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Gnomad posted:You might not think it, but these are profoundly different bikes. The Connie is a shaft drive Ninja with bags and the ST is a smaller Goldwing with a V4. Of the 2 I prefer the ST for the sport touring mission, bigger and more comfortable, but the Connie is a better bike for twisties. Yeah, someone on Usenet described them as SPORTtouring and sportTOURING. A couple more things I'm taking into account... 1. I don't want too bulky a bike because I'll want to run errands and ride around town also. 2. I weigh 240 lbs. so I don't want too small a bike that's going to chug when I get into the mountains.
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Feb 2, 2009 09:26
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I wonder how many times we'll need to say "your weight doesn't matter" Almost any bike you look at is going to be 400lbs or more. 40-60lbs of rider weight isn't going to make or break the bike.
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Feb 2, 2009 15:54
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Nerobro posted:I wonder how many times we'll need to say "your weight doesn't matter" Almost any bike you look at is going to be 400lbs or more. 40-60lbs of rider weight isn't going to make or break the bike. Having ridden through the mountains with my rear end + full saddlebags, I can tell you that some bikes will bog down more than others. This may not make or break a bike for you but it's something to consider.
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Feb 3, 2009 00:03
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Nerobro posted:I wonder how many times we'll need to say "your weight doesn't matter" Almost any bike you look at is going to be 400lbs or more. 40-60lbs of rider weight isn't going to make or break the bike. You obviously haven't tried a two up on a 42 year old two stroke 250. Nothing like revving to 4500 rpm just to get moving. That said you're correct. On a modern bike with a decent displacement your weight doesn't really make that much of a difference.
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Feb 3, 2009 05:17
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I've found an '82 Yamaha xj650 seca that hasn't been started in 1.5 years for $100. When I asked the current owner if the engine turned and had compression and what kind of TLC was required he replied like this;quote:I don't have a good battery in it. Will this end in tears?
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Feb 5, 2009 06:42
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sedated posted:I've found an '82 Yamaha xj650 seca that hasn't been started in 1.5 years for $100. When I asked the current owner if the engine turned and had compression and what kind of TLC was required he replied like this; If you have to ask.....yes. If that was all that needed doing, why couldn't he do it? Or, maybe he started and found out that there was a reason that the last guy sold it to him soooo cheap.
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Feb 5, 2009 06:59
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Gnomad posted:If that was all that needed doing, why couldn't he do it? Or, maybe he started and found out that there was a reason that the last guy sold it to him soooo cheap. This is a hard thing to gauge. The KZ650 I bought for $300 had a fine engine and drivetrain. The previous owner had gotten as far as getting the engine running, cleaning up the carbs, and even painting some of the covers and then just sort of gave up.
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Feb 5, 2009 13:15
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sedated posted:
"It only needs a new battery and cleaned carbs" is the motorcycle equivalent of "only driven to church by a little old lady". But for $100, how much can you really get screwed? If you spend $1000 fixing it up, then you have an $1100 bike that runs fine, you've had fun and you've learned a lot. If you go check it out then doing a compression test might be diffcult, at the very least bring a spark plug key and a suitable flashlight so you can see if the pistons have rust or oily grime on them.
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Feb 5, 2009 14:31
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quote:I don't have a good battery in it.
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Feb 5, 2009 15:52
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Gnomad posted:If you have to ask.....yes.
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Feb 5, 2009 16:33
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Ok the CB650 I was talking about earlier turned out to be a magna 700. Ugly bike. In any case, I found a 1982 Yamaha Seca 650R (non turbo) for $1500. The seat is ripped and it's missing the front turn signals. It runs good and has 55,000 KM's (around 33,000 miles). I'm going to check it out tomorrow. I think $1500 is too much and was thinking around $900 as an offer. I'm not desperate to buy anything since I won't be riding for awhile anyways. Here's a picture:  What's the thought on this bike?
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Feb 8, 2009 01:33
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$900 for a 27 year old bike that'll need a recovered seat, front turn signals, and the paint isn't in pristine condition? No way. Where do you live?
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Feb 8, 2009 06:57
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kdc67 posted:$900 for a 27 year old bike that'll need a recovered seat, front turn signals, and the paint isn't in pristine condition? No way. Where do you live? Near Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Prices here are like 2x the prices across the line..
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Feb 8, 2009 07:44
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Ok here's the rundown: He's not going any lower than $1400, and he's bumping the price up ti $2000 in the spring. 44,000 KM's The turn signals dont work at all, because the fronts are missing. The seat is torn. The horn does not work. Maintenance history is unknown and it has a rough idle. He says he wants so much because it's a collectors bike. I told him it might be worth $1500 if everything was fixed, but this is rediculous. What a ripoff.
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Feb 9, 2009 01:40
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Yeah, it might be a collectors bike if it were in mint condition. He'll find out the hard way when it doesn't sell, I guess. What an idiot.
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Feb 9, 2009 02:23
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MrZig posted:He says he wants so much because it's a collectors bike. I told him it might be worth $1500 if everything was fixed, but this is rediculous. What a ripoff. ... Collectors bike? For who? What makes something collector worthy? That bike is not a first. That bike is not a last. It's not the fastest. It's not the best handling. It's not the best looking. Anything that's collectible, has to fit at least one of those criteria. Ideally several of them. It fits NONE. My advice? Offer him $750, write it in a letter. And tell him the offer stands. In three to nine weeks he'll call you back and say yes. And if he doesn't? whatever.
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Feb 9, 2009 02:38
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MrZig posted:The turn signals dont work at all, because the fronts are missing. The seat is torn. The horn does not work. Maintenance history is unknown and it has a rough idle. The turn signals and horn don't work because that bike is a big basket of electrical problems. Yamahas of that vintage usually need a thorough re-wiring.
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Feb 9, 2009 02:50
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MrKatharsis posted:The turn signals and horn don't work because that bike is a big basket of electrical problems. Yamahas of that vintage usually need a thorough re-wiring. Well on my jeep, the rear turn signals wont work if the front's are disconnected. Could be the same thing with the Yamaha. I'm not really afraid of electrical work so that doesn't bother me. He's going to phone me when he gets it out of his shed and I can take it for a ride. When I do, I'll give him a note with my offer. I am not paying over $1000 for that. Something tells me he overpaid for it and wants to get his money back. I didn't really want to call him an idiot, but I told him I could buy bikes from 1990+ for 2 grand. It definitely won't sell if the potential buyers aren't idiots.
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Feb 9, 2009 03:22
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MrZig posted:Well on my jeep, the rear turn signals wont work if the front's are disconnected. Could be the same thing with the Yamaha. I'm not really afraid of electrical work so that doesn't bother me. I should have said that the only special thing about that bike is the bad electrics... Oh yeah, it may have the nasty YICS system that yamaha was using to help emissions. To make him NOT look like an idiot, and still push the "it's not collectable" point. You could potentially ask him "So what makes this bike special, why would someone collect it?" You could ask leading questions.. "was it the fastest XXX displacement bike?" or "What makes this model bike special versus say.. a GS750"
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Feb 9, 2009 04:31
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Nerobro posted:No, he's right. Early 80's yamahas have electrical systems that make 50's british bikes look reliable. They have odd grounding, and the fuseblock WILL be cracked under each fuse. The fuses are all the glass tube type, and the blades that hold them crack out of the plastic. The bike does have YICS, it had the emblem on the transmission case I believe. The guy doesn't really know anything about the bike, I knew more about it than him and I only researched it for a night. I think the only reason he thinks it's a collectors is because it's got a big engine and it's from 1982. I'm serious, he has no idea. I'll just play it by ear. It's not like I'm desperate to buy it.
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Feb 9, 2009 04:43
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In my area people ask $1500 by default for any turd that will turn over. If the engine is seized then it'll be $900 FIRM!! SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY!!!. If it runs then $4000, even if the bike is ten years old and originally cost only $4000.
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Feb 9, 2009 16:07
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wormil posted:In my area people ask $1500 by default for any turd that will turn over. If the engine is seized then it'll be $900 FIRM!! SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY!!!. If it runs then $4000, even if the bike is ten years old and originally cost only $4000. You dont live in cincinnati do you?
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Feb 9, 2009 16:58
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wormil posted:In my area people ask $1500 by default for any turd that will turn over. If the engine is seized then it'll be $900 FIRM!! SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY!!!. If it runs then $4000, even if the bike is ten years old and originally cost only $4000. Yea, nothing like a 1995 Katana going for $3800 then a 2004 GSXR600 going for $4100
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Feb 9, 2009 17:03
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wormil posted:In my area people ask $1500 by default for any turd that will turn over. If the engine is seized then it'll be $900 FIRM!! SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY!!!. If it runs then $4000, even if the bike is ten years old and originally cost only $4000. This is so true. However the "show" price often comes crashing down if you show up with cash, especially when you look at their Kijiji history and see that they've relisted the bike like clockwork every week for two months.
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Feb 9, 2009 17:14
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I do have to say that while my area is a tad expensive, buying my zx600 right before winter was a pretty good deal. Spring/Summer will probably be the higher but now that gas prices are 50% less most people wont be all "holy poo poo must buy bike to save on gas".
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Feb 9, 2009 17:20
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Bob Morales posted:Yea, nothing like a 1995 Katana going for $3800 then a 2004 GSXR600 going for $4100 That's hilarious because a Katana was exactly what I had in mind when posting that.
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Feb 9, 2009 18:02
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wormil posted:That's hilarious because a Katana was exactly what I had in mind when posting that. How much do you have in your bike budget? There's a good looking 91 K100RS in Atlanta for 4K, there's a Tiger in DC with 7500 miles for 7K which I bet could be argued down, there's a Triumph Trophy for 3800 in DC as well. There's also two more tigers in Tenn and Kentucky for 6K and 5.5K on advrider right now. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=430650&highlight=Tiger http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=413356&highlight=Tiger Triumphs will require maintenance but not much more than your average BMW. If you are lax in the maintenance it can bite you in the rear end but for the most part they're just as reliable as most other bikes. The 955 triple is a great engine, and will easily last you for a long time, the 1200 Trophy engine is also a fantastic power plant with many people getting over 100K on them.
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Feb 9, 2009 23:22
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I picked up a kz440 for my girlfriend, but I think I would like to get a beater for myself. I can still pick up that seca 650 for $100 or there is this cb500 available for $150. Is one bike better than the other, are there serious issues with one or the other? From reading above it sounds like the electricals on the seca will be fairly lovely, but I don't know that the Honda will be any better and reviews of it look to be really lovely. 
Sour Grapes fucked around with this message at 02:21 on Feb 10, 2009 |
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Feb 10, 2009 01:38
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As someone who's working on a bike with a fair bit of rust, lemme tell ya... RUN AWAY!!!! RUN AWAY!!!! Here's what that bike is going to need just from the photos:
That is some seriously deep rust, and it does not make for easy work to remove bolts. The only way some parts of my bike have come off was I had Skreemer's freak-of-nature strength available. Edit: AND it's a Honda. That bike is going to gently caress you over sideways mechanically. kdc67 fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Feb 10, 2009 |
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Feb 10, 2009 02:25
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sedated posted:I can still pick up that seca 650 for $100 or there is this cb500 available for $150. You can do better. I picked up a 77' KZ650 for $300 with some rust but not nearly the amount that poor bike has. Picture below. I've posted progress so far in a thread if you're interested in seeing what its going to take to get it fixed up and ridable. Thread here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3010293 8ender fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Feb 10, 2009 |
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Feb 10, 2009 03:07
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PlasticSun posted:How much do you have in your bike budget? Thanks, I'll take a look. Unfortunately I need to sell my car first and I'm not having much luck.
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Feb 10, 2009 03:16
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I'm a new rider looking to get a used bike. My budget started at $2,000 but after looking around a bit I'd be comfortable bumping it up to $3,000. Since I'm new to bikes I want to find something that's going to run and won't require any sort of major work that I won't be able to do or that will cost me an arm and a leg to fix. I've been looking at standard and cruiser frames and have had the Honda CB series recommended but I was wondering if there were any other models of bike that I should look for.
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Feb 10, 2009 04:28
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xREED LORD 420x posted:I've been looking at standard and cruiser frames and have had the Honda CB series recommended but I was wondering if there were any other models of bike that I should look for. As usual. Take the MSF. You want anything with less than 70hp, and ideally more than say, 30. CB bikes are a royal bitch to work on. But if you buy a clean, working example.. and work to keep it that way, you won't have to worry about that. The Suzuki GS series, and Kawasaki's KZ bikes are good too. The Yamaha XS650 seems to be popular too. I have a particular fondness for GS bikes. There's seven of them in my garage..... You can get GREAT examples of any of the listed bikes for less than $2k. Budget the rest for gear, chain, sprockets, fluids, and tires. Where are you from? We can help you find something.
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Feb 10, 2009 09:33
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I'm in Salt Lake right now, I've been looking on craigslist and the ksl classifieds but all I usually see is off-road bikes and Harleys.
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Feb 10, 2009 09:48
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Oh, me in Salt Lake too. I'm not in the market for a new bike but I frequently check CL and KSL for poops and giggles. There's a couple of decent bikes for under $1500 on KSL right now, I'll post some links when I find them. There's an MSF class coming up in March, you should contact these guys and get in: Utah Rider Education. Cost of the BRC is $180. I've been riding for a long time now and I just signed up for the BRC because I figured it couldn't hurt. Edit: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=5555761&cat=144&lpid= The CX500 or GS450 would be decent http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=5551891&cat=144&lpid=2 Wants $2300 but if you showed up with 2k cash I bet he'd take it http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=5549122&cat=144&lpid=4 This is a little on the big side, but it's comparable to my CB650 and they're pretty forgiving bikes That's just off the first couple of pages of KSL. SubponticatePoster fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Feb 10, 2009 |
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Feb 10, 2009 16:00
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I'm 6'8" and looking for a basic 750 cruiser/road bike for commuting, etc., so nothing fancy is required. I've rode a Shadow and a Virago so something like that would be good. What are some bikes for tall people in this style?
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Feb 10, 2009 16:40
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The Suzuki Boulevard (800cc) and Kawasaki Vulcan (900cc) are both good choices for a larger guy. I'm afraid you may never comfortably fit on any motorcycle, but give it a shot. fake edit: V-Strom
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Feb 10, 2009 16:49
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100 Years in Iraq posted:
I got this exact same bike yesterday. It's my first cycle and seems like it'll be a great machine to learn on. However after the 250s in your MSF it will feel like a boat made out of tanks.
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Feb 10, 2009 18:00
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Since I've been riding the 650 for going on 10 years now, I'm curious to see what kind of shenanigans I'm going to get myself into on a light 250.
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Feb 10, 2009 18:16
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Gr3y posted:I got this exact same bike yesterday. It's my first cycle and seems like it'll be a great machine to learn on. However after the 250s in your MSF it will feel like a boat made out of tanks. It is important to emphasize how fat the CB750 is. With the 250, you can kind of throw it around like it was a bicycle at slow speed, and it's very forgiving in this way. If you stop paying attention at slower speeds, the CB750 will decide it likes the ground. A lot. Just be sure you're conscious of this at all times and practice counter-leaning in a parking lot before really going at it. The seat is a lot broader than the MSF bikes, and it takes a bit of getting used to if that's your only experience. It's also not a Nighthawk as of '82. It becomes one in '83 (different tank/tail fairing) and promptly disappears in '84 to make way for the CB700SC, which is a pretty sweet bike in and of itself. Make sure the valves are properly shimmed (I went as close to .005 all around as I could, and ended up closer to .006; err on the side of loose), you sync the carbs, and change the oil frequently and you should do well with that bike.
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Feb 10, 2009 22:17
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