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I'm planning on purchasing a slighty used 2004 VTX1300C with roughly 4k miles on it. It's been extremely well taken care of and the current owner is a mature adult in his mid 40s. He's also beem an MSF instructor for over 10 years.

When the bike was new, he purchased a Honda service contract that would run until 2010. He has given me the option of sustaining the contract for an additional $500, which boosts the cost from $7,000 to $7,500. He has all the service paperwork for this bike and none of which relates to a defect - just regular routine scheduled maintenance.

Money is an issue (otherwise I wouldn't be writing this). I have minimal knowledge on costs of typical repairs, so I'm in need of everyone's advice.

P.S. He states that he can transfer this service contract to his new bike, so I can elect either way.

-Strad

Personally, I wouldn't bother. Its a good bike with low mileage and you stated that it has been well maintained. That is the key, maintenance. put the money aside and keep the bike well maintained. Do as much as you can yourself, there isn't that much to it and you will know the work was done right (or at least who to blame) and will save a bundle. First investment I'd recommend is the Honda shop manual for that bike. Will pay for itself in no time.

Why is he selling the bike?

He's selling because he wants the bigger VTX1800. He's a pretty husky guy at 6'3" 240lbs. The 1300 had been a great bike for him. Just doesn't fit him as well as the 1800. Also, his brother works with me. They seem like stand up guys so my trust in him is pretty high.

I just bought an '05 VTX 1300C. I bought the service manual instead of the extended warranty. Saved me over $400.

I have seen tons and tons of guys that bought extended warrantys and service contracts that wish they didn't. That service contract and extended warranty is owned by a private corp. thats not owned by Honda, read the fine print, it don't cover any abuse or lack of required maintanince by the owner, so when you take your bike to the dealer for repair that dealer will find something wrong, or make something up so it won't be covered and you will have to pay for it. The way it works is when the dealer does work covered under this contract he gets paid by the Co that owns the contract, but at a much lower service rate and at dealer cost for parts, like if the dealer charges $60 per hour for labor and a 30% mark up on parts, the service contract will only pay $30 an hr and cost at parts, some dealers will lose money on that, so they will find some way outta it by saying its abuse and its not covered under the extended warranty or service contract. The dealers mechanic can be busy all day making him $60 an hour, but if the mechanic is working on ur bike at $30 an hour the dealer is losing out money. You can't blame the dealer, he's in the business of making money. The Honda is a good bike it won't break down, you don't need any service contract, before you buy it take the VTX1800 for a test ride, hold on tight! it has 10 times the acceleration and speed than the 1300, plus the 1800 has fuel injection, no choke, no warm up time, just start it and pull out and go. Spend an extra $1K on the 1800 its worth it.

I don't know what ur paying for a used Honda VTX1300C but around here new 06's are selling for $7599, and the 06 VTX1800C is $8499, the "C" model is the less expensive one with spoked wheels and less chrome. The reason im interested in ur post is I was looking to purchace the same bike, I was looking at new and used ones, but most people want around the same price for their used one than what I can buy a new one for. I suggest that maybe you can shop around and look at new ones, and if you would test ride the 1300 and the 1800 you will see a BIG difference, you may already know this but the 1300 and the 1800 are the same, just different engines. The guy selling the 1300 may be a nice guy but ask him why isn't he just trading it in on a 1800? Because the dealer is only giving him a very low trade in price, ummm let me guess?? um around $5000? huh? My like new 05 Suzuki Bouvevard M50 no dealer will give me more than $3000 trade in price, i was planning on a newspaper add and asking $5400 for it so I have the money to buy a new VTX1800. Remember the big reason for chosing the right bike, its the fun factor.

Hey Moto - thanks for your advice.

I'm mainly interested in the 1300C due to its fit. The 1800 feels really big on me at 5'9" 180. I carefully examined the 1800 and you're right, it's quite a bit more technology wise. I'd love to have one otherwise.

He's asking $7400 for the whole deal on the 1300C. This includes the service contract. I'm not having much sucess finding any around that price range in Minnesota. The dealer wants $9k for a new 06. He just won't budge on the price. I may go down to the twin cities to check a few shops, but I'm not too sure what I'm going to find.

I'll keep looking.

With the mileage of around 4k the VTX you are currently looking at could barely even be considered as used. The question is, what are the taxes on a used bike as opposed to a new bike in your state? Something to keep in mind.