ok guys. i have a date to sell the car this friday. here are my options for saturday morning!

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/mcy/1284327753.html (favorite)

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/mcy/1258304233.html and this one, even though it's been down. it was up for $3k or something, and now it's down to a very cheap price. i'm thinking maybe the frame is a bit bent?.. and that's why it won't sell. but i don't know. i might take a ride on it and see what's up. but the first one is very close to me, so i think i'll have it! unless it's sold already. probably is.

The first one says... "Has been laid down twice at no speed, never been dropped."   Dropped and laid down are different? So, I guess he decided to gently lay it down because ?? It was tired? thought it would be easy to change the oil that way?

Also the lever end is broken? Also from him gently putting it to sleep?... No... IT FELL DOWN! 

 

good luck  

Thanks for those ads! Just incase the insurance company tries to give me shaZam!, I'll show them market value!

i'll bet you a 1/2 a egg roll this one is a scam:

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/mcy/1258304233.html

think so? a strange ad for sure, but i wouldn't think scam. i hope i don't have to find out.

yes, the first ad was strangely worded. but i spoke to the seller tonight. it is a girl selling it for a friend of her's that is also a girl. so i just need to ask before i go up there if the handlebars or anything are bent and if it shakes, take it for a ride, and we're in good shape.

now, a question typical of someone new to bikes: if a bike has been laid down/dropped, is it likely to have bent the frame causing a speed wobble? is that how that works?

I agree with ohgood.  I've seen scam ads on craigslist that are formatted exactly like this one, with the big list of specs you can look-up anywhere.  The big tip-offs are it's too cheap and email reply only.  If someone won't give me his phone number, I don't want to buy a vehicle from him, or even attempt to.  Then he tells you he's in the service overseas.  Then he asks you to send payment to a fake ebay site then he'll ship you the non-existent bike.  Beware.

As an aside, the bike in the photos has been crashed.

I'd also never shop for a bike before selling the car.  Not counting chickens before they hatch comes to mind.  One of my co-workers had his boat sold a couple months ago, until the buyer's wife found out.

Quote from: scottpA_GS on July 29, 2009, 04:40:44 PM

The first one says... "Has been laid down twice at no speed, never been dropped."   Dropped and laid down are different? So, I guess he decided to gently lay it down because ?? It was tired? thought it would be easy to change the oil that way?

Also the lever end is broken? Also from him gently putting it to sleep?... No... IT FELL DOWN! 

 

good luck  

Thought it was tired, gave me a good laugh.

Anyways hopefully you have some good luck with the first one. I do agree about the 2nd one looking pretty fishy. I had a pretty hard time finding one in my area, most of them were scams. I actually had at least 2 that I messaged that had the overseas thing just as someone talked about.

There's a decent looking GS on the Baltimore CL:  http://baltimore.craigslist.org/mcy/1291039742.html

This one is more money and sounds a bit rougher:  http://baltimore.craigslist.org/mcy/1289912841.html

-Jessie

Quote from: BaltimoreGS on July 29, 2009, 07:19:48 PM
There's a decent looking GS on the Baltimore CL:  http://baltimore.craigslist.org/mcy/1291039742.html

This one is more money and sounds a bit rougher:  http://baltimore.craigslist.org/mcy/1289912841.html

-Jessie

I saw those yesterday....both cheaper than what I paid. 

Don't let it bug you, just be glad you got one   

-Jessie

I saw this one over the weekend..... http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/mcy/1294283943.html

It made me want to cry that I don't have $600 to spare at the moment.

yeah the second one does look pretty scammy i guess. i'm hoping for the first one though.

i'd get one of those, but i'm hard set on an F. i want the wind screen, and aftermarket wind screens for non-faired gs's don't float my boat.

so what is the deal with the dropping/wrecking -> frame bending/shaking? i'm mostly asking, because i'm not too sure if i'm going to test ride that first bike when i go look at it. supposedly it hasn't been started in a few weeks, so that batt. is dead, and i haven't done a whole lot of riding and she's in a city. so i don't really want to go ride it around a city. i mean, i'm sure i'll  take it around the block, but i don't know that i'll get it to 60? is there a chance the frame is bent?

If it really was just dropped at low speeds then the frame shouldn't be bent.  I bought my bike and it had been dropped by both PO's and then i even dropped it at a stop a few times everything seems to be fine with the frame and it rides just fine.  I have to imagine that being dropped and real slow speeds or stopped it would be hard to even bend the frame unless you have some crazy bad luck and hit some weird object at an obscure angle on the ground.  By looking at the scratched parts on the bike you should be able to tell how fast and how hard the bike was actually dropped. 

As everyone else has been saying though i would avoid the second one.

Look for kinks in the frame.  It's box section tubing so bends that have been straightened will show creases where the bends were, and that severely reduces rigidity because it's no longer a box section.  Bassmechanicz is right.  Drops won't bend the frame.  Crashes can.  Look for creases in the flat areas of the frame.

You must ride it at speed before buying.  That's a hard rule for me.  By observing that rule I have bought 4 used bikes and didn't regret any of them.  Pay close attention to the feedback the bike gives you.  Take your hands off the bars and make sure it goes straight without having to lean to one side to correct it.  Don't touch a bike with a suspected bent frame.  There's no need to.  Good GS 500's are not rare, and a bent frame is an expensive time-consuming thing to fix correctly.  A new frame is needed and then of course the whole bike needs to be taken apart and re-assembled on the new frame.  Don't be model/brand specific when shopping for a used bike.  Look for a good bike in good shape at a good price, even if you don't end-up with a GS.  I know that's sacrilege here, but it's more important to get a good buy on a good bike.

If you really want an F model and are unsure of your ability to weed-out bad ones from good ones, why not buy a new one for $4000?  They're dirt cheap right now.  I hear there are new 2008 models still available.  Even if you borrowed $5k your payments would only be about $150/month for 3 years.  It's a good way to establish credit.  That's what I did in 1983.  I bought the only new bike I ever bought in the middle of a recession.  Don't forget to try an SV650 while you're there!  Then low-ball the hell out of them for the bike you want.  Dealers are starving for sales right now.  Also join a credit union to get good loan terms.  Banks suck.  Credit unions rule!  

Quote from: bill14224 on July 30, 2009, 06:01:00 AM
Look for kinks in the frame.  It's box section tubing so bends that have been straightened will show creases where the bends were, and that severely reduces rigidity because it's no longer a box section.  Bassmechanicz is right.  Drops won't bend the frame.  Crashes can.  Look for creases in the flat areas of the frame.

You must ride it at speed before buying.  That's a hard rule for me.  By observing that rule I have bought 4 used bikes and didn't regret any of them.  Pay close attention to the feedback the bike gives you.  Take your hands off the bars and make sure it goes straight without having to lean to one side to correct it.  Don't touch a bike with a suspected bent frame.  There's no need to.  Good GS 500's are not rare, and a bent frame is an expensive time-consuming thing to fix correctly.  A new frame is needed and then of course the whole bike needs to be taken apart and re-assembled on the new frame.  Don't be model/brand specific when shopping for a used bike.  Look for a good bike in good shape at a good price, even if you don't end-up with a GS.  I know that's sacrilege here, but it's more important to get a good buy on a good bike.

If you really want an F model and are unsure of your ability to weed-out bad ones from good ones, why not buy a new one for $4000?  They're dirt cheap right now.  I hear there are new 2008 models still available.  Even if you borrowed $5k your payments would only be about $150/month for 3 years.  It's a good way to establish credit.  That's what I did in 1983.  I bought the only new bike I ever bought in the middle of a recession.  Don't forget to try an SV650 while you're there!  Then low-ball the hell out of them for the bike you want.  Dealers are starving for sales right now.  Also join a credit union to get good loan terms.  Banks suck.  Credit unions rule!  

+1 for credit unions.

Or do waht I did.  1990 GS500, nonrunning.  Just took me 2 months and about $500 in parts to put it together and now it runs like a champ!  All for $800 bucks with only 12k miles on it!

thanks for all the great advise. i would be thinking of a new one, but i got insurance quotes for a new gs and one 3 years old, and the difference was pretty crazy as i remember. i'm also pretty hard pressed to stay under 3k, and i can't take on payments. i'm in college. i work 4 months out of the year and waste half of it  because i'm dumb lol. that's why i'm getting a bike. so i don't have to spend $1k a month on my car

another typical noob question. will it be ok to jump start the bike as if it's a car? just jumper cables from the car to the bike battery? i'm a tard with electronics. i'm a good mechanic, but i stay away from wires lol. i'm just wondering if it's neg. ground or 6 volt or something like that.

Quote from: KasbeKZ on July 30, 2009, 02:36:36 PM
thanks for all the great advise. i would be thinking of a new one, but i got insurance quotes for a new gs and one 3 years old, and the difference was pretty crazy as i remember. i'm also pretty hard pressed to stay under 3k, and i can't take on payments. i'm in college. i work 4 months out of the year and waste half of it  because i'm dumb lol. that's why i'm getting a bike. so i don't have to spend $1k a month on my car

another typical noob question. will it be ok to jump start the bike as if it's a car? just jumper cables from the car to the bike battery? i'm a tard with electronics. i'm a good mechanic, but i stay away from wires lol. i'm just wondering if it's neg. ground or 6 volt or something like that.

Make sure the car is off when you do this..it will work.

i understand that it would work, but why is it better that the car is off?

lol.  Won't make a difference if the car is on or off.  Whether the car is on or off is irrelevant, you have a battery either way.  When the car is running, the battery recieves juice via the alternator which recharges it.