Total Motorcycle Community Forums

So I just passed the MSF and I am ready to dive in. My dream bikes are between a Triumph Scrambler or a BMW. I can't afford either of those right now and I also can't afford to drop either of those. So I am going used. My question and concern is that if I get an older used bike, (one) I am getting something that could be a safety liability on the road and (two) I dont want something that will break down a lot. So when is an old bike too old for a first bike? I know there is no magic answer on this but just looking for a rule of thumb. It would be nice to spend 2000-3000 for a bike I know I'll get rid of than 4-5000.

I guess I wouldn't go much earlier then the early nineties for a first bike. Even then you will want to make sure you check it over real well for signs of abuse. Of course there will be exceptions to this, I am sure there are plenty of earlier bikes that wont give you much problem. But I would stick to the nineties and up.
Don't want to have to worry about something braking while still learning to ride.

It depends on the bike and the rider. Search this forum for past posts. If the bike is in good condition, had a long production run, parts are available on eBay, and you can wrench, I'd say an early '80s Japanese bike is as far back as I'd go. Bikes back then were overengineered and very reliable. There are a lot of them around and they are inexpensive to buy.

TorontoBoy wrote:It depends on the bike and the rider. Search this forum for past posts. If the bike is in good condition, had a long production run, parts are available on eBay, and you can wrench, I'd say an early '80s Japanese bike is as far back as I'd go. Bikes back then were overengineered and very reliable. There are a lot of them around and they are inexpensive to buy.

Yeah, my 1980 honda sat for 16 years and still runs good. I'm just about finished doing a total restore on mine. Got most of my parts on ebay. Great, lightweight ,reliable bike. Perfect for a newbie rider. You can probably pick one of these up in good condition between $700-$2,000.


Pics of my working progress on my bike are here:
http://www.bikepics.com/honda/cm400/80/pics.asp

Dayam, nice looking bike! You do good work.

Definitely make sure that whatever you get, if it's more than just a couple of years old, that it had a pretty decent production run. I'm trying to get a buddie's bike ready to sell and even though it's only an 89, I'm having an almost impossible time finding stuff for it. Specifically, the front brake line. I've got the dang thing just about ready to sell, but as of now, it has no brakes. This is because it only had a production run of 2 years here in the states. In other parts of the world, it ran a lot longer, but it's a major expense getting parts from different countries.

If you inspect an older bike carefully and make sure everything's in decent, working condition, older 80's japanese can last for a long long time. I wouldn't buy anything with too high or too low of mileage. The only problem having an older 80's bike in Denver is that most larger repair shops won't have time for them. A Honda dealer near my house wouldn't tune up my '83 Nighthawk because they were too booked. I'm sure I could have found a smaller shop if I really had to, but it's easier to maintain and fix on your own.

But if working on your bike isn't your thing, I would look for something preferably 1996-97 or newer. I didn't catch your location but you can find a really nice, solid learner bike for 2-3k. good luck sir

The key when considering an "older" used motorcycle is whether or not it was ridden regularly, and how long ago since it was ridden. The more a bike sits unused, the more problems with "soft parts" gaskets, rubber, and plastic things seem to show up.

If a motorcycle was ridden regularly, that means that it was probably maintained by the owner, and you shouldn't find any serious problems.

But, it is always a good idea to take a bike to a shop for a safety inspection. To make sure nothing dangerous is wrong.

P