Things to look for when buying first bike? Km's, damages, sounds? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Things to look for when buying first bike? Km's, damages, sounds?

Alderson

Well-known member
Hey guys/girls,

Hopefully buying my first bike within the next couple of weeks, but I have no clue what exactly I should be looking for when looking at the bikes.

I'm finding a few bikes have scratches on the fairings from people dropping them, but they say there's nothing mechanically wrong with it. Do you guys think I can trust this? I don't mind scratches, because I can just buy fairings for less than what they reduce the bike price at due to the cosmetic damage.

Also, what's the average bike life for km's? I'm seeing bikes with 40-50k, but haven't come across any that are higher than that. Is it unusual to have a bike with more than 50k kms on it?

I've never ridden a sports bike before, so I'm not sure what I should be listening for, and feeling for. I assume deadzone for turning should be fairly tight and not wobbly, but that's about it.

Also, do bikes need to be safety'd like cars?
 
Last edited:
Honestly, the best thing you could do is to bring along an experienced rider with you to check it out. It's impossible for anyone here to 100% give you a list of things to check out, and even if they do it's possible/likely you may still miss things are you're not entirely sure what you're looking at, what something should look like/sound like/operate, etc. An experienced rider won't have those sorts of issues as they know what's normal, and what's not.

Cosmetic damage on a bike isn't the end of the world, and yes, it often means the bike was dropped, but that's all the more reason to go into a purchase very carefully, and once again a situation where an experienced rider will be invaluable. Make sure the purchase price significantly reflects the damage - it will certainly effect resale (or the ability to sell) down the road. There are a lot of people out there who think their thrashed 5 year old bike that was dropped and never washed or had it's oil changed is still worth 95% of what they paid for it just because it only has a few thousand K on it.

Mileage isn't a huge issue for most bikes...well, except for Harleys. A good metric will go to 100,000+ without much issue so long as they were maintained properly and not beat on, but again, an experienced rider may notice things you might otherwise miss when it comes to maintenance - that unusual sound in the transmission, a sticky shifter, a slight knock in the engine...these are all the things someone knowledgeable may notice before you. When it comes to milage you'll see bikes all over the map. I ride between 15,000-20,000KM per year myself, but others may only ride 1000KM for an entire season, so don't be surprised to see bikes all over the place for mileage. Personally I'd buy a 5 year old well maintained bike with 25,000KM on it before I'd buy a 5 year old bike that has been clearly thrashed, dropped, and not maintained properly with 5000KM on it. YMMV.

And yes, bikes to need safety's.

Cardinal rule amongst all else - call for insurance quotes on the bike you choose BEFORE buying it. So many stories of disaster here when people do it the other way around.
 
Last edited:
I appreciate the help. Unfortunately I don't know anyone who rides a sports bike, but my friend does have a harley type bike so hopefully he'll tag along and take it for a test drive before I purchase one.

I've already got quotes on the two bikes I'm looking at, now I just need to find one for sale that I like/is cheap.
 
+1 for the above.

Get that quote and also throw in a quote for a cruiser and a dual sport to see the difference.

I can guarantee you that anything with two wheels will put a smile on your face, and with a dual sport, you can ride with the sport bikes, then rip through the ditch and up the hill and back again while they are talking about how much they paid for their leathers and 520 conversion kits. :D

Sorry horribly biased. I buy all my bikes used and anything under 30k and over 12K is very appealing to me. Past first major service and any post dealer gremlins, the shine is knocked off so I can beat on it, and I can still run the clock up to 100000k without worrying.

Find someone to take a look at the bike with you. Head down to lakeshore and Leslie on a Thursday night and ask around. They will talk your ears off if you ooh and ahh at their bikes. :p

P.s. Honda CRF250 Rally for the win! You will be grinning ear to ear.
 
Your friend may not be totally familiar with sportbikes, but a motorcycle is a motorcycle for the most part, they all have most of the same bits and do the same thing in the end, so he would be helpful regardless assuming he's not a relative newbie himself either.

The GTAM membership can often be helpful to others in these sorts of situations - if you post your location there may be an experienced member willing to come out with you to check out the options, for example.
 
If you want to try a sports bike. I am willing to let you try mine providing you have a license and gear. I bought a sports bike not knowing what I was getting into. I am not a fan of it but it's growing on me.


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 

Back
Top Bottom