new bike ideas?

[merv]

Good bikes,do you get the Honda CB500 in N.Z.,similar sort of thing to the GPZ but a bit better built.The later ones were built in Italy,lovely flexible motor.All my own work here

http://www.usedbikeguide.com/reviews/honda7.htm

CB500s weren't sold here, but I am sure WT could recommend a GS500E instead.

[merv]

At least pre 1991 and heaps of Km's and hard to find. Bloody good bike but. The 1991 VFR750 I had was capable of 220-240KPH. Still a lot of power if you are not used to it, but it was fairly forgiving.

'86 - '90 was the pre-single sided swingarm model and yeah you should get one of those for $3,000.

'90 on with single sided swingarm cost more. Here's a good example for sale that a fellow Ulyssian is having to part with http://www.ulysses.org.nz/wwwbbs/config.pl?read=5765

Cheap at $4,500 I'd say as it is in good nick.

[vifferman]

This is a wee bit open-ended, doncha thinK?
You haven't said anything about how long he's been off bikes, what his riding skills are, how big he is, what history he has, how important age and condition are, etc ....
There's all kinds of bikes for sale, but is this intended to be his bike for a few years, or just a starting point to "get back into it"?

Best thing is if he does a search on bikepoint.co.nz or looks through a motorcycle trader mag, gets a feel for what he can get for his money, then narrows it down from there. Once he's got a list of "possibles", he can check out what's good/bad from the list, and narrow it down to "probables".

[kerryg]

I'd be careful about buying damaged bikes at Turners. It's not for the faint-hearted. I bought a "cosmetically damaged" bike there for just over $2000....and it ended up owing me over $8000 and I did everything as economically as I could (e.g. repaired the plastic, instead of replacing it, had the paint done by a car-painter friend, fitted an aftermarket can and screen etc). Admittedly I'm fussy and I wanted the bike returned to as close to original as my budget and common-sense permitted but even so it didn't stack up. Could have bought a good bike for the same or less money and saved myself the trouble. Try $800 for a fairing sub frame, 2 x headlights over $350 each (not including the mounting hardware and rubber seals and bulbs etc etc), $400 for a disk rotor etc etc. It adds up REAL fast. $15 for a little plastic clip (x 8) that seriously must have cost under 5cents to make.Of course if you're going to turn it into a street-fighter or race bike it might be a different story. Damaged bikes are cheap at auction BECAUSE parts are so prohibitive, that's why the insurance companies write them off for quite minor damage. I used to go to the auctions regularlyand it was amazing to see the high prices people would pay for bikes thinking that for a few hundred dollars they could fix them up. IMHO you really need to buy VERY cheap and/or you need to very carefully assess what is going to need doing, make a few inquiries about parts availability and cost before putting your hand up at auction. Motorcycle new parts are a horror story, and second hand parts can be hard to come by if you haven't got a coomonly available bike. That's my 2 cents worth, anyway.

[moko]

CB500s weren't sold here, but I am sure WT could recommend a GS500E instead.

You guys missed out big-time then,great little bike reknowned for being a back-lane giant-killer in the right hands.Way better than a GS500,which have a pretty poor rep here,mainly because of corrossion issues so maybe not such an issue in N.Z. GPZ is nearly as good though,still on sale as a current model in the U.K.Do you get the ER5 varient?Basically a GPZ in "retro" guise and very popular,twin shock rear end is the biggest difference apart from the "70s-ish" styling.

[Sensei]

A early CBR 600 or maybe a NC30 VFR 400 . Vfour's are great little bikes owned two NC21 & a Race spec NC 30 excellent spread of power & great handling to. Depend's to on his weight as this may come into play with Bike size . Take him out to the shop's & try before he buy's thats the best way Sensei NP

[R6_kid:Me]

check out turners motorcycyle auctions on tuesday afternoons. Good deals there!!! I almost punched my dad coz he didnt let me place a bid on a no reserve CBR600F, mid 90's had come down on the side and lost a mirror, scraped the fairings otherwise fine. The price $990!!! (900 plus auction fee) i walked out with a bent 98 PX150 Vespa for $660 and have nearly got it going for a total cost of $1040.

[wari]

check out turners motorcycyle auctions on tuesday afternoons. Good deals there!!! I almost punched my dad coz he didnt let me place a bid on a no reserve CBR600F, mid 90's had come down on the side and lost a mirror, scraped the fairings otherwise fine. The price $990!!! (900 plus auction fee) i walked out with a bent 98 PX150 Vespa for $660 and have nearly got it going for a total cost of $1040.

at penorose or ?

[kerryg]

at penorose or ?

Yeah every second Wednesday at 10:30am but mostly they sell shite or over-priced stuff

[vifferman]

You guys missed out big-time then,great little bike reknowned for being a back-lane giant-killer in the right hands.Way better than a GS500,which have a pretty poor rep here,mainly because of corrossion issues so maybe not such an issue in N.Z. GPZ is nearly as good though,still on sale as a current model in the U.K.Do you get the ER5 varient?Basically a GPZ in "retro" guise and very popular,twin shock rear end is the biggest difference apart from the "70s-ish" styling.

I have seen CB500s here, and FT500s as well, but these may have been imported as used Jap imports. Yes, the ER5 is seen here too.