Mileage/Buying second hand

tk123

Guys whats reasonable milage for a used bike - whats ok and what should I not touch with a barge pole? I'm thinking early 90s Honda Steed/Virago 535 but I've only bought new bikes up until now. Am I safe enough getting it from JP Motorcycles or will they rip me off? I'm afriad I'll get carried away and get something that looks nice but is mechanically a pile of crap!:rolleyes:

N.O.I.P.

I think the average mileage for Irish drivers is around 10,000 per year (thats for cars, so I would assume that a daily driver would be pretty similar) which is a little more than the European average. So I would recommend trying to get an EU import preferably something that already has the clocks in Kilometres. I've never dealt with JP myself but I did work with a guy who used to swear by them (they are the guys on Pearse Street right?)

Oh and my final advice when youre window shopping bring somebody with you who doesn't want you to buy a new bike. That way they can talk you out of any impulse buys.

kowloon

JP motorcycles will stand by their bikes, you get a warranty, ive dealt with them before.

BigCon

tk123 wrote:

Guys whats reasonable milage for a used bike - whats ok and what should I not touch with a barge pole? I'm thinking early 90s Honda Steed/Virago 535 but I've only bought new bikes up until now. Am I safe enough getting it from JP Motorcycles or will they rip me off? I'm afriad I'll get carried away and get something that looks nice but is mechanically a pile of crap!

Depends really - I've bought early 90's bikes and most of them had mileage between 20k and 40K Km's.
The cruisers don't tend to be used as much for daily commuting as other bikes, so you should be able to get one with low enough mileage (definately not one with 10K a year on it - that would make the mileage over 100K :eek: ).

I've also heard good reports about JP's, however that said if I was buying a bike 10 years old I'd probably try to buy it privately to save a few quid (logic being that if you're spending say 7 or 8 grand on a newish bike then it's safer to buy from a dealer with a garantee, but if you're only spending 1-3K then you'll probably buy a bike privately for almost 1K less than a dealer would sell it for.

Of course if you have a trade in, then it's probably less hassle and easier to go with a dealer.

One of the first bikes I bought was a 1990 virago 535. They were selling for anywhere between 2 and 3K in the dealers, I bought mine privately for 1700.

If buying privately, make sure you know what you're looking for when checking the bike (or bring someone that does).
Also, listen to your head and not your heart when buying - it's tempting to overlook some things or convince yourself it's a nice bike because you want that model now, rather than waiting for the nice one to come along.

Finally, I've noticed (especially when it comes to cruisers) that if a bike looks well and it's obvious from it's appearance that the previous owner has looked after it then usually it will be mechanically sound.
My thinking is that it's easier to hide abuse on other bikes (e.g. sports bikes) than cruisers - not sure if this makes sence, but it has held true for any bikes that my mates or myself have bought.
Keep an eye on the usual sites (done deal, biker.ie etc) for a bike and don't be afraid to ring all the numbers in the broken and stolen (buy and sell) - that's how I ended up with my current bike - he was selling for 3,600 and I ended up getting it for 2,900 - cash talks when buying privately (same bike would have cost 4,000 in a dealer...)

Best of luck and remember that the hunt is half the fun!

bjmotors

tk123 wrote:

Guys whats reasonable milage for a used bike - whats ok and what should I not touch with a barge pole? I'm thinking early 90s Honda Steed/Virago 535 but I've only bought new bikes up until now. Am I safe enough getting it from JP Motorcycles or will they rip me off? I'm afriad I'll get carried away and get something that looks nice but is mechanically a pile of crap!:rolleyes:

you'll get a virago 535 cheap as there not as popular as a steed. mileage for a 90's import would normally be between 24k and 35k. remember most of the bikes in japan has sat up in workshops for years so the mileage would be low.

and regarding a 10k miles a year average, that is nowhere near the mileage a biker would do n a year.!:rolleyes: most bikers would only cover about 4k miles a year if even.

tk123

bjmotors wrote:

and regarding a 10k miles a year average, that is nowhere near the mileage a biker would do n a year.!:rolleyes: most bikers would only cover about 4k miles a year if even.

hooraay - i thought it was just me! My bike has less than 4k on it!! I'm very lazy thou and only really use it for commuting in and out of work.. Anyhoos thanks for the advise guys! Hopefully I will soon be the proud owner of a pretty steed 400 thats mechanically sound!

Idleater

tk123 wrote:

Hopefully I will soon be the proud owner of a pretty steed 400 thats mechanically sound!

Probably won't make much difference, but 400's are usually Grey Japanese imports. Just something to keep in the back of your mind.

L.

tk123

Awww the one i was looking at online was sold last night!! They're getting another 2 in next week thou

Q_Ball

kowloon wrote:

JP motorcycles will stand by their bikes, you get a warranty, ive dealt with them before.

I second this, bought my first bike from them.