[CityHunter357]

I’ve been reading a lot of posts from people looking at used bikes as their purchase choice. I honestly think this is the best way to go. Plenty of good rides available on the market that are 5 years or less old at good prices! However, I thought I’d share my recent experiences with my “new” used bike purchase last week.

The base price I paid for the motorcycle was $4300. Since I wasn’t willing to ride it last weekend because my gear hadn’t arrived in the mail yet, I just wanted to start it up a couple of times and ride it around behind the house in first gear. Being the total newb I am, I stalled the bike in first gear like three times. After the third stall, I couldn’t start the bike again!! Turns out, the battery was dead. I had to go out and buy a trickle charger ($35) to charge the battery to start it again. After careful examination and asking my buddy that owned the bike before me, I found out the battery was the original from 2004. Everything I’ve heard about motorcycle batteries indicate they’re only good for about 2 years or so. So I went out and bought another one ($120). He also told me other consumable parts on the bike were original like….the spark plugs. So I bought a set of NGK’s and changed them out ($10). Since I was getting so comfortable taking parts of my new motorcycle apart I also inspected things like the air filter, etc. I’ll be changing out a few other things this weekend

My point here is used bikes are great, but factor in about an extra 10% or so to replace used and worn parts. At least after I’m done going over this bike some more I can rest assured it’s been P.M.’d.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I went through similar exercise – just that I have inspected the prospective bikes up front. Some of the expenses I discovered (Canada):

– set of tires, mounted, -$500-ish
– leaky fork, -$350-ish + new set of brake pads in very likely case the oil have contaminated them
– battery $100-ish
– good shakedown service (oil, coolant, bolts, valves …) $300-ish, or mechanic going over your bike for $110 per hr.

All those prices are a little bit on the high side and some costs can be cut by knowledgeable individual, but we are talking a beginner buying his/her first bike, not knowing much and wanting to be safe.

I went with very ‘new’ used (2008, 1000kms) bike at the dealer. Initial depreciation mostly went away, still under warranty and no reason to worry about wear items like tires.

[ShannonG]

I’m sure after learning to ride on it, my bike is very used on the inside. But I bought new because I wanted the peace of mind of having something that hadn’t been abused before I got my inexperienced hands on it.

[Author]

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