Buyers of used motorcycles should ask sellers key questions about the bike’s history, such as if the motorcycle was involved in any crashes, and ask to see service records. A brief test-ride, along with using the checklist in this guide we hope will help used bike buyers evaluate the condition of the bike for their best interest.
Here are some pointers when visiting a motorcycles dealer to look for a used motorcycle.
- You will have to go through and carefully inspect used bikes being sold by dealerships, since many dealerships take used bikes as trade-ins, make minimal (if any) repairs, and mark the bikes up way over “real used” value. It’s up to you to find defects (and to know what the used bike’s real value is) to get any used dealer back down to a reasonable price. Think of it as a treasure hunt and you are looking for the hidden secrets that will save you money.
- If you aren’t really experienced with bikes, do some practice inspections. Find a couple of friends with bikes and, pretending that you are at a seller’s house inspecting a used bike, go over a couple of bikes in minute detail. You will learn a lot about how bikes are put together, and you might even find some things that your friends missed. Take notes while you’re doing the inspections, and go over your findings with your friends after each inspection.
- When you end up buying a bike, make sure you get everything related to the bike: the key and any spares that the seller has, any free/included spare parts, the owner’s manual and service manual, etc. Having to go back to the seller to get all the mentioned items you should have remembered the first time will be a real pain. And you may find the seller far less accommodating after you’ve paid for the thing.
