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hey rex, edit in to check for a title at the beginning, clean and clear title to be exact, and if it has a lien on it dont fork over any cash until you walk to the bank with him/her and get it paid off.

a lot of young people probably dont know what a title even is until after they pay and the guy hands them one... lol
 
Bought my first bike today, through a local Craigslist post. Since I'm a newbie I took my friend along who is an experienced motorcyclist and auto mechanic, and had him do some laps and check all the important things out for me. A friend like this is invaluable!
 
ok,this is very nubish.I have never owned a bike and am gonna look at one soon.Ive read most of the post,very educational.The only thing that im not sure about is the location of fluid caps and or dipsticks.If some one can paste a picture or a link of a diagram and or picture that shows where the coolan,brake and oil fluid go,it would be very helpfull thanks.
 
nice list. one more thing to think about that most people overlook.

a lot of the things mentioned can be fixed... like.. looking at the bar ends for scrapes etc.. those are easily replaced. one good way of knowing if a bike has been in an accident worth mentioning is to check the handlebars from LOCK TO LOCK.

in other words, sit on the bike, and stand it up like you would as if you were riding it, and move the bars extreme left and extreme right.

the bars should NOT touch the tank. if it does, that means one of the "locks" broke, most likely as a cause of a decent wreck.

for example, maybe the bars don't touch the tank one direction, but do in the other. obviously, the bike sustained a serious front end impact. Of course they may have replaced the entire front end, fairings, engine cases etc, and put it back to a decent condition

-but-

there is a very good chance that the frame is bent and applying strange forces in ways that it shouldn't. a friend of mine had his crank case split on him after buying a salvage title bike. the frame was torqued in a weird angle that you couldn't notice by looking at it. after about 30 miles, the crank case developed a hairline fracture and leaked all of the oil out of his crank case as he was riding almost causing him to wreck.

not that it has anything to do with the triple tree, but, that IS a good way to tell i it's been wrecked.
 
Cheapest Option?

Hey Everyone,

So I am just looking into getting into riding and want to get a cheap bike that i can take on the freeway and everything as an interim to see if i really enjoy it and learn to ride...any suggestions on the cheapest option and what that would look like price wise??

THANK YOU!
 
Discussion starter · #52 ·
Hey Everyone,

So I am just looking into getting into riding and want to get a cheap bike that i can take on the freeway and everything as an interim to see if i really enjoy it and learn to ride...any suggestions on the cheapest option and what that would look like price wise??

THANK YOU!
Glad to help, good luck

Yeah, thanks for that check list. Thinking about buying an older honda and going to bring the list when I see it!
Definitely bring it, it can make a seller **** his pants when you start listing off stuff wrong with the bike.
 
A friend of mine went to look at a VLX 600 last night, he hasn't ridden or been around bikes in a long time either and asked me to accompany him, so I printed the check lists and away we went. Thanks a ton for the great list!

Chris
 
Discussion starter · #59 ·
A friend of mine went to look at a VLX 600 last night, he hasn't ridden or been around bikes in a long time either and asked me to accompany him, so I printed the check lists and away we went. Thanks a ton for the great list!

Chris
Hope it helped.
 
It certainly did. I hadn't thought of checking a couple of things the way the list suggested, such as feeling the exhaust. The bike was in really good shape and it looks like he'll be picking it up tomorrow. Now, my jones is REALLY bad....don't think I'll make it till August to get a bike LOL.

Chris
 
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