Buying ex-race bikes

**dickytoo** · 23rd November 2006, 16:28

Originally Posted by bistard

Hey Dicky two,how are you?
You would have agree,buying an ex race bike is fine,providing the racer actually new what he was doing,We have had numerous race bikes over the years & put them back as road bikes with no trouble
In fact depending on the racer I would prefer to buy a n ex race bike,at least they would have been looked after & set up correctly
As apposed to the average road rider who doesnt even know where to put the oil,or if it is a two stroke or four stroke

Hi Barry,

things are good. finishing up here in Oz and coming back to NZ at the end of the year. may even end up working in Wellington, again. Pity i sold my house down there. looks like i'm gonna have to start renting again. i still have my auckland place, though.

from the other side of the fence, we sold our race zx9r to a guy in taupo and last we heard, he was very happy with it. But then, anthony and I spent megabucks on it and by the time we sold it, it was pretty fast and reliable.

I guess the situation is on a bike-by-bike basis. i guess it's a case of buyer beware!

**WINJA** · 23rd November 2006, 17:35

With The Power To Weight Ratio Ofan F50 And Good Gas Mileage For 40k I Think Youve Done Quite Well, I Think You Could Do A Lot Worse Buying Some Road Bikes , I Was Talking About This After A Particular Hard Thrash Up North The Bike Was Kept Tapped Out For 45 Minuets Or Longer , Yet On The Track We Had Just Done 6 Laps Plus 2 Warmups Then A Rest So About 9 To 10 Mins Of Thrash Then A Rest So For Us Our Bikes Were Far More Abused On The Road , Forget All The Above Tho If The Racers Dont Use Air Filters

**SuperDave** · 23rd November 2006, 19:11

I hear what Gareth is saying, pretty much if you're gonna buy an ex race bike (or any larger bike for that matter) do some homework as well as have a real good nosey of it, also get someone who has experience on a large bore bike (if you're going from a 250 onwards etc) to take it for a decent test ride and give their real opinion. Due to my lack of experience on large bikes I bought a bike with rennsport's that were totally fucked, so squared off that there was no progressive lean with them, pretty much just upright or sideways. Now I put this down to the fact that maybe my throttle control was suited to a 250 not a 600, so I assumed that it was stepping up on the exits of corners because of me getting on the gas. It was only until I got a set of new m3's did a realize what the bike should really have handled like.
Now this comes down to experience.

But other things I didn't know about were the stones in the sump of course, as well as the fact that my one front fork has been damaged and pitted, this was discovered when I had my fork seals done. The seals were replaced all fine and they are holding up fine with no leaks but again, this was probably a result of someone being rough with it / or not knowing what they were doing.

Also when I buy a bike which has been raced but has one road owner before myself, I would've expected an air filter, not a piece of stocking covered chicken mesh to still be acting as an air filter.

My bike is doing well and hasn't given me any mechanical problems though, I'm not really complaining as I'm happy to spend money on my bike to keep it running all sweet but if it was a road bike that appeared mint it most probably wouldn't have had these problems.

**imdying** · 23rd November 2006, 19:27

Most of us do consider these things before buying a bike, especially if know the sump plug has been drilled lol: This sounds like a case of your dick over ruling your brain. But hey, you probably thrashed the tits of it for all of those 40,000kms. For $12,500, that's not bad, and it probably sounded plenty healthy at 20000kms

Don't beat yourself up about it

**crazybigal** · 23rd November 2006, 20:03

40,000km shit mate i think you have done prety well!
if your doing those sort of km, you must be glued to the seat and sleep in your leathers! you must be single!!