buying an older bike

[wupwup]

hi guys. i was looking at a bike like this
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201049374679625/sort/priceasc/usedbikes/model/er-5/make/kawasaki/radius/1500/postcode/st150eh/quicksearch/true/page/1?logcode=p
i dont mind that its not the best looking / has been dropped because its a first bike. (i will have to get it restricted). so i was just wondering what you thought of it. my dad said itr was too old and had done too many miles, but i often see bikes over 20 years old running great. what kind of problems am i likely to come across? thanks

[c_dug]

Wouldn't say it was a bad bike necessarily but for the price you can get much better, keep a regular look out on ebay and you will get a good deal in the end.

I got my GPZ500 on ebay for around £500 with a brand new back tyre and reasonable mileage.
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Itchy]

Should be fine. 10 years isn't old. I've ridden older bikes with more miles on them. Anyway mileage isn't too high either, Sickpup did 55K in a month though it was constantly in bits due to his superhigh mileage due to his couriering.

Anyway you have to look at it this way, over time EVERY part of the bike bar the bits made from solid metal (frame,wheels, spindles, swingarm yokes) becomes a consumable part. You can interchange this with mileage if you do high miles.

Carb rubbers disintegrate, relays start to give up and the magnets inside rot. Wires rot and the insulation wears out and becomes brittle. Connectors turn turquiose through rot. Bearings wear out exhausts get holes in them. Bolts turn to cheese. My NTV had obsene number of miles on it. Bearings give up the ghost.

All of these are fairly simple repairs, but if you ignore them or they build up they can become a major headache. My NTV went way beyond this limit where it needed so much regular repair that I simply got rid... though this was more to fund my Russian trip as I reckon I could have ridden it 300K more.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[UnspeedySam]

Good advice has been given above, however I doubt most of that will apply to a 9 year old bike. Although 55k is a lot of miles for a bike of that age, it means that it most likely hasn't spent any time stood. In my experience most of the problem with older bikes come from lack of use, where the rubber perishes and various bits seize.

Using my '88 Bros as an example, which was pretty much stood for 8 years before I bought it. There was amazingly not much visible rust. However the tyres are falling to bits the front brake was seized solid (took a lot of effort but that's fixed now ) and the carb was full of gunk.

Assuming the bike is in as good condition as pictured I'd go for it. However restriction will cost you £150+ so it might be worth finding something under 33bhp or restricted by a previous owner.
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Riding: BMW R1150RT `02 bought mildly crashed
Fixing: Also the BMW as I get less broken bits
Gone: ZZR600 '00, TRX850 '97, RXS100 '93, JS125-6B '07, BMW R1100RS '93, Kawasaki ZX-6R-J2 '01, Honda Bros NT400 NC25 '88

[Itchy]

Yep he might as well get a 31bhp Honda Bros instead!
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[UnspeedySam]

[blurredman]

That man is crazy if he thinks 10 years is old
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 52k.

[c_dug]

[Itchy]

[c_dug]

That sounds a bit better.

To the OP, my neglected NTV did 90 miles a day 5 days a week for 6 months and kept on going with nothing more that keeping the oil topped up. The usual commuter bikes are surprisingly good at doing stupid amounts of bikes, they are generally under tuned so unstrained engines.

To be honest there is a CBR600 on youtube that has done over 200,000 miles. If you look after almost any bike it will keep on going.
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[UnspeedySam]

[c_dug]

Stereotypes have to start somewhere!
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[UnspeedySam]

[instigator]

Far too much money.

It's a buyers market right now and being in Winter, I wouldn't pay over £450 for that bike in a private sale.

[c_dug]

As above, the GPZ I bought was older (1998) but has less miles and was in a million times better condition.

Also while we are jizzing over Honda's, my cbr is 17 years old and looks almost as good as new
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[wupwup]

[UnspeedySam]

[instigator]

[UnspeedySam]

I somehow got my Bros 400 for £330 at about the same time as you got your ZX6R, it has round about 16k on the clocks (26000km). It does seem like all the good deals are up north rather than around here in the south, but occasionally a good one comes along
____________________
Riding: BMW R1150RT `02 bought mildly crashed
Fixing: Also the BMW as I get less broken bits
Gone: ZZR600 '00, TRX850 '97, RXS100 '93, JS125-6B '07, BMW R1100RS '93, Kawasaki ZX-6R-J2 '01, Honda Bros NT400 NC25 '88

[Ingah]

I'd just like to caution the OP against jumping in head first, relying purely on brand and model reputation.

I bought my "bullet proof" CB500 when it was 14 years old, had 45K miles, 2 week old MOT, was described by the stealer as excellent condition blah blah. Previously owned by a now bust riding school, so i assumed that they'd been knowledgeable, hence looked after to at least a moderate extent, and that the Honda build and parts quality of the bike would pick up the rest.

It's been the worst and most expensive "commuter" bike i suspect (and bloody well hope) i'll ever own. Pretty much every bearing and consumable has had to be replaced (along with many parts i wouldn't consider consumable), most within 5K miles and one year of ownership (quite how i managed those 5K miles with all the repairs, i've no idea). I've spent more time with the bike being repaired and off-road, than on. If you picked a part of the bike (bar engine, suspension, exhaust), the chances are i'll have replaced something in there! As my sole transport, it's been a pig, especially how the faults began to crop up both regularly, and gradually, so it wasn't possible to fix them all and move on, it was a case of a new fault every couple of weeks/month that needed off-road time to deal with. This is all despite comprehensive servicing it's been treated to (by me, so i know it's been actually done).

When i buy a bike in future i need to be reliable, i'd buy a bike that i have adequete proof that some care and attention had gone into looking after it. Anything else, isn't worth anything to me as much more than a parts donor.

So be careful with well used bikes.
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-- Ingah

[Seb]

I definitely wouldn't pay that given the state of the fuel tank, whilst it's only really cosmetic at the moment, give it a winter or two and that's going to be rusting away.
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2010 Triumph 1050 Sprint ST

[The Artist]

My last bike was 28 years old. Was fine.