Possible New Owner

[markopolo]

I have been in the market for a motorcycle for about a year now.  I've never ridden before but my dad does and I'm excited about riding with him on nice weekends.  A few questions from this bike I've found:

http://fredericksburg.craigslist.org/mcy/2812720386.html

Is this a good buy?  What should I look out for with these bikes?
I'm a beginner rider at 6'4" and 200 lbs, is this big enough/too big for me?

Any input is greatly appreciated!

 

[cityslicker]

what does he mean when he calls it a survivor?
was it in a crash?
If it runs well, a thousand isn't bad at all for a bike in that condition. It seems very nice in the pic.
Go take it for a test ride, see if how it feels for you.
when you go to see it, touch the engine to see if its warm, you want to start it with it cold. to see if there are any issues there. If it is warm the owner is trying to hid something.

[shinyribs]

I agree with everything Cityslicker said. It's odd that only one header pipe is so badly rusted. Those can be a bit pricey and sometimes difficult to find from what i hear. I'd use that to your advantage while haggling over price.Seems like a good bike at a fair price if it is in good of running condition as it is supposed to be. Alot of guys use the term "survivor" to show that the bike has never been restored or had any major surgery. It "survived" all these years without a problem. You asked about your size.I'm 6'3" and weigh 220 lbs. Im completely comfortable on mine and it has plenty of power.It'll tap the front tire if im wide open going into 2nd gear. Good luck and welcome to the forum

[seestheday]

I'd buy it if it was running well.  I paid $750 for my 1981 CB750K.  Mine was in great running condition, but had 84,000 km's on it.  To get mine certified it needed a new master cylinder and the fork seals fixed.  I wanted to ride right away and paid a pro to fix them, so all in mine was about $1K to get it on the road.

I'm not sure what it's like where you live, but most people around here don't let people test drive their motorcycles.  You should be able to get it up on the center stand and run through the gears with it running, listen to the engine and look for all the other stuff that you should do while looking at a used bike.  I think mark posted some good videos of what to look for here a little while ago.

Good luck.

[Cabreco]

She looks decent enough.
I paid $850 for Fiona & she needed a lot of elbow grease

One thing to test is the charging system, Make sure it charginging the battery.
Charging begins at 1750 rpm. Below that it's a drain

For your height & weight the 750 will be perfect.  Plenty of power & very agile.
I got back on a bike after 30 years on 4 wheels. I found the 750 the perfect starter bike.
You are much taller & probably 30 years younger than me.

In a year you can move up to something bigger.
Go for it, you'll LOVE this bike.

Good luck & welcome

[shinyribs]

I'm with Sees'  If you wanna test ride my bike you have just agreed to pay my full asking price.Period