quote:

Originally posted by ASKSmith:
Cruiser68,

Just keep your eyes open. I honestly wasn't even looking when I found my bike. A co-worker showed me a V-Max that was for sale locally. So I started looking.

When I first went to look at my bike, I did a walk around, and walked back to my wife. I told her I'm not sure if I even wanted to knock on the door. My wife commented we drove an hour away, so I took it for a test drive. And it ran perfect. We left, and I told the owner I wasn't sure, but I'd have to think about it.

It's a 2003, original owner, and 19,000 miles on it. But when the owner passed away, another family member "stored" it outside for several years. I did get ridden occasionally. That is hard to pass up, so I made an offer. I even explained to the sister, if they put some effort into it and cleaned it up, they could get more than what they were asking. And I gave them several examples of local V-Max's for sale around the same price range. The "original owner" is what sold it. I know a guy who is the 3rd owner of his bike, and it has 5,000 miles on it. They tend to get abused along the way. So knowing the original owner was an airline mechanic, and meticulous with his toys, I'm pretty sure he maintained it well.

My offer was that I would pay for a mechanic to go over it, and if anything major turned up, I could walk away. They accepted my offer. I gave them a little extra since they actually trailered the bike to my house, once everything was complete. One of the things that worked in my favor is they basically wanted it out of their garage, and they have a 22y/o son in the house who wanted to ride it. I don't want to stay I "stole" it, as I explained to them what I thought the bike was worth, and things that need to be replaced. But I got a hell of a deal. And the sister is happy that someone will love the bike as much as her brother did. Everybody is happy.

The sister also put me in contact with the other brother. He had the carbs rebuilt, and fork seals replaced in 2015. Tires still have the nubs on them, and the battery is a few years old.

I took it out for a short rip tonight, and I came home with a big smile. This thing is a blast. And I didn't even take it over 7 grand.

quote:

Took my oldest son out a few hours later. His first ride on a streetbike. Now he wants one. Not sure how I feel about that. I’m a bad role model. I told him if anything, learn to ride in the dirt first.