Buying a Motorcycle: What to Look For
 

So I'm meeting a guy tonight who's selling a 2008 Ninja 250R with 7,xxx miles. This is my first time buying a bike, so what should I have my eye on and be looking for besides the obvious.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.:)

No idea man, just be careful!

I will, I'm enrolled in a motorcycle safety course Friday and this weekend then I'm getting my license.

I looked it over and it was really clean. Never laid down and rode nice, really nimble. I know this will be a good bike for me.

Does anyone want to shed some light.

Well it's a great first bike with great resale. You'll probably near break even when you sell it. try to keep it for a year..although you might not because the 250Rs are pretty damn slow..almost dangerously slow reaching hwy speeds. this is what ive heard, but if you have no problem getting up to speed then by all means GREAT learner bike. fuckin drag knee on that and you'll drag knee on anything.

as far as what to look for when buying...

obviously check the fairings, bar ends, levers, frame, frame sliders, engine covers for scratches that give away any indication that it's been down. if it has been down, ask about it. if he says it was low speed or a parking lot drop then I'd still pick it up. if it was a higher speed crash it might still be fine, but be very wary. I crashed at about 40 miles per hour, rebuilt my bike and it's 100% structurally sound. a crash doesn't mean it has problems..just increases the chances.

turn it on, listen to it, make sure everything sounds good..ride it..make sure everything is smooth. no weird noises, rattling, out of the ordinary vibrations in either the seat, pegs, or handle bars.

if you can crouch down and get level with the tail. make sure it's not bent (even very slightly) in a certain direction. of course most sportbike tails are raked up..but I mean an unusual sort of bend. up, down, left, right, whatever. if it is skewed to a certain direction, means it was probably in a good crash and the sub frame is bent. which is no good.

check pads for uneven wear and rotors for warping. check for any fluids leaking, especially from the forks. steering turns left and right freely and smoothly. check engine for any discrepancies and engine oil for flakes or excessive dirtyness. check rear shock for leaking.

that's all that I can think of off the top of my head. I'll let you know if something else pops up.

its a real good idea to have a mechanic check it out. my mechanic is kind of a buddy so when one of my friends wanted to buy a bike I asked my mech to tag a long. well he found that one of the header bolts was broken and would not be able to be removed. it's little shit like that only a mechanic will find.

anyway hope that helps. good luck and enjoy! wish i could ride right now..but my bike is 2500 miles away, dammit!

Its a good starter bike. You could get into a 600 for nearly the same price...but some say even a 600 is too much for a beginner. Let me know if you want a 600...

Every thing looked sound on the bike, rode really smooth and shifted nice. It was taken care of well, previous owner rarely rode it. The guy I'm buying it from had it for a year and rode it to school and work.

Thanks for the detail.
I think all of the newer 600's look nice, 04-05 and up. If I were looking at one in my price range I would get a gsxr. I will definately let you know when it's time for an upgrade, which will probably be 6 months to a year from now.

The severity of an oil leak varies extremely from bike to bike. My bike has had a little oil leak for 3 seasons now, and it's fine. A few come from recognizable manufacturers, most are built in China, but all of these offerings are dirt cheap.Don't even consider a bike with any sort of frame damage, including dents, weld tears, kinks or fractures.

Thanks for the spam. Now get out.

I have a 2007 250R. It is a great bike. Fishy you really have to lay into it on the highway to get up to speed, but it is definitely fast enough.

I highly recommend starting on a 250 if you are just starting out. A 600 is too much.

Id check everything that badfish stated in his post.

Thats right, I remember when you bought that bike. Still having fun and riding on it?

The bike is pretty slow, but it's a lot of fun rippin' through the gears in the 250R.

Oh and I went and got my motorcycle license last week.

13 bucks and didn't even have to get tested. I was in and out of there in 10 minutes.

Awesome! I'm glad you're having fun with it!

Yeah it's a fun bike, I ended up buying a different one than stated, but still a 2008 250R.

I'll snap some pics and post 'em when I have some time.