So I looked at a bike this evening . . .

[donny662]

The Suzuki Marauder that I've been riding this summer is supposed to be my dad's, but I have put many more miles on it than him. Lately, my dad has started commuting on it and has been getting much more comfortable riding in general. It's great that he's becoming a better rider , but that also means I should probably get my own ride now

My latest crush has been the Yamaha WR250X. The supermoto is something different than what you see all the time, it's fuel injected so no messing with carbs, 250cc will be great on gas (45-50mpg isn't all that inspiring to me when my car gets 30mpg highway), and reports have said that it's geared right for doing 70-80mph on the freeway, which makes sense because it has about as much power (26hp stock) as a Ninja 250. But, I don't have the cash on hand to buy it outright, and I don't want to finance.

So, I've kind of decided to get a cheaper (<$2,000) older bike, ride that for the rest of the summer/fall, and buy the WR or a Euro (KTM, BMW, or Husky) supermoto when I have the funds this winter/spring (funny thing is that the 600cc class euro bikes seem to get the same gas mileage as the 250cc WR).

Anyway, back to the bike I looked at this evening. I saw an '83 XS650 on craigslist for $1250 with 36,000 miles. I've researched the XS in the past because it is a popular classic with a cool looking motor and kickstart, and it might be, to me, the most appealing 70's/early 80's bike. I called the guy and asked him some standard questions. He said he drove it quite a bit this summer (+), but he only had it since spring (-). Tires were good, he claimed (+). Apparently it ran fine with a little smoke at startup (can be expected on this vintage bike).

So, I go over to see the bike, and it is pretty clean (+). The bike looks quite a bit bigger in person, and it's cooler than in pictures (+). He started it up, and it vibrated quite a bit more than I expected. My dad pointed out that the engine was quite noisy (-). I assume that the valves weren't checked regularly, and it may have had other things that needed adjusting in an engine with that high of miles (-).

We shut off the bike, and my dad and I start to inspect it more closely. The rear tire is nearly bald and cracking a little in the treads: it needs new tires (-) (I'm really suspecting that this guy is not mechanically inclined at all or just lazy/cheap). The chain is quite loose, and the axle is near the end axle slot: it needs a new chain (-). I check the oil, and it is below the sight glass (-). The right side petcock was blocked off, and the seller didn't even realize there was one on the right side (- for naive seller). As an aside, do any of you know what the normal petcock set up is for the XS?

The tires ($200-300), chain and probably sprockets ($50-100?), and engine work needed (I was planning on checking the valves but I didn't want to get one that might have other issues) started adding up in my brain, so I decided to pass on the deal after about 10 minutes of going over the bike and without even taking it for a test drive, no point in wasting everyone's time.

What do you guys think you would have done in my place, and do you think I can expect the same things in bikes of this age and price? If this kind of bike is pretty much normal, I might adjust my expectations and plan on some more expenditure to keep a bike road worthy for the rest of the season. I was hoping to be able to get a bike that was maintained fairly well would only require regular maintenance and maybe tires, chain and sprockets to get me through 4-5,000 more miles. I didn't really plan on getting rid of it even if I got a new bike later.

That's a long post If you made it this far, thank you

[womper]

i'm not mr mechanic, but i'd say it wasn't properly maintained...

then again it's a damn cool bike... i'd convert it to a cafe-racer style i think...

save up some more cash and buy a bike you can ride instead of having to fix and tune every day... just my 2 cents

[Scout67]

I picked up a very loved 77 GS 750 last summer for 900. It needed nothing, so I think you were smart to pass up an obviously neglegted ride. There are some great deals out there even on older bikes.

[womper]

i'd assume most people who have classic bikes keep them in pretty good shape as they realize they are classic..

thinking now, i'd offer about $500 to the craiglist guy

[AZRyder]

Keep in mind, the older bikes had 630 chains and sprockets which are getting very difficult to find. Might want to research the type of chain it has on it and look at doing a conversion. That might cost around 3-400 bucks though...That old and in that shape, I'd offer him 500 bucks for it since it needs work. Certainly wouldn't go above 7. I had a 84 gpz 750 with 50,000 miles on it in good shape and I could only get 7 for it.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by donny662

What do you guys think you would have done in my place, and do you think I can expect the same things in bikes of this age and price?

Good post and good call. No, they aren't all like that. Keep looking.

At the point where you realize the current owner has no concept of what it is to take care of a bike, you should run away........regardless of what the other (+) pluses might be.

Same thing if the owner tells you "It has a small problem that I just haven't taken the time to fix. I'm sure it's something simple". Yea, RIGHT!

This advice assumes you want to get a bike to actually RIDE. If you want a project to keep you busy and cost you a lot of money, then you made a bad call and you should get the first piece of junk you run across !!!

[donny662]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

This advice assumes you want to get a bike to actually RIDE. If you want a project to keep you busy and cost you a lot of money, then you made a bad call and you should get the first piece of junk you run across !!!

Why would anyone want to ride a bike?

Thanks, you guys made me feel better about my decision. The XS is a cool bike, but I see a couple come up every month on CL, and I might find something else that'll catch my fancy

Originally Posted by AZRyder

Keep in mind, the older bikes had 630 chains and sprockets which are getting very difficult to find. Might want to research the type of chain it has on it and look at doing a conversion. That might cost around 3-400 bucks though...That old and in that shape, I'd offer him 500 bucks for it since it needs work. Certainly wouldn't go above 7. I had a 84 gpz 750 with 50,000 miles on it in good shape and I could only get 7 for it.

I'll look into that before I go look at another older bike