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I've never ridden in my life, and dont know anything about bikes. I want to get a cheap used bike for my first. i found someone who is selling a 1971 Honda cb350 for $900. the previous owner put on new tires, pipes, a new shift lever and a new throttle control lever. with my total lack of riding and maintenance experience, would this be an acceptable used bike?

That's a pretty old bike, so you're going to have maintenance issues. Rubber breaks down, parts wear out, yada yada. Most MC shops will charge huge sums of money to service it or won't service it at all. Parts might be scarce, though eBay seems to have lots. Unless you know how to wrench or are very interested I'd stay away.

I don't know where you live, but here in Toronto $900 should get you something in the mid-late 1980s, which will make it easier to get parts. Initial cost is only part of the overall cost of running an old bike. You might need to replace tires, tubes, chain, sprockets, shocks, etc due to rust or wear. Low mileage bikes are best.

As for size, a 350 shouldn't be too heavy and it should be gentle on learners. Here's some info on the cb350 twin. Nice looking bike.

Does it run? I ride a 74 cb360 every day with no worries. I bought it cheaper than you did and had to get it running, but since I did in April it's one push of thE starter button and I'm off, just like a brand new bike. plus I get to ride around on a cool old Honda twin. An eighties or 90's bike is no guarantee to be more reliable - all depends on how they were taken care of- stored- mileage, etc. If it runs well, it could be a great bike for a long time.

The maintenence would be the issue I think, but it would be a great bike to learn it on. I had a '82 Nighthawk, and had never done work on anything before that. By the time I was finished with it, I had stripped it down to the frame twice, and put it all back together, and it worked. A lot of times the work sounds intimidating, but once you start wrenching, you start seeing how it really isn't that hard.

I would say go for it myself, and start learning the work, since this bike should be fairly easy to work on. It's easier to start on the simple ones.

I think it's a great starter bike, but $900 is a little pricy unless that baby is in mint condition. See if you can talk him down a little.

As for the maintence issue that some people have raised, if you ride a bike it will need maintence. Granted, it may be a little hard to find parts for her, but I dont think that alone is a good reason not to get this bike.

And, beleive it or not, it's the old bikes that turn the heads of a lot of people. I cant tell you how many people come up to me and strike up a convo about how they used to have a bike like mine. I know that wouldnt happen if I had a newer, more "in" bike.

Bonus - very cheap insurance and historical plates

thanks for all the info and advice. i'll probably head over to check out the bike soon, and since im pretty clueless about all of this, is there anything specific i should ask/check?

I found this site useful when looking at used bikes:

http://www.clarity.net/~adam/buying-bike.html

Good luck!

yeah definatly offer him less...id bet if you handed him 7 crisp clean 100 dollar bills it would be hard to turn down....

as for parts...here is 4 pages of brand new parts for that bike.

http://www.oldbikebarn.com/motorcycle_p ... y=&Start=0

I doubt it's mint or even a 9 - he could move that bike pretty easy around here for $1500 if it was mint with low miles.