Hey everyone,

I'm new to the forum, and am looking to buy a bike. I'm in Asheville, NC and am looking for something reliable. A fairly new friend of mine has a 99 Honda 600 that he's selling. The bike has about 16000 miles on it. My understanding is the bike has never been down. He's second owner, however, so I don't know how true that is. He recently painted it kind of a flat graphite black. He tells me the bike runs great with the exception that its hard starting on occasion (wants to start sometimes, but not always). He says its intermittent.

Asking price: 2k. I'm assuming thats bike only, no gear.

Can I do better or should I jump at it?

Thanks!
Mike

 

Jump

 

If all the plastics are good n it runs $2k is a steal.

 

I would find out why he painted the bike and if it was just because he wanted to and not to hide damage then go for it-it's a steal. My F4 has over 31k on the clock and alawys starts right up even in 30 degree temps so i'm not sure why that bike is hard to start sometimes. it may just need a tune up. 16K is not high miles at all.

 

He tells me it was just because he didn't like the white on blue paint and wanted something different. I've downloaded a manual from this site (great resource, btw!) and am having difficulty figuring out exactly how difficult an issue this is going to be to diagnose. This guy is pretty hardcore on building engines for Chevrolets and mustangs, don't know if he's worked much on Motorcycle engines so I guess I just don't know what the concern exactly is with this occasional hardstart issue. Looks like the little bit of research I did this could definitely be something as simple as fouled plugs.

I'll go take a closer look at the bike. Sounds like its too good to be true. I may have to jump at it.

Thanks!

M

 

Update:

So, I went and looked at the bike the other night. The plastics are still off of it with only the bottom panel painted a flat black. Looked to be in pretty good shape. One of the fairings looks like it was cracked/broken at the lower half in a really thin spot (its hard to describe). I didn't see the gas tank or the condition it was in because he is apparently retuning the carbs (back to a stock tune, apparently it had been rejetted). He did start the bike and it fired right up, even without the gas tank. I asked him about the hard start issue and he said it does happen from time to time. He was thinking it had something to do with the tuning in the carbs. It was apparently missing the mirrors, he has one off of a kawasaki.

it sounds bad, doesn't it? I have to admit, I'm still pretty interested though... everyone, be honest, should I plunge? He needs to get it together so I can test drive it still, but I am interested.

Thanks again,
Mike

 

test it... but imo i would just test it for future bikes. Ask him if the valve adjustment has been done cuz i think it needs to be done somewhere around that milage. Sounds rough to me for some reason.. it is cheap tho. I dunno why it wouldn't have mirrors. Check the bar ends to see if they have been scraped.. this will tell u if it has been down.. and better yet.. if he's lying.

 

im from swannanoa. ha. sounds like a good deal.