So I looked at a bike this evening . . . - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

donny662 · 08-13-2008, 10:52 PM

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