tips for buying a bike
 

when u buy a bike privately make sure before u purchase you run the title ,a couple of friends have bought bikes with liens or rebuild status aka a rip off.so run the title at icbc driver center b4 u pay.youl thank me .

I really don't agree all Rebuilt titles are a rip off, they are priced accordingly if the Seller is smart but most rebuilds are off a stupid drop that does not affect internals but only cosmetics.

+1 rebuilt bikes are priced much lower and some of them are pretty good.
I had a rebuilt 600rr ...tracked it a lot and it was AWESOME! flawless

o rly?

do you bring the bike to a mechanic/ shop before buying a rebuilt privately?

Sorry, but it should be common sense to run lien/title/history checks on any private vehicle whether its a car or bike. It's always up to the buyer to do all research and checks before buying. Private sales are ALWAYS buyer beware!

+1 on rebuilts. I have a rebuilt 06 gsxr 600...tracked it and street rode it all summer long, not 1 problem....till the last ride where i was running out of gas and had to fuel up at some gas station dump somewhere in Lillooet and now my bike don't start..haha.

my ninjette's a rebuild, runs like a champ!
might be worth it to get checked out by a mechanic that you trust, to see if the forks are straight and that sort of thing. Its super easy to tell if the bike is rebuilt status though, its written down right on the transfer slip

How else would you check if the bike is fine or not? Unless you know a mechanic or know bikes yourself, I would definitely bring it to a mechanic/shop.

But +1 to what 6thGear said. You are an idiot if you don't do a history,lien,etc. check on any private vehicle.

just make sure you get the bike inspected and make sure there are no liens on it.

I bought a rebuilt cbr and all that was wrong with it was broken lock cylinders, scraped fairings, and a few other minor things. All of that was repaired and I got a pretty good deal by comparison. That being said, always get your bikes (and cars) checked out, even when buying from a dealer!

Rebuilt status is just as good as new if the rebuilder is good. When you look at bikes you should test ride it to find out if it is "fine". Before you ride, look at the chain and sprocket, tires, fairings, handlebar ends, footpegs etc. You are looking for scraped that should not be there, an indication of it being dropped. Look at the chain, see if the rings are leaking, see if the sprocket is worn out. If they are, they may indicate a poorly maintained bike. Also, when you purchase such a bike, it will cost you another 250 bucks to replace those items. Tires same thing, if they are poor condition its going to cost about 250-350 for another set without labour. Sharp tooth on the rear sprocket may indicated high stress loads from things such as hard acceleration and wheelies. If so, you should see if the front shocks are performing as per manual specs. Bouncing on the front is a good way to see but if you are not familiar with that bike, you may have to go consult the manual and attempt to measure rebound. Test riding, you should make sure the bike tracks straight and no wobbly feeling in the handlebars. A lot fo times, you will find that the front rotors are warped or damaged. Firmly breaking from a 50 km down to zero as fast as you can. If the front cowel shakes and you feel the wheel pulsing your rotors are probably bad or caliper sticking. This will probaly cost you at least 500 to fix so factor that into your cost as well. Last of all, a lot of people screw up their battery because it is prone to draining and they forget to maintain it. Therefore, you will fine a lot of bikes with shitty batteries that will cost you another 100 bucks to replace. Also, check for all the regular stickers which is a good indication of whether the bike has been repainted, salvated, stolen etc.

can anyone recommend a good shop to do a quick inspection in burnaby?

The only place I can think of is Burnaby Kawasaki. :confused:

JP Suzuki
Burnaby Kawi
Imperial Motorcycles

inspection does give you good peace of mind. for the amount of cash your going to drop on a bike, you might as well spend a few hundred on getting it assessed before purchase.