Millage on a Bike ??

[Prelude38]

Hi everyone,<br><br>I am a Complete newbie. i live in Canada where the riding season is 6 months tops. i am interested in getting a bike. i will be taking the Bike school in April and hopefully get a bike right after. right now i am looking at the Suzuki SV650s, Kawasaki ninja 500, or the Suzuki GS 500F. i don't really want to start on a 600 sport bike because i am really new to riding. I am looking at getting something in the used market but i dunno what is a good value when looking for a bike. How much does Millage in a bike matter? some bikes i see with 15,000KM (9300 miles) and other with 5000KM (3000 miles). what is a good Km or Miles per month ratio? or KM/Miles per year? what is the average? and how much is the price affected by this?<br><br><br>thanks in advance<br>Pre

[UncleErnie]

<div>I guess this won't help much, but it all depends on how the bike was taken care of. If the bike was not looked after in ways like how often was the oil changed, the chained lubed and adjusted, tune-ups performed, etc. Did the owner make lots of fast starts, do wheelies, was the bike crashed and only &quot;sort of&quot; repaired. did the owner put in modifications that (s)he thought would make it go faster but only makes it louder and not run right- things like that. A 20 year old bike with only 5K miles might seem like a great deal, but if it hasn;t been ridden in the last year or 2, there could be &quot;sitting problems&quot; like are the carburetors junked up because gas becomes varnish as it dries up, did the tires get really hard (or dry rot) while sitting so long- things like that.</div><div> </div><div>My lastest bike had 20K on it when I got it. When I drove up to his house, it looked like he uses a stright edge when he mows the grass. The house was in good reapir, the yard raked. The building where the biike has stored has other things line up, there were no cobwbs on the walls, the floor was swept.</div><div>He told me of a couple of modification he made that made sense to me because I had hung out at a website for owners of tht make and model. The bike was clean- even in little places like crevices- the sprockets had rouned teeth, the ires were almost new, and it started with the touch of the button and idled perfectly.</div><div> </div><div>I just sold a bike that I put 87K on the clock.. Heard from the new owner recently because he wanted to let me know how pleased he is.</div><div> </div><div>Hot tip- if you call on a used bike and get a woman, don't ask for the owner. Often they'll try to get you over tho their boyfriend or husband because &quot;he takes care of those things&quot;, but if you can get her talking, she'll tell you most of what you really need to know.</div><div> </div><div>You sound like you're going about this in the right way, BTW. Good for you.</div>

[VStarMan]

<div>If you do an internet search, you should be able to find a Used Bike Blue Book somewhere...</div>

[carlo]

Anything under 5000 miles for the models you listed should be good unless they've been abused or crashed. Just be sure the owner had the first service done. After that there isn't much they need below 5000 miles.<br><br>Over 10,000 miles you definately should look for the service history. If the owner can't produce records on a high-milage bike, pass on it.<br>If there's a complete service history available, and the bike shows no signs of abuse (dirty, loose chain, bald tires, especially the center of the tread, etc.) a high milage bike in the 20,000 plus range would be ok to buy.<br><br>For the low-end models you listed, 20,000 miles would be a lot. People just don't put that many miles on those things (usually. I know a guy with a Ninja 500, who's put some serious miles on it). Also, don't believe those guys who say you'll get tired of a bike like a Ninja 500. A good running Ninja will do an honest 120+ mph (about 200kph), that's faster than anyone should go on a public road.