found a vmax but it has high miles, whatcha think?

[n10sivern]

i have a friend that is looking to sell his vmax. its a 2001 with 50K miles. unfortunately, they aren't his miles. he bought it at an auction (he's a bike dealer) but it appears to have been garage kept and is in overall good shape and he tends to believe that it was all adult driven. the only problems that i could find is that the top of the front fender finish is worn and the bike looks like it was dropped on each side. on the left side there are some fine scratches on the side of the exhaust and the clutch lever is curled some. looks like it just fell over and landed on the clutch lever. the other side has similar damage with the endcap on the handlebars missing and some fine scratches on the exhaust. none of the damage APPEARS to have been from a complete lay down but who knows if something has been replaced. only other issue is that it needs new starter clutch plates which my friend said he would throw in the parts with the sale and that it wasn't a tough job to do. seeing that the bike is 8 years old, has 51K miles (6000-6500 miles/year) i tend to agree that the bike was taken care of and was obviously a daily/frequent driver for whoever previously owned it. the bike does crank up and runs strong. worth $2800? i can't really talk him down below that as he has it advertised for $3500 and he offered it to me at $2800 which isn't much more than he paid for it. should i jump on it? is that TOO many miles? what do i need to really watch for? i'm leaning toward getting it but the miles worry me, not only in the area of the bikes reliability but it might make it difficult to resale if i decide the vmax isn't to my liking.

 

[click-it]

I have 33,000. miles and some change and mine runs fine. I will leave the pros to comment on what to look for. If you need stock exhaust for the bike I have a decent set laying in my garage throw me a offer if interested.

 

[n10sivern]

thanks, appreciate the offer on the exhaust but i gotta actually get the bike first.

i just looked up the nada values again. low retail is $3915 and high retail is $5150. i just don't know where it would fit with the mileage.....i guess the low retail side of things. even then, it's a grand under low retail. oh, and i forgot to mention it needs a new front tire. rear is about 60%.

 

[one2dmax]

Regular mileage is really a plus as everything stays lubed and clean. It's probably a fair buy but maybe not the find of the century. Still a good deal anyway.

On a side note - I am getting in a 2003 in a few weeks that has been crashed and has less the 2,000 miles on it. I'll be moving all the running gear over to a 99 frame to prep it for sale. I'll be asking probably close to double that for it though this will have almost no miles on everything but the frame. Of course we could build this bike to your desire too but it's a long way from $2800 he's offering.

Sean

 

[gamorg02]

how does it ride?

 

[vmax626]

My 2000 has 19,800 miles on her and not a drop of oil anywhere.
I keep the aluminium polished and the paint touched up.
I didn`t actually start putting good miles on her (for resale reasons) until I joined up with our church riding ministry (they like to go on long rides) but, I would not let mine go for any less than $5,000.00 firm.especially with the mods that I have done to it.
It`s just my opinion but, the vmax is like fine wine and cheese in a rolls royce, If they are well kept : they dont lose their value.:eusa_dance:
Although I have seen a couple in the dealer that were dirty had obvious signs of seal leakage and still had a 52 -53 hundred price tag on them and the dealer didn`t even bother to clean them up but, one had a sold tag on it.
<<Dave>>

 

[n10sivern]

how does it ride?

it rides fine

 

[gamorg02]

it rides fine

if it feels fine, doesn't have 2nd gear issues, sounds good, rides well and doesn't leak anything and all the fluids are good. i'd say go 4 it...

i know bill s. here has a 120k vmax. but others blow thru engines in about half that....

luck of the draw and how it was ridden is going to play a role...

if it blew up, i bet you could part it out for well over $3k....

 

[n10sivern]

yeah it feels fine riding it. no problems with the gears. no obvious leaks. oil looks good and has been recently changed, probably by my friend.

that's slowly becoming my take is that even if the engine blew up, i could part the rest of the bike out and get some if not all of my money back out of it.

 

[one2dmax]

The engine holds the most value on the bike but the rest of the parts would help get the most of your money back anyway.

Sean

 

[gamorg02]

yeah it feels fine riding it. no problems with the gears. no obvious leaks. oil looks good and has been recently changed, probably by my friend.

that's slowly becoming my take is that even if the engine blew up, i could part the rest of the bike out and get some if not all of my money back out of it.

i'd tend to agree...

its like the same with any bike with 50k miles on it.. check the normal stuff, except for the 2nd gear issue being specifics for vmax.

 

[VMAX1]

imo if you are wanting a max i would shop around, there are good deals out there. 2800 is cheap for a 1200cc bike yes but 55k is alot of miles especially unknown miles. History of the bike is the factor here. you want to ride it not have to part it out.

 

[dannymax]

Vmax1 is right...there are a lot of good deals out there...it's a buyers market for sure.

Check e bay, 'completed listings only' for v max motorcycles, you'll be surprised. '06's with 8K, 9K on the clock, selling for $5500 - $6000.

The guy with the 'green' is calling the shots right now!!

 

[one2dmax]

Yea, but that's double the money. He could take the difference and get a 1300 conversion from me and have a fresh engine (price varies depending on what we do) and a faster bike (if that's what he wants).

Sean