Bike Tips?
 

Hey guys, still looking at bikes, what should I do when looking at used bikes to make sure they arent shit?

http://www.clarity.net/~adam/buying-bike.html

That site seems to have all the bases covered

great site!

3 tips I can lend,

1. never ever believe the seller when they say the mileage, the speedo cable can be unhooked so easy to keep mileage low, its really too tempting to trust a stranger not to do.

2. get it inspected if you can by a real deal motorcycle shop. And a racing shop if you have one. Race shops are brutally honest, constantly. they usually charge a little more for the inspection than a regular shop would but they are fiends and its worth it even if the bike is perfect.

3. if you can try to get the bike aligned, most sport bikes are within a very tight tollerance of dead ass straight. if you can get it checked it will tell you alot about the bikes history. its worth it to me on a sportbike, on a cruiser? total waste of time.

you should just buy my slow ass 500 haha

not all 500's are slow there silvia. I can proof that any day of the week.

Loki shoping for a bike is the same as for a car, research modle history etc for problems check overall engine condition with a test ride, fluids etc. And the alginment is a good thing to check as well as all the forks and shocks. new seals might be cheap for most bikes but it is a headache. Also if you can get a look at the helmet of the seller then you migth be able to tell if they have spent time shiny side down. People often tell on themselves in stuff like that if given enough leeway. What kind of bike where you thinking of getting?

A friend of mine is selling his z1000, and ive ridden it and it was a blast. Now i wan tot make sure my money isnt going to waste. While i trust my friend, I am still paranoid beyond belief. And Ive done most of the things on that list that SamS recommended.

SamS thanks for that link, its been extremely comforting and helpful. Basically I am trying to find reasons not to buy this bike, but so far is seems to be exactly what he says it is.

I would treat it just as if it were a car. All of the concepts and systems are the same between a modern motorcycle and car. VRT is right about the odometer being easy to disconnect. Most modern bikes use an electronic speedo, which can be disabled by just unplugging the sensor. This is very common on track bikes as the speedo can be annoying or distracting, so it's unplugged. It took me about 5 minutes to remove the plastic, unplug and secure the speed sensor harness, and reinstall the plastic on my GSXR. Again, it's not done out of dishonesty, it's done to prevent the distraction on the track. I hook it back up to street the bike to get my speedo back, and pull it when I get to the track. It's very possible for someone to disconnect the harness and never hook it back up. Sometimes you need to excersize a bit of judgment if the bike's condition and odometer don't agree.

If it's a sportbike, take it to CompuTrack to check alignment if there is any sign of it going down. Also, assume any sport bike that is not still in a crate at the dealer to have been beat to shit. That's what people do with them. But that's also what they are designed to take. You can also tell how someone rides by looking at the sprokets. A mild change could be just to give a little more acceleration, or you could go a little the other way to reduce RPM on the highway. A big jump in sprockets is usually done to make it easy to get the front wheel in the air. Be wary of a bike with big sprocket changes.

Just like a miata, they will be reliable for forever, even when used hard, as long as they are maintained. Maintenance and faith in the seller are key.

Low mileage bikes that have been dropped once and now the rider is scared of it...

The bottom line is that the z1000 is not really a "sport" bike... not in the sense that people use them for stunting etc. If it hasn't been obviously dropped and the alignment is good and the motor runs reasonably well you are 99% of the way there to getting a good bike. Don't take the comment that it's not a "sport" bike to much to heart, I really should say it's not a super sport bike.

I do think that the Z1000 is a fantastic looking machine and would be high on my list of rides to throw in the stable. Funny thing is that the Z1000 has nearly the same torque and HP as my 1984 VF1000F and the weight is nearly the same. I would expect the straightline performance to be about the same, with the edge going to the slightly more powerful Z1000 (less than 5 ft/lbs of torque at 8000 rpm.) Weight (after stripping down my VF1000) is also within the range of noise 452 Lbs vs 475 Lbs. Either way, the Z1000 is a serious machine.

Mark

I didn't check out that sight, but I would make sure I saw it start from being cold. A warm machine will typically start much different and usually way better than a cold machine.

A bike that cold starts bad could mean something. Make sure YOU start it also... no telling what habit pattern/trick he's subconsiously (or purposely) using to get it to start smoothly.

Yeah it was a cold start, but he started it. Next time Im there I will start it.