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Suspiciously Low Mileage?


hiro

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I've been looking at used sport(y) bikes. Some have surprisingly low miles. I'm wondering how likely it is that the odometer was disconnected for a while, maybe for track use? Also, for bikes up to 10 years old, even with low mileage, how much degradation is likely? Here are some examples:

2008 F6S, 1800mi

2009 Ninja 650R, 3100mi

2009 YZF R6S, 5000mi

2009 ER-6N, 5000mi

My 2014 already has 4800+ miles so these some barely used to me.

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Not uncommon at all. A lot of people buy them gut for the glory of saying they own a bike and never ride them. They are called garage queens. My wifes 07 that we bought 3 years ago only had 4500 miles on it at 6 years old. I know a guy that has a 01 gsxr with less than 9k on it, he just never rides it.

With all those options out there is why I would NEVER buy a brand new bike

Edited by 2talltim
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16 minutes ago, 2talltim said:

Will all those options out there is why I would NEVER buy a brand new bike

What if it were a left-over from like 2013 and it qualified for 0% financing or something?

I just can't imagine spending so much on something pristine and being afraid to scratch it! Interferes with learning to ride better!

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Some guy is thinking of offering $8000 for new 2013 ZX-6R and I saw a new 2013 GSX-R600 for $8100 on Craigslist. Way beyond my price range, but they seem like good deals if you want new. (Not sure that I'd want my bars that low either.)

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41 minutes ago, motocat12 said:

Once or twice I looked up a VIN that someone provided and it was invalid or something. I don't recall what I used to look them up. I guess this is the direct link: https://www.nicb.org/theft_and_fraud_awareness/vincheck

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Happens all the time.  Guy I work with went out at lunchtime and bought a bike, drove it over to some friends house that had a gravel driveway that night and dropped it in the gravel.  Took it back and sold it back to them the next day. So it had less than 100 on it.

Tons of peeps buy bikes and don't ride them.  I know one couple that hasn't started theirs in two years.

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When I bought my 04 FZ1 2 years ago it had only 7,000 mi on it and the bike was in pristine condition.  I am the third owner.  It was a garage queen for a dude with a lot of money between the boat, sports car, and ATVs.  The bottom line is I could tell by the condition of the bike that it was well taken care of and the mileage made sense.  Whaler found his FZ1 a few years before I wrecked mine with only 3,000 mi on it sitting in a garage.  The guy had two bikes and just never rode it much.  These are the diamonds in the rough and they are out there!  We both got great deals on them too.

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Are certain types of bikes more likely to become royalty? For sporty bikes, at what point does age and mileage become a concern?

When searching for my first bike, lower mileage was a big deal to me. Now that my bike is approaching 5000 miles, that's a new baseline for me. I'm not as worried about going a bit over that. Not as sure about 10,000+. I have nothing to base a judgement on.

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You have a Kawasaki.  It is good for an easy 100k.  There are boatloads of them out there at 150 and 200.  My last one was sold at 80k, my current one has 33K on it.  Certainly it impacts the resale value since there are so many garage queens available.  But reliability does not change.  My answer would be the same for any of the Jap bikes. So if you can determine that a bike has been properly maintained then a higher mileage one is a great way to save money when you buy.

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I think a guy at Iron Pony said that up to 20,000 miles is a safe bet. Not sure why some sales people try to direct me towards cruisers, but I guess they are less likely to be wheelied, run up to the rev limiter, and dropped.

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