Help me buy a Bike

Canaboid · 13-02-2002 4:03pm #1

I've been riding a '00 Suzuki Marauder 125 for the last year. This was my first ever motorbike (penny finally dropped and I'll never drive a car in traffic again) and it has been perfect to learn the ropes on. 14 months not even a scratch, GOE ME!!!
Now I want slightly bigger and this is (hopefully) where you guys come in.
I'm getting a 400cc cruiser and thats that. Ppl said the Virago is the way to go but I'm not gone on their looks. Then I saw a Kawasaki VN400 Vulcan and fell in love. I want to buy this bike but I have no clue about 2nd hand prices. It's a '95 with 12,000 km. Price is £3500 punts. Is this fair or sky high ? I'll basically be trading in my 125 and paying £1500 on top. Any help/advice appreciated especially wrt price.

dogs · 13-02-2002 10:36pm

Seems a lot of money for what is a 7 year old bike. But
what do I know. I'm betting you're doing this all through
a bike shoppe, but you'd have better luck selling your "old"
bike privately and buying the Vulcan privately too. Although
this isn't a great time of year for selling a bike, you
should probably give it a try. As for second hand prices in
general, take a flick through the buy and sell (and knock a
bit off the asking price) http://www.buyandsell.net if you can't
afford a copy

good luck

rymus · 14-02-2002 12:12am

in theory, yes you would be better off selling your old bike privately. That doesnt always work out in reality tho.

Up to recently I had a 2000 125cc Suzuki Intruder. Last month I went to trade this in for a new yamaha drag star 650 classic. I was fully intending to sell it thru the echo or buy & sell until I saw that there were several marauders and intruders that werent selling for months in there.

You may have noticed that there are hundreds more of these two types of bikes (especially marauders) on the roads in the last couple of years. It appears that when selling them nobody wants to buy them anymore so the bike shop would have a particularly difficult time shifting it.

For example:
My intruder is still sitting in the bike shop while my sisters 2000 125cc Honda Shadow was sold the day after I brought it in (even tho its a group 3 insurance and mine was only a group 2).

So to make a long story short, if you want to get your vulcan quickly without a lot of fuss haggle with the bike shop to see if they will give u a few quid more on your marauder. Take their offer because its gonna be fairly close to whatever you'd get privately.

anyway, good luck with the swap. Once you get the bigger bike you'll never look back - the extra power is a real kick in the ass when ure starting off from traffic lights

Kegser · 14-02-2002 12:17am

Sometimes you're better off buying from a bike shop, as they'll provide a warranty for the bike.... you don't want to pay for the thing and have it die a death on you a few weeks later. Plus from a bike shop they'll generally have been given a full service and had worn consumables replaced.

I'm not too sure what price that bike would go for, and I believe it's a gray import although I'm not too sure... so it'll be rarer for a start. You'd expect the bike to be in pretty damn good condition for that kind of money however. Just make sure and take someone with you who knows what to look for in a second hand bike.

pH · 14-02-2002 12:22am

Speaking of bikes ...

I've got a full Irish driving license, what do I need to do to get a Bike Provisional? Do I need to sit the written test and get an eye-test and apply for a new provisional?

Does the provisional bike get added onto my license or is it a completely new license?

Anyone done this recently?

tx

pH

Kegser · 14-02-2002 12:24am

Oh and watch out for your insurance, I'm assuming you're on an A restricted license.... you'll have no problems getting it insured and taxed and everything with an A restricted license but if you ever have to claim and the output on the bike hasn't been restricted you could be up **** creek without the proverbial paddle as it were....

rymus · 14-02-2002 2:01am

I've got a full Irish driving license, what do I need to do to get a Bike Provisional? Do I need to sit the written test and get an eye-test and apply for a new provisional?

AFAIK you can just get the category added to your full C licence without the eye test, theory test etc... just go into the tax office.

Does the provisional bike get added onto my license or is it a completely new license?

it gets added to the licence you already have

seamus · 14-02-2002 7:54pm

I'm going to completely contradict rymus

I am in the same situation, full class B (car) licence and getting a motorbike.

You will have to sit a theory test

I know, sounds dumb but that's the way it is. I'm not too sure about eye test, you may be able to go into them with your current licence to prove that you don't/do need glasses, but I need to get an eye test now anyways so..... Then you apply for a prov. bike licence and you receive a nice green licence again (but keep your red one).

Then you pass the motorbike test and give in your licence and cert. of competency and they add a nice big 'A' to your red licence.

If you want you can get 'M'(mopeds) and 'W' (work vehicles/tractors) added to your red licence without a test. If you're so inclined.

PS rymus - what shop did you give your intruder to? It's shít hard to find 125 cruisers 2nd hand in shops

rymus · 14-02-2002 8:02pm

Ross Motorcycles - cork... beautiful machine, very sad to see it go

seamus · 14-02-2002 8:09pm

Originally posted by rymus
Ross Motorcycles - cork... beautiful machine, very sad to see it go

Dammit, not travelling to Cork. Yes it is a beautiful machine

pH · 15-02-2002 12:08am

Thanks seamus,

thats what I had heard (pub talk) and didn't believe it. Ahh no matter.

On another note, how serious do the authorities take the 2 year 250cc limit *after* you have your full license?

What will they do if they find you on a fireblade, or is it a matter of not being able to get insurance?

pH

rymus · 15-02-2002 12:45am

Originally posted by pH

On another note, how serious do the authorities take the 2 year 250cc limit *after* you have your full license?

[/B]

You can get insurance on anything god can design! Just has to get restricted is all... to 33hp...

that said, I'm on my second provisional and driving a 650cc bike with no restrictor..

And if any member of the gardai is reading this... what I have said above is in no way related to my current driving situation and I drive a 50cc Honda Cub

Kegser · 15-02-2002 9:41pm

The Gardai may not give a toss, but you can bet your arse the insurance companies do.

Anything they can do to make a bit more money and not have to pay out, they will.

You better hope you don't have any accidents rymus.... although I'm in the same boat

dogs · 15-02-2002 10:22pm

Why does every thread degenerate into a rant about
insurance ? (...cos they're fuppin bakstards, that's why).

Anything they can do to make a bit more money and not have to pay out

So annoyingly true. They don't take any restrictions on the bike's
output into account when they set your premium. So even tho your 'blades only
got 33 horses, you still have to pay the full amount. I asked them why
she said "sure we know how easy it is for ye to take them off".
It's like they *want* us to...

Insurance companies being bakstards ? Your no claims bonus on your bike
won't carry when you try get insured on a car, but any accidents you've
had on your bike will.

If you're staggering home from the pub/club this weekend and you pass a Hibernian
office, be sure to pish in the doorway for me.

Help me buy a Bike

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