and running problems on a hot bike. Feel those jugs and the pipes to make sure that bike is water ice common cold! If the seller can't go the bike started, or it sounds like a blender total of rocks for the beginning minute of run fourth dimension, you lot might have some problems on your hands.
Hey, that's not supposed to be curve-y. RevZilla photo.Examine the bar ends, levers, and footpegs
These are the starting time things I wait at. Their age should be commensurate with the bike. If they are damaged, the bicycle has been down. I look for rash, plain, simply levers can give away a few clues. Levers ofttimes "curl" when they hit the pavement. They might non exist cleaved, and the seller might have buffed out the rash, but a curved appearance normally indicates impairment. The same ordinarily goes for "shorty" levers that a seller has cutting and re-shaped. Most people don't do this unless they need to replace a banged-up lever. Aftermarket lever and pegs are also a bit of a tip-off that a crash has occurred. If the seller cops to it, he may be an honest fellow who had a tipover and did his all-time to fix the bike. If it goes unmentioned, though, it could mean the seller is dishonest, or perhaps the bike suffered at the hands of a previous owner.
This curled restriction lever is a certain sign of a tip-over. Further research is required. RevZilla photo.
Regardless of what equipment you find, cheque for additional damage. Croaky oil pans, busted fins, and tweaked handlebars all add together to the toll of making a bike "right" again.
See how hard the bike was ridden
Note that I don't think hard riding or redlining a bike is bad for it, but some folks really beat out the snot out of their machines. I examine the tires. Flat, longitudinally grooved tires are indicative of burnouts. On sport machines, cheque the edges of the tires. If yous run across "pilling" (petty blobs of rubber) or "feathering" (tell-tale tiny surface ripples) of the tires all the way to the edges, that'southward a pretty good indicator the bike was used at the track.
Check the hero blobs, too. Those are the little indicators on the footpegs that give the rider feedback in a deep lean that they are getting close to scraping more than expensive parts. If those are footing down or gone, again, the bike may have gone to the track. I don't retrieve that alone disqualifies a bicycle from consideration, but a seller who does non disclose that information may not exist forthcoming about other negatives about the bike.
Meet if this hooptie's ever been ripped off
Check the fork lock and ignition lock. If either one is busted — or the keys do non match — there's an excellent chance someone went joyriding. If you already checked the title, you saw the "Salvage" designation, right? Theft recovery vehicles tin and practise end up on the street. That doesn't mean the cycle is necessarily junk, just recognize that the resale value is poor on these, so your offer should reverberate that.
Pop the seat
Specifically, you're getting in there to look at the wiring, peculiarly the items hooked up to the battery. If you see factory connectors and aught looks amiss, great! Merely if y'all can see a GPS, fog lights, and ii power leads hanging off the wheel before you lot become into the guts, your spidey sense should beginning tingling. Once you're in at that place, look for electrical tape, vampire connectors, or a whole bunch of one color wire. (This happens usually because the owner was besides cheap to buy multiple spools of wire in different colors!) Recognize the resulting electric catastrophe could exist both expensive and hard to repair.
Glossy paint not only makes the exterior of the bike wait fantastic, but it'south too often an fantabulous indicator of how the bike's mechanical bits accept been maintained. Photo by Lemmy.Appraise the bike's general condition
I don't ordinarily give a hoot about a motorcycle's mileage. The odometer just tells one role of the bike'southward story. If an owner hands you a file of receipts, that is a Very Good Thing. If the bicycle is generally well cared for — it has matching tires, shiny, waxed paint, and the owner has obviously replaced article of clothing items like grips and seat covers — that'southward a good indicator of what kind of wheel yous're looking at. People are rarely captious with ane function of their wheel and lax with another. Unremarkably they either love the bike or neglect information technology. If you encounter evidence of something that'southward been unrepaired for a long time, it might be indicative of a bike that has other defects lurking. Similarly, a pristine possessor'southward manual, all the factory keys, and paperwork from aftermarket equipment with a box of OEM takeoff pieces normally bespeak to a cycle that received lavish attending.
The odometer, for me, is a very small factor in determining a used bike's quality. Photo by Lemmy.
The flip side of this is "disrepair through disuse." Bank check the oil level, and the color and level of the brake fluid. (It should be pale yellowish, not dark brown or black.) Cheque for dry out cables, pitted fork tubes, leaky fork seals, and rusty chains. Leaks of all forms are usually not practiced. Electric items that are inoperable, spongy brakes, and rusty fuel tanks (aye, expect in there with a flashlight) will let you know yous either have some work ahead of you lot, or need to continue looking for a improve bicycle.
Empathise what you are looking at
Information technology's OK to tell a seller you don't understand a piece of equipment or a procedure. (Kicking a bicycle to start it or retarding a magneto are pretty personal tasks that fifty-fifty experienced bike buyers ask owners about.) I'll give you some examples. If you're going to look at a offset-generation Kawasaki Concours, you should know that the cam-chain tensioners, due to the coarseness of their adjusting teeth, frequently let the chain become pretty loose. This manifests itself equally a Connie that sounds dang noisy at startup, but clanging and clacking away similar an old diesel fuel. The racket usually abates once the bikes warm upward. And judge what? It's totally normal.
Here'south another example. Harley-Davidsons, existence dry-sump, allow oil by a sealing check-ball into the crankcase, especially afterward sitting for a catamenia. Upon startup, they typically either lose a bunch of oil from the sabbatical hose on an older model, or the air cleaner on a newer one. It can be very disconcerting for a buyer to run across a "Harley in great shape" barfing up what looks like a whole quart of oil from the engine, merely that's totally normal too.
I mention this because not everything that looks weird means a seller is out to screw you lot. If y'all don't do your homework, you may laissez passer upwardly a chance to put a wonderful cycle in your garage. Cognition rarely hurts.
Go ride it — after a pre-ride check
This is a two-pronged recommendation. Outset, there really is no reason why a test ride cannot happen. If you're willing to put the full amount of the cycle in greenbacks in the seller's hand, he has cipher to lose but a sale. When dealing with actually skittish folks (on a cycle I really wanted), I added my commuter'southward license to the stack of bills. The second piece of communication here is to safety-cheque the bike, particularly if it has gone unridden for a fleck. It sucks to be at the tiptop of tertiary gear when you find out the brakes need to exist bled. (Ask me how I know! Young and impaired, but I lived to tell the story. Take heed.)
Brake fluid should exist articulate and light in color, like a nice pale yellow, depending on brand. If yous didn't find this in your inspection of the wheel, be sure you await at it before you pull away on a motorbike that may take been maintained poorly! RevZilla photo.
I've bought some lemons, just I've gotten my hands on style more than bikes I'd describe every bit "cherry" or "creampuff." Follow the listing, do your homework, and keep a sour pucker off your face.
"You know the chase is better than the catch." — Motörhead
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