Used Motorcycle Buyers Guide (Part 1)

Forward:

Roadblock in Ulu Yam

Motorcycling is back in full force popularity again and we are no longer in the 1980's slump. People from all walks of life are again enjoying the sport of getting on a motorcycling and getting out into the great unknown. Many of the new riders to the sport are the baby boomers who started the whole motorcycle generation back in the 60's, but we see the brand new rider as well. Maybe those brand new to the sport were inspired by the baby boomer generation of motorcyclists, or competition riders on TV but for whatever reason they have chosen to get ride a motorcycle we can only thank you for keeping the sport alive and thriving today.

While there are quite a few great motorcycle buyers guides out there in books and on the Internet, I could not find a good used motorcycle buyers guide that focused on the best consistently reliable motorcycles produced. This led to three years of research to come up with this guide you see on the Total Motorcycle Website today. Along the way I talked to way too many motorcycle owners, clubs, read too many magazines and even worked for a used motorcycle mechanic for the whole summer and picked his and his customers brains about bikes. I do not pretend to be an expert or know-it-all, but I'll share what I've learned along the way and fix it when I learn differently.

So, what we need is some type of reliability standards that most people can agree to. The standards I use is:

- If the majority of a certain model is good then the overall bike design is a good one.

- If a survey of motorcycle shops shows they do not get very many (if any at all) of a certain model for any major repairs than it must be reliable. If the same is true about minor repairs, then it must be very reliable.

- If you still see them on the road 20 years later then that says something about the design and reliability as well.

- If parts are dirt cheap on eBay for that model then that could mean there is no market for replacement parts since the original ones don't really wear out that great. (Ignore this rule for rare and collector bikes).

- If a motorcycle magazine reviews an original model after 10+ years of it being introduced and still says very good things about it, that is very good.

- If you find owners not wanting to part with a 10+ year old model (even if they can afford a new(er) one) then there is something to be said about that.

Ok, so you are now getting a basic idea of the reliability standards we are talking about here then.

I hope you enjoy the Reliable Used Motorcycle Buyers Guide and use it often.

from TMW