If you’re lucky enough to be buying a new bike, here are some tips.
First of all decide out what you want. Seems easy and usually is but if you’re one of those that can’t make up your mind, at least have an idea of a type of bike you want (cruiser, supersport, naked, tourer, dual sort etc). This may sound stupid, but people often walk into a dealer wanting one bike, and ride out on a totally different one, wondering what on earth happened. I was in a dealership once where a guy in his 40’s came in and told the salesman he hasn’t ridden in years (probably had a 50cc in school) and want to take a R1 for a test drive. The salesman talked him into taking an Africa Twin for a ride first and when he came back he was raving about the power (imagine if he took the Gixxer). He bought the AT.
So, decide what you want, and then figure out how much you are going to have to spend. If you can’t afford what you want, well, go rob a bank or decide on something else. Easy. Also remember what you want isn’t necessarily the best bike for you. We all want the latest and greatest but usually can’t afford them so have to settle for something else. Maybe an older, secondhand model or something smaller.
If you’re in the fortunate position to be able to afford anything you want, you have almost unlimited choices. I’m not going to go into all the classes and what they’re good at and what they should be used for. I’ll leave that for another day. I’ll suffice to say that if you haven’t ridden in a while (or never), stay away from the superbikes until you can ride properly. The possibility of you getting hurt, and bike accidents usually hurts (like hell) - but only if you’re lucky. Rather get a full face helmet and a dark visor and no-one will know it’s you. I know lots of people buy big sportsbikes and are OK but the stats are really against a rookie on a bruiser. Also remember that when riding the latest machinery, people are always out to see whether you’re good enough for the bike. Especially watch out for competent riders on lesser machinery, they’ll humiliate you and take great pride in doing it.
Enough of that. You’ve found the bike. Now what? If you can buy cash, good for you. Most of us will have to find some kind of financing. Keep in mind this option forces you to have fully comprehensive insurance, something that many newer riders sometimes can’t afford because bike insurance is pretty expensive.
If it’s a secondhand bike, make a list of everything that you can see that bothers you about the bike - like worn tyres/chains, oil leaks, bullet holes etc. Always take it for a test ride. Don’t even consider a bike you can’t ride. Even from a dealer but for different reasons. Do not ride it to hard - that’s not the point, but al least ride it far enough to get a feel for it. Check that it tracks straight, and that the brakes do not shudder.
Check the gearbox for action, and try accelerating hard in the lower gears, then back off and whack the throttle open - if it jumps out of gear - and some do, you’re looking at a GT model - as in gearbox trouble. If you end up on your arse, what the hell are you doing, I said forget about superbikes…
Once you get back to the dealer, update your list. Decide how bad you want it. Then add up the costs of each and every minor issue, and take that off the price. Discuss this with the dealer, but remember you’re looking for a bike, you probably walked into his shop and most of us are no match for the bike dealers, they’ve done this before and will probably be able to tell whether you’re keen on the bike or not.
Anyway, tell him this is your base price - you want everything fixed, and you want to be as close as possible to your price.
Walking away never works - if you want the bike don’t try to walk away if you don’t mean it. There’s lots of bikes out there but I still say buy the damn thing if you want and can afford it, rather that having to go back with your tail between your legs, because that’s not nice. Talk to the dealer in a relaxed tone. Make him understand you’re keen but really, really want to have discount/helmet whatever. Be reasonable but firm. Don’t decide on the spot, always sleep it over. O OK to hell with that. If you want the bike buy the thing. The sooner you make up your mind the sooner you can get it and start riding. We’re all the same and I’m not going to pretend I’ve never bought bikes I haven’t even ridden. But it probably wasn’t very clever.
If you are buying private, similar rules apply, but dealing one-to-one is often easier.
Always try to take a friend with you that can drag you away if you’re about to spend your hard earned on a piece of junk.
Here is a check list.
1) Overall condition - it should be clean. Someone that couldn’t even be arsed to wash his bike when he sells it might not have been the most conciencious owner. Look for mis-matched fairings, different color matches etc because it might indicate a crash
2) Check the bar ends and levers - if it’s aftermarket, ask why?
3) Look at the brakes - does the disk look scratched or discoulered? Did you feel any pulsing - it might indicate a warped disk ?
4) Look at the frame, if its polished, there is a posibility that its been dented or scratched, it’s a good way of disguising damage. Anyway, polished frames are soooo 80’s, dahlink.
5) Look at the tires and rims. Are the tyres melted off the rims? If so they may be race take offs - race take offs are taken of race bikes for good reason. If the rims are scratched it might indicate numerous tyre changes like on a race or track bike. This is not really a bad thing, but you might want to check to see if was crashed. Anyway the owner/salesman should be upfront about a bikes history. Race bikes can be sought after because they often have great performance mods.
Check the check the wiring loom to see if the conectors have sand in them - if so the bikes probably been thrown down the road.
6) Take a look at the VIN number and the engine number - check that this matches the paperwork. What, no paperwork ? You’re not seriously thinking of buying something you can’t ride or sell? Are you? Anyway it’s illegal to sell a bike without papers and we bikers are law abiding, so what are you still standing there for.
7) Listen to the seller, if he brags of wheelies, slides, and stopies he just might be a dickhead, so think twice before buying his bike, it’s probably been thrashed.
Carefully rock the bike back and forth, with the front brake on - any clicking will point to a maladjusted, or damaged, head race - this is another bargaining point. This damage is typical wheelie damage.
9) Has it got all the accessories it should have? Seat hump and passenger seat? Owners manual? Toolkit? What about the service book?
10) If there are mods, are they sensible (like a higher screen or crash mushrooms) and more importantly do you LIKE the mods? Remember that Skoal Bandit paintjob might be the same as this years race team but in 3 years time it will be forgotten and your bike will be pointed at and people will laugh.
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