| Author | Message | ||
     Iamarchangel |
Bad vibes going his way. He did not deserve this bike. Don't know why the hack had to replace a battery in only 4000 miles but he did. He also did the short license plate mount thing. Somehow in the process he lost the battery strap, broke the positive shield, lost the tools and left a mess of wires in that compartment. So I go out for a ride and the temperature is about 94° and humid. Get gas and go to restart - nothing. No lights - nothing. Push the bike to a parking space and all I can do is look under the passenger seat. I can feel that the negative is barely snug so I wiggle it and nothing. The lady at the service station (21th century = no tools) is asking every customer if they have a screwdriver for me. Finally, somebody does have a screwdriver. I loosen and re-tighten the negative and nothing. I loosen and re-tighten the positive. Bingo, I get lights. There's a lot of corrosion build up on the terminals. I've got some clean up to do today and a visit to the shop to see if they've got a strap. People, when you change batteries or check them over, put a little vaseline on the terminals. You'll do yourself, and the next owner, a real favour. End of whine. | ||
| Chessm |
sounds like those are some things that you shouldve checked before you bought the bike | ||
| Iamarchangel |
Some of it was visible but, honestly, do you remove batteries before you buy a bike? (Taking it apart, you could see where he'd arced it and melted the lead so there wasn't even full contact. Both surfaces were pitted.) Also, that's why I called it a whine and not a rant. | ||
| Rogue_biker |
I empathize with you. I once bought a used VFR and didn’t do a thorough inspection (I was excited, blinded, biased, take your pick). Turned out the bike had more damage than I had anticipated due to a "drop" that was actually more of a lowside, plus it needed a lot of maintenance and parts. I ended up spending an additional $1500 replacing parts and making things right. However, I saved the bike from a future of abuse from other uncaring owners on its way to the trash heap, the bike turned up to be one of the nicest and cleanest one of this kind. Lesson I learned: Check everything you can prior to buying. A flashlight comes in handy in addition to a buying a bike that is either completely stock or has tasteful properly installed upgrades. | ||
| Thefleshrocket |
Funny, I bought a VFR with hidden issues too. Mine had a bad voltage regulator and an abused clutch, which I've fixed. It's also got a worn second gear dog and probably a worn or bent shift fork, which will be fixed eventually. (Hopefully this winter, time permitting.) I'm guessing that at some point in its past, someone spent a fair bit of time wheelying this machine--poorly. It also has a bunch of really nice upgrades and runs and rides fantastically (the second gear issue notwithstanding) and I got what would have been a smoking deal if the bike was in tip-top mechanical shape. As such, it was still a decent deal. |
