hey all,

i won an auction for 1990 gs500 with about 6k miles recently.  i have an agreement with the seller that if after i come see it, and i don't like it, i will just pay him back his listing fee.  i tried searching the archives but didn't find exactly what i am looking for.  my question is, what kind of things should i look for before purchasing a bike?  i've done a little reading and see there is a frequent problem with the fuel petcocks.  anything else i should be aware of?  the other problem is, it doesn't have tags, so i can't really test ride it on the street.  i can probably ride it around in a parking lot or something, but that's about it.  is that gonna be sufficient?

thanks for any input.

c'mon people.... someone here has got to have some advice.

Sorry!  Even GS experts *cough* need a day off.
My opinion - find a friend who works on his bike... a mechanic would be better but that doesn't happen most of the time!  Actually there are a bunch of standard checks one does when inspecting a bike (or bike for sale).  Repair manuals have them listed, stuff like check sprockets for wear, forks for play, basic mechanical soundness.  A bike 13 years old with 6k on the odo... check for signs of wear (owner could have always done something like clocked the odometer).  Or, like my bike, sat for a long time so the carbs were all gunked up and it ran like crap until they got cleaned.  Sitting also causes a bunch of little problems but some attention makes them go away

Check for clear title, no salvage (aka it got crashed bad), straight frame.  many times the battery box rusts, but you can always fix it later.

I'd say bringing along a friend who is mechanically experienced with bikes would be the best thing, if you are a new-ish type of rider.  Check the web for sites for beginners that list common bike problems.

Hmm... as jiggersplat probably has a limited time frame to get the bike... someone step to the plate and answer it properly?

Look for rust....every where, frame, forks, inside the tank...all of it.
Forks need to be straight of course and if they dont leak all the better.
Tires and chains being good just helps some initial expense. Seat rips also are fixable very easy and cheap really cos its just a flat sheet of very stretchy vinyl. Jared (actually also in MD) does some cool upholstry work. All else on the bike is easy to fix, upgrade or enitrely make from scratch. You want no to minimal rust and a good motor...test compression when cold and when hot you want atleast 145 psi cold and 155 hot. All else can be fixed easy and cheap. Oh yea you also want good un broken dash, body work and un dented tanks etc. So no damage visible or under the surface. So should start and run and shift and not slip out of gear etc.
Cool.
Srinath.

don't be afraid to get critical of thebike when looking it over.  


deep gouges don't happen on purpose, missing bar ends? why?

flip up the foot pegs, are they worn down pretty bad?

start it up, let it warm up, stop it, look for shinny oil in seams of the engine, start it up after warmed up, adjust idle, play with the dammed thing!

ride it around, take it on the street, a cop friend of mine said he would understand, just keep it to the neighborhood and stay off major road.   cops like bikes more than cars (my opinion and friends and he doesn't ride)  (must be the law of the west gun slinger cowboy thing marshall whoknows)

thanks for the tips people.  unfortunately my one friend that rides happens to be out of town for the week.  i'm pretty mechanically inclined (do all the work on my cars) but i don't know a whole lot about bikes.  it's been ridden this season, so i don't think sitting too long will be a problem.  he says it has a dent in the tank but i haven't found out why yet.  i'll be sure to check for rust and leaky or bent forks and compression.  

just curious, why would i want to check the compression when it's cold?  why not just after it's warmed up?

dan

Compression when cold is just in case the expansion is very high on heating. Wiseco pistons for example expand a lot when they are warm. A big difference between cold and hot values will indicate that. It will cause the bike to run like crap till hot.
Cool.
Srinath.