Accident-damaged bike or ex-race bike?

[Toast]

But some if not the vast majority of race bikes have had all the life squeezed out of them in a very short span, And thats not just the engine, But the entire package, frames,brakes,suspension

Suspension: I don't really agree that racing promotes worse wear on the suspension than road riding.

I had a road bike which had little resistance in the first part of the front suspension stroke (and thus excessive dive under brakes that couldn't be tuned out) because it had been ridden around Japan for 40,000kms on highways, hitting cats eyes, and only ever using that top 20% of the suspension's stroke.

With a race bike, the suspension deals with big forces, but does a lot less kms, and it uses the full range of its motion, meaning more even wear...so even if it is a bit worn, it still feels better than the above mentioned road bikes, and will respnd to hard road riding better.

Frames: Unless crashed in such a way as to damage it...hard use won't wear it or make it bend more.

Brakes: Yep, they will wear out, but it's probably the easiest thing to check the condition of on the entire bike.

Engines: Debatable, but as far as usage goes, as mentioned already, these bikes are made to be revved to the heavens. Maintenance? I change the oil and filter in my race bike after 2 days of use at the longest, using quality fully synthetic oil. It will also go through less cold starts in a year than the average road bike would go through in a fortnight.

[N4CR]

super bikes and the like have engines designed for racing and raping. you get a more rooted engine babying them around - carbon buildup and all that crap that you get. race engines well looked after oil changes and stuff like that. my zxr250 had been thrashed worse than a race bike would a few times (read 180+k for 30 mins pinned throttle almost at redline in 5th-6th etc) and that didn't get oil changed each time i did a crazy run like that.. infact it almost changed itself as the oil got so hot it pissed outta the breather and pooled every time we stopped for fuel....

frame wise well a crashed bike you need to inspect the frame.... very carefully! crashed bike is never the same. might just be me but once you crash a bike it's never the same... probably in my mind but yeah. most race bikes get binned. frame wise they'd have more operating shocks than a single restorable write off bike.... but still.. be more protected and drops taken into account for the race usage scenario (read frame sliders and ****).

so yeah all in all i'd go race bike cus it'll be worked/modded and better engine most probably! crashed bikes are cheaper though and you can make some phat streetfighters or whatever outta them.

as frost-t said.. inspect it and make your call from there.

[orangeback]

not many time i have ever go out to the track and not see a crashed race bike, in some way , i know of some that go down three / four time in a seasion (B Marshal for Tripple R) for example

[kickingzebra]

three or four times in a season? the best riders can do that in a day... just ask nicko and jay and if they are really talented, then in one race, just like my hero hdtboy

[Gixxer 4 ever]

I had the 96 Craig Sherriffs bike for 3 years. Got it at 35k and sold it at 81k. Never gave me any problem. Was a great bike to ride and was strong when I sold it. I have the pic's of it crashed on the track and all. As long as they are serviced well and warmed up before they are thrashed to the max they are great.
A bike that is nannaed will die long before one that has worked for a living. IMHO

[Kflasher]

It doesn't matter where it's had an accident. It matters what condition it's in.

I would have to agree, the condition it's (they) are in, as every thing is rebuildable 'within reason'.

[sAsLEX]

three or four times in a season? the best riders can do that in a day... just ask nicko and jay and if they are really talented, then in one race, just like my hero hdtboy

I think he meant session, more like Nicko, dropping three times and still winning?