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I am, you had to have read the entire thread.
Bike looks nice from the pic. I had a similar experience, went from Detroit to Nowheresville TN to buy a max I saw on Motorcycle Trader, it looked awesome in the picture, sales guy talked it all up, got there trailer in tow and cash in hand only to be extremely disappointed. The bike was totally ragged out. I turned around and left only to return home and get ragged on by my wife for racking up a ton of miles on the truck and being gone the whole weekend for nothing. At least the bike is yours and doesn't seem to be too much work. I did find a nice '94 closer to home that's been a great bike.
My adventure started with a guy saying he would hold a bike for me overnight until I could get there the next morning. Twenty minutes from his house and my wife called me and said that he called and just sold it. I was so upset that I jumped on next affordable bike I found. I should have passed on this one and waited just a little longer.
Oh well, I'll get it straightened out. At least it runs ok.
RaWarrior
Well-Known Member
Definitely check all the headpipes, on my Holeshot s/o the rear cylinder pipes don't fit awesomely and they don't "slip in" as far as you'd think they should. They have their own stainless exhaust clamps. When I first got the bike the left rear cylinder's pipe kept coming out no matter how much I tightened it...finally took the flange cover off and loosened the headpipe bolts so I could slide it a bit outward, haven't had problems yet. But yeah, it would be way louder if one pipe comes out of the muffler.
Honestly, it's better to have a bike that runs and works good and is a little rough cosmetically than have one that's all chrome and polish and runs like ass because it just sat around being cleaned all summer.
Spend a Saturday with a powerball polisher, a bottle of polish, and bottle of cleaner wax....you can make a big difference. My Magna had decades worth of tarnish and dirt built up on it when I got it....a couple hours of spit-shine made it look 100% better. Then a quick wipe down and wax job every so often kept it looking great.
I think we've all got stories about a sale that didn't quite go as planned. I had a similar experience buying a quad....guy apparently didn't have anything better than the world's oldest camera phone, so tiny, blurry photos. Description made it sound like it was perfect in every way. Drove like 200 miles cash in hand to get it. The "runs great" motor won't idle and bogs under load. Battery is no good. Headlights don't work. The brakes are 100% non-functional. Mileage is like double what he "seemed to remember". Oil looked like it had never been changed. I had called and asked him to hold it for a couple days until I could get a chance to drive out to NH and get it, and he didn't want to play ball on the price even when confronted about all the issues he failed to mention "since he could have sold it 5 times waiting for me". I finally got him to knock like $200 off for the brakes and carb job and bought it. An afternoon and I fixed all it's issues, but still think I paid too much for it. Kind of like I drove all the way out here and I don't want to go home empty handed. Don't beat yourself up over it...just see it as an excuse to mod all the things you don't like the look of!
Honestly, it's better to have a bike that runs and works good and is a little rough cosmetically than have one that's all chrome and polish and runs like ass because it just sat around being cleaned all summer.
Spend a Saturday with a powerball polisher, a bottle of polish, and bottle of cleaner wax....you can make a big difference. My Magna had decades worth of tarnish and dirt built up on it when I got it....a couple hours of spit-shine made it look 100% better. Then a quick wipe down and wax job every so often kept it looking great.
I think we've all got stories about a sale that didn't quite go as planned. I had a similar experience buying a quad....guy apparently didn't have anything better than the world's oldest camera phone, so tiny, blurry photos. Description made it sound like it was perfect in every way. Drove like 200 miles cash in hand to get it. The "runs great" motor won't idle and bogs under load. Battery is no good. Headlights don't work. The brakes are 100% non-functional. Mileage is like double what he "seemed to remember". Oil looked like it had never been changed. I had called and asked him to hold it for a couple days until I could get a chance to drive out to NH and get it, and he didn't want to play ball on the price even when confronted about all the issues he failed to mention "since he could have sold it 5 times waiting for me". I finally got him to knock like $200 off for the brakes and carb job and bought it. An afternoon and I fixed all it's issues, but still think I paid too much for it. Kind of like I drove all the way out here and I don't want to go home empty handed. Don't beat yourself up over it...just see it as an excuse to mod all the things you don't like the look of!
dannymax
Well-Known Member
Went thru the same thing, last year, but it was only 3 hrs away. Same deal tho, trailer in tow, cash in pocket, Garrett & I went to look at a
"Mint '85, paint might need a little buffing, a little dull from the sun but otherwise mint!!"
We got there....the carbs were off, engine full of water (salt water, I'm sure) and siezed, everything covered with rust....a total piece of junk!
Pretty irritating but it happens, I guess!
it ended up being a profitable trip for me!
dannymax
Well-Known Member
Yes it was....plus we got into some serious bison burgers...so, far from a total loss!! :clapping:
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