Buying a used bike

Stovepipes · 17 Mar 2015 at 22:10

wazza300 said:
how many miles?

I like the style of those bikes

It's done 11,600 and I paid £3200 but I've seen some seriously low mileage bikes over the last few weeks and didn't plan on purchasing one that had done over 10,000. Still it's prettier than the one I had originally planned on getting.

ElliorR said:
How tall are you? I had an ER6f and at 6'2" I was tall for it but it served me well. As for the exhaust, has it got a baffle in? If not and you don't have one it might be worth contacting the manufacturer and buy one.

Also when I traded it in it have covered well over 50k miles and still going strong.

I'm just 6ft but it feels smaller than the 2014 CBF650 I learned on and I kinda had my heart set on an adventure style bike like the CB500X but budget and insurance wouldn't allow for that and my god how expensive is the bloody insurance. I'm 34 and some quotes were between £2000 and £3000 quid.

As for the exhaust I think it has a baffle in but I'm no expert, I'll take a pic when I have access to a camera, but it's just crazy loud. I mean it literally makes me the center of attention and being a newbie rider that's kinda my worst nightmare.

wazza300 · 17 Mar 2015 at 22:18

11k miles is nothing to worry about

You got tens of thousands of miles ahead of you

MowyTone · 18 Mar 2015 at 13:26

wazza300 said:
11k miles is nothing to worry about

You got tens of thousands of miles ahead of you

This. As long as its been looked after in those miles you have nothing to worry about

ElliorR · 18 Mar 2015 at 14:05

11.6k miles for a 6 year old bike? Less than 2k a year is low mileage especially for a workhorse like the er6.

You've got yourself a decent first bike. Look after it, save your money and in a few years trade it in for a bike you want.

wazza300 · 18 Mar 2015 at 15:32

just change the oil & filter annually and it will run forever

Stovepipes · 18 Mar 2015 at 20:24

ElliorR said:
11.6k miles for a 6 year old bike? Less than 2k a year is low mileage especially for a workhorse like the er6.

You've got yourself a decent first bike. Look after it, save your money and in a few years trade it in for a bike you want.

Yeah it's not bad but I still have in mind that 2010 Yamaha XJ6 that I missed out on for £3300 with a mere 2000 miles

Still the Kawasaki is better looking imho

Kreeeee · 18 Mar 2015 at 20:38

The XJ6 is a crap bike, you lucked out there!

wazza300 · 18 Mar 2015 at 21:02

very nice and smart

look after it

Stovepipes · 18 Mar 2015 at 22:11

If I get time I'll post a video of the obnoxious exhaust, I'm really not sure I can live with the thing, it's crazy loud. Just wondering how much it'll cost me to get something quieter.

Kreeeee said:
The XJ6 is a crap bike, you lucked out there!

Really

it's well reviewed looked like a great beginner bike, what's wrong with it?

ElliorR · 18 Mar 2015 at 22:35

What make of exhaust is it and post a pic looking down the end.

Kreeeee · 18 Mar 2015 at 22:49

Stovepipes said:
Really it's well reviewed looked like a great beginner bike, what's wrong with it?

Maybe I hated it because it was my learner bike, but it felt so dull to ride for me. The sv650s and the street triple are leagues ahead in term of handling and fun.

ElliorR · 18 Mar 2015 at 22:54

Fun is very subjective. If you like hooning around then a Street Triple is a great bike for that and everyone I've known who's had one and everyone I've been on a ride with who's been on one has had their fun. Personally I could have fun riding any bike as its riding that I enjoy and my Tiger is great fun to ride. I don't need to be the first one there as the quicker you get where you're going the less time you've spent riding.

unKle · 19 Mar 2015 at 11:47

ElliorR said:
Fun is very subjective. If you like hooning around then a Street Triple is a great bike for that and everyone I've known who's had one and everyone I've been on a ride with who's been on one has had their fun. Personally I could have fun riding any bike as its riding that I enjoy and my Tiger is great fun to ride. I don't need to be the first one there as the quicker you get where you're going the less time you've spent riding.

Totally agree. One man's cuppa is another's poison.

Most fun I had on any bike was a Suzuki GP100, it had no front brake, no clutch, no lights. It was my mates field bike, spent hours mucking about on that, yet it would deemed to be a boring 2 stroke commuter.

Kreeeee · 19 Mar 2015 at 12:48

I think that's always a given.

Stovepipes · 19 Mar 2015 at 17:06

It's a Delkevic exhaust, there is something in there which I assume is the baffle but I'm not sure if the video quite captures how ridiculously loud it is. I now ride with headphones jammed in but I suppose at least everyone knows I'm around

View My Video

ElliorR · 19 Mar 2015 at 17:09

Is that indoors? If outside that seems to be quite loud.

Basically on your exhaust the baffle would be blocking the discharge point of the exhaust and you'd definitely know it's there as if it isn't it'd just be a hole going all the way in. Also you'll have a bolt somewhere on the narrower discharge pipe at the end holding the baffle in.

Stovepipes · 19 Mar 2015 at 17:13

ElliorR said:
Is that indoors? If outside that seems to be quite loud.

Yeah that's indoors so even worse but even outside it's bloody loud, another biker will pull up alongside me and I can't even hear them lol
I like being heard but it's a bit much.

ElliorR · 19 Mar 2015 at 17:15

I know the feeling as I bought an exhaust for my Tiger but took it off again as it was too loud for me and an annoyance but I don't think it was as loud as yours.

4T5 · 24 Mar 2015 at 17:52

I got a Delkovic for my VFR when I had it & yours sounds like the baffle has been taken out. At the end of the can there should be a allen bolt that you can remove to take the baffle out, Is the allen bolt there ? If the baffle is missing you should be able to get one from Delkovic as they are good guys running a good service. With the baffle in it's quite reasonable at low revs & only gets throaty when you give it some, You can cruise round running real quiet & then you can Blap it when you want a car to hear you.

Delkovic owe me a big favour so if he comes back with an expensive quote for the baffle then let me know & I'll approach him for you & remind him he owes me.

Stovepipes · 25 Mar 2015 at 18:26

I'm pretty sure the baffle was in there from having a look at bikes with the baffle out but doesn't matter anymore because at some point in the last 24 hours someone stole my bike.

Oh and I have a £1,000 excess too so that's the end of biking for me.