Would you buy this Bike???

Off-topic
1

Toony and myself went to see a GSXR 600 today as he is in the Market for a new Toy, he found a nice 2004 model in Yellow/Black (The colour scheme he wants) on ebay, the advert showed a stunning looking bike with Only 8,500 miles on the clock, 2 owners from new and full service history and all for only £3,299…All looked perfect.

We got to the shop and the bike jumped out at you as you walked in, it was spotless and looked really nice in the bright Yellow, the guy got it out and started it up and it sounded lovely, Toony was sold!! I had a little scout around the bike and was amazed at the condition of it.

But…

On closer inspection i noticed that the left side engine cover had some scratches that were painted over, this led me to dig a lot deeper, I noticed an area around the Bolt hole where the fairing bolts on had a crack in it and looked like it had some Plastic welding done to it, there was also evidence the bike had been sprayed on the fairing as the Black decal had some slight overspray on it, I said to Toony that we should go away for half hour and have a chat about it out of the shop so we rabbed some lunch, I told him that although it looked like it had been dropped it didn’t look anything too bad as the bike was immaculate everywhere else and if it was bad the fairing would have been destroyed and not repaired in a very local area, I thought if we could get it down to £3,000 it would be a good deal as it was such a clean bike with REALLY Low Mileage so we went back to the shop.

When we got back Toony looked over the bike whilst i spoke to the guy in the shop, I asked for all the paperwork so i could look over it and that’s when things didn’t start to look right,

first off the HPI check he told me he had done was dated 2009, when i questioned it he sort of shrugged it off and went to the computer and done a new one in front of me (If he had already done one why would he do a new one?)

Then when i looked at the service book it had been serviced 800 miles ago which i thought was great, but when i looked at the date it was stamped it showed 20/10/09 (5 years ago!!!) i asked about it and told him if we were to do a deal it would need a service which he agreed on.

When i checked the MOT certificates it was tested in 2009 when the bike was on almost 7000 miles, it was then done in 2010 on 8,000 miles then again in 2011 on 8,400 miles it never had a test in 2012 but was tested again in 2013 where it only had 8,420 miles and again in 2014 where it had the current milleage of 8,480 miles, so in the space of 4 years it had clearly been off the road for at least a year due to the missing MOT and it had only covered just short of 500 Miles.

I said to walk away from it as something didn’t feel right about it, i wasn’t sure why it would have accident related damage and be off the road for such a long period if the damage wasn’t worse than first appeared, It got me thinking that the owner may have only had 3rd party insurance and had an off that he couldn’t claim on the insurance for so spent all that time getting it back on the road and that is why it is so clean and also not showing as wrote off on the new HPI check he done whilst we were there. Also he wouldn’t budge on the Price at all so i said to walk away as wasn’t sure it was worth taking a risk on.

What would you have done? is it bad it hasn’t been serviced in 5 years even though it has only covered very minimal milleage??

2

I wouldn’t touch it myself.

3

all depends how it’s been stored.

if drained and stored properly, things will be sweet.

should have ran it up for 20 minutes and checked the oil, always a good indicator.

4

If it doesn’t feel right, it’s probably best to walk away.

That’d being said. The damage sounds like a slow speed lowside. Had one like that, it was similar minor cosmetic damage.
The fact that it hasn’t been ridden doesn’t necessarily say much. A neighbour of mine has a car and a bike. He takes the bike for a joy ride once/twice in summer and it sits in his garage for the rest of the year even though there is nothing wrong with it.

5

Yes thats what i said, not sure 5 year old fuel would be a good thing for the engine, It had what looked like new Tyres but if it’s only done 500 Miles in 5 years those tyres could be over 5 years old and would need changing as well

Yes, me too, thats why i didn’t worry too much about the damage at first as i know how a very low speed off can cause that kind of Damage, It was the combined issues that made me weary of the Bike

6

Might be worth checking the tyre age, might give you a idea if theyve been cleaned or replaced recently.

7

if the bike is a price that reflects its condition then its wouldn’t bother me to much about the lack of use

I stuck my triumph in the garage for nearly 7 Years and put around 30miles on it in that time

I took it out of the garage when my commuter went pop two years ago stuk some petrol in it and New tyres & have used every day since (nearly)

tool it out of the garage with 19k miles it now has around 85k and hasn’t given me to much grief

if the bloke wants to deal then deal don’t slag the bike of just offer what you would consider to be a fair price for the condition then when haggling commences point out the things u see

I wouldn’t with the cash buyer most dealers get money from finance company’s to sell finance

& question what service you will be getting as most dealers with just make sure it starts and runs then tell you they serviced it

if all else fails wait for another bike

8

I think the bike is worth the money, it’s about the going rate for a trade 04 GSXR 600 but none have that kind of Mileage on them, they are all 12,000 and above. It was just the damage and lack of use that concerned me as i was worried it may have been in a big accident, but as it’s not being purchased from the Owner you will never know the truth.

9

In 5 years of no use, rust may have set in to unseen parts. The tyres would certainly nerd replacing. Grease in various bearings may have sunken down, so that the top of the bearings may have started to rust. This will become apparent in the first few miles of use, as the bearings start to break down. Condensation would almost certainly have developed within the engine, only after a good few miles of riding would that become apparent.

Unless it’s going to come with a highly comprehensive warranty of at least 6 months, I’do what Slacker said and walk away. There will always be bargains about.

10

Someones race bike back on the road…

11

Didn’t even think about that! definately avoid it if thats the case

12

No, I’d walk on price alone

Any Dealers asking price will include a margin for the likes of a trade ins etc. If you have a wedge of hard earned in your pocket expect to be able to negotiate a 10% discount for cash, more if defects come to light.

13

I thought race bike rebuilt as well. Walk away.

also, if your friend doesn’t mean to keep it for the rest of it’s life, potential buyers would spot those faults too probably.

14

Or alternatively some 50 year old BAMBI who bought it to re-live his youth/impress his workmates/try to appear attractive to the opposite sex, but had a light drop, sh4t himself, and garaged it up for the next few years.

LOADS of bikes like this at dealers when I lived in Scotland, where they were almost exclusively used as the occasional summer weekend toy instead of the daily transport that you often get around London. Wasn’t unusual to see 6-7 year old bike with <5k miles on them.

And if it’s been stored outside under a cover, or in a damp shed, you would see the signs. A bike like this kept in a bone dry garage should be ok. I wouldn’t be put off by it if it’s at the right price. :cool:

15

I would have taken it for a test ride and see if anything was amiss. If all ok and he was prepared to service it and the price was acceptable I would have bought it.
Many reasons as to why the mileage is low and could be any of them, you will never know unless you contacted the previous owner.
Don’t always think the worse.

16

It was hammering down so didnt think they would’ve let it go out.

17

No.

18

So what your all saying is if the mileage is too low you wouldn’t buy it? If it was too high I guess you would also not buy it so it has to be average mileage and condition you you to buy used but only if it was cheap… Good luck with that then.

19

No, the low mileage and FSH was a big selling point, it was the combination of the accident damage, the fact it was off the road for so long on top of the low mileage that got me worried. I didnt like that it had only been used in 5 years for what I would do in about 6 weeks.

That’s why I asked the question, I wanted people to help me see what I may have not been thinking about as to reasons this could be. I can understand a Ducati or an MV sitting idle for so long as they are expensive bikes that are very sought after, but not a 2004 GSXR 600, I’m a huge Gixer lover, ive loved them for the 30 years they have been around, but even i wouldn’t store one through passion :smiley:

20

my bike had 8k miles on it in 5 years. bought it without seeing it and its at 20k now no probs