I wouldn't mind having a cool looking cruiser for the weekends. I can't spend big bucks. Does anyone make a good Looking chopper/cruiser/Harley style bike that won't cost 5 figures? I would consider used bikes if they are reliable. What do you recommend?

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:
I wouldn't mind having a cool looking cruiser for the weekends. I can't spend big bucks. Does anyone make a good Looking chopper/cruiser/Harley style bike that won't cost 5 figures? I would consider used bikes if they are reliable. What do you recommend?

Triumph, Honda, and Yamaha offer bikes that might fit your needs.

For a used bike, the Triumph America has traditional cruiser styling. Triumph also offers the Bonneville Bobber and Speedmaster, as new bikes.

Yamaha has several offerings in their "Star" line of cruisers.

Honda offers several bikes with cruiser styling, including the Fury, Stateline, Insterstate, and the Shadow line (Phantom and Aero).

You should be able to check with your local Harley-Davidson dealer and look at the Sportster line. Starting at about $9,000 you can have a brand new Harley-Davidson. Take a test ride and see what you like.

Resale value is at an all time high because Harley-Davidson has been providing the quality and reliability riders expect. The newer engines (Milwaukee 8 and Evolution) have been proving themselves to be the most reliable.

Others can correct me since I’m fairly new in this market and back riding after a long time. Not sure why I have not done it sooner, but having so much fun putting over 4000 miles on my Breakout this year.

How do you want to use it? Short jaunts here and there or longer weekend trips? How experienced a rider are you? Personally, for the price range you appear to be shopping in I wouldn't even consider a Harley. Look at pre-owned Yamaha, Suzuki, And Triumph offerings. What you'll find is a huge number of bikes that were bought with the best intentions that never received many miles of use. Buy smart, invest as little as possible to get something you think you'd really like to ride, and you should be good both now and when you opt to sell it somewhere down the line.

Honda VTX

Indian?

You could find a decent used Harley for around $5,000 or a metric bike even cheaper, especially this time of year. People are willing to sell cheap to free up their garage space. And don't take this personally, but "weekend" riders sometimes don't ride as much as they anticipated. So you could find a very gently used, almost new bike, that the owner took the initial depreciation hit, and just wants to be able to park his car in the garage over the winter.

An 883 Sportster, new or used, will get you on the road fairly cheap. Harley engines aren't too complex, they will run forever if maintained properly. If you've waited this long, wait until it gets colder, and prices will drop further.

I almost bought a '78 Suzuki GS750 last year. 13,000 miles, original owner. I waited to long, but I have a thing for air cooled inline 4's. He was asking $1500, and I'm still kicking my own ass for missing that. All depends on what you are looking for. You don't need to spend big bucks to start riding.

Good luck, keep us posted.

For cruiser type bikes I'm a big fan of the 1300 Yamaha V series. Yamaha V Star 1300, V Star 1300 Deluxe, Yamaha Stryker. The engines have enough power and are close to bulletproof. About 10 horsepower stronger than a Honda 1300 V twin engine. They also have no quirky handling issues. Even the somewhat chopper style Stryker 1300 does surprisingly well from a handling standpoint. You should be able to find a clean used Yamaha 1300 V for around $4500 - $7500.

You can find some really good deals on Suzuki M50 C50 800CC cruisers most people with them seem to like them.

I've heard of Harleys' problems with market saturation with boomers, and new riders not buying. I looked at craigslist to see if the market bears this out, and it looks like there are many big Harleys available used for less than $10K.

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:
I wouldn't mind having a cool looking cruiser for the weekends. I can't spend big bucks. Does anyone make a good Looking chopper/cruiser/Harley style bike that won't cost 5 figures? I would consider used bikes if they are reliable. What do you recommend?

Most any Ultra from, say, 2006 to now is modern, reliable, etc.

You can expect to pay $8,000+.

Here's an example on the low end:

https://motorcycles.autotrader...on/touring/200594591

As mentioned earlier by another member I’d consider the Honda VTX or Yamaha’s cruisers as a more affordable option.

I’d love to get a Softail Slim S myself but not at their current prices.

Cycle Trader. Lots of good used bikes.

These go for about $3-4K in my neck of the woods. For the money I’ve found myself tempted to scoop up a VTX 1300 or 1800.



The Yamaha Warrior 1700 is also a cool bike with a big engine but without that big HD price tag. Typically they sell for $4-6k

quote:

Originally posted by ASKSmith:
I almost bought a '78 Suzuki GS750 last year. 13,000 miles, original owner. I waited to long, but I have a thing for air cooled inline 4's. He was asking $1500

Same here. Especially after a carb synchronization. It's a throttle response thing. That, and the smell.

In late '90s I thought about getting back into it. A later '70s Honda CB750 -4 with fairing and matching fiberglass side bags came up for $800. After a few Sunday morning runs on mile+ straight-aways in an office park, the carbs blew out and it ran like new. The owner, following me in his car, said puffs of smoke came out, then the sound changed.

I had $700, no more, and he wouldn't budge. But it was a similar story; it had not been ridden in ages, and was taking up space in the garage.

There are plenty of deals out there. Only two things are missing. An interested customer, and cash in the customer's pocket.

Look for a clean, low-mileage used Harley.

No personal experience, but Grandson just bought a Kawasaki Vulcan and seems pleased. Older bike (2009?) but low mileage and cherry, paid $3400.

Thanks for the replies. What is considered low mileage/high mileage on a bike?

I have a Kawasaki Vulcan 900. Great bike for short trips.

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:
Thanks for the replies. What is considered low mileage/high mileage on a bike?

Depends on the bike. For cruisers, I wouldn't be afraid of 15 or 20K-miles. They don't (usually) get stressed a lot like a sport bike.

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:
Thanks for the replies. What is considered low mileage/high mileage on a bike?

It depends on the type of bike. For example my Honda ST1300 has 86k miles and I wouldn’t consider it high mileage (can easily get over 200k miles on these bikes). For what you’re looking for I would think anything less than 20k would be a “low” mileage bike.