What issues could there be if bike hasn't been run in properly?

[brendonjw]

Hi Everyone,

Ill be looking at getting my first bike in the next few weeks. Now i see some low K's ones on trademe etc, my question is what issues may arise if these havent been run in properly? Since some of them are still only 1-5000k's im guessing they have only really finished being run in. Are there any signs i could look for at this early stage? I have a bit of mech knowledge from cars but none when it comes to carbs and motorbikes and iv never had a car with low enough k's to need to be run in.

Thanks

[WarlockNZ]

It all depends on the age of the bike, there are a couple of schools of thought on how you should run a bike in, but with the machining tolerances today, it doesn't make a hell of a lot of difference.

Just check for the usual things, oil leaks, lack of power, smoke, same as a car really, a bike with low k's shouldn't have a lot wrong with it.

[JimO]

it would also depend on what sort of bike

[brendonjw]

ok it will be a 250, currently looking at 2004 GSX, 2007 GPX, Ninja 08 (which would probably be new) or a HYO.

[CB ARGH]

Check the dipstick for little pieces of metal. That;s all that I can think of.

[bully]

you cant really tell i dont think, when my bike was new, it was slow to rev and run quite hot, these things seem bad but its because every thing is so tight, now it revs more freely, and runs a little cooler, didnt really free up nicely untill about 5-6000.

[CookMySock]

It is hard to tell.

Look at the people who owned it and try and judge how they would treat it. Check the tyres for tell-tale hard driving. Ask who rode it and to where. See if the previous rider was a learner. Unlikely a newbie/learner would able to mistreat such a bike, coz it would kill them.

My son just bought a 2nd hand '08 GT250R with 1,400km on it - near new. It ran like a bag of arseholes for a full ten minutes around town. After an hour trip home on it at 120km/hr it was running mint az. Starts clean and idles perfectly.

Sooo, I would just start it up check for obvious exhaust smoke, and see if it set any of your alarm bells off. Or take it for a ride for an hour on the open road if you are experienced.


DB