Should I Buy This Motorcycle?

Welcome to CR4, Guest. Hope you'll come back and register with us.

About a year ago, one of our bloggers bought a motorcycle with a salvage title in NY State. Here's what he wrote about it, if you want to give it a read.

Glad someone got the salvage post tagged - I can move on to other issues

It runs hot in start and stop traffic and sometimes overheats.

Cash only.

Not just NO, but HELL NO

Maybe if he gave me his truck to hold against the first week riding it.

I don't recall this model having overheat problems. That makes me VERY leery of the rest of his story about salvage titles.

This thing is old enough to have gone through Katrina, and might have. Don't let cosmetics fool ya - and good deals usually ain't.

I have owned two bikes that came with salvage titles, repaired them, had them inspected, and re-registered them. Though I'm not familar with DMV laws in Pennsylvania, I would question the part about being allowed to register it was a mistake. The people at the DMV office are trained to look for certain things when registering a vehicle and it is not likely they would miss that information.

Next, having owned several sport bikes (and I don't claim to be an expert by any stretch) it shouldn't run hot in traffic or even sitting in the drive idling. There is something wrong with the cooling system, fuel settings, tune-up, etc for it to run hot. Personally, for the price being asked, the overheating problem, and the paperwork issue... I'd stay clear of it.

PA DMV, the saying here is that if it can be screwed up PennDot will do it.

And I mean our Police, Politicians, and the citizens.

I am a part time resident of PA, because after trying to renew my driver' license, they send back my form and tell me I was never licensed to drive in PA, thus my insurance and registration was not legal.

I reside in another state now, most of the year, returning only for visits. This state, not abutting PA tells me that I am not the only one who has moved here because of the stupidity of PennDot and their minions.

Another quirk that is gospel truth; a friend on mine bought a travel trailer in LA and tried to register it in PA. The title came back with "1937 Terraplane" listed as the vehicle and a request for additional monies.

So knowing ow screwed up PA is, I would tend to believe the title is good and not salvage as a later communication stated.

As an avid Biker, I have to agree with the above posters. Leave it be and find another bike. You can get a new bike for a good price right now and with the creative financing you can get some pretty decent payments. At least that way your not buying someone Else's problems.

These bike are made to run fast and hard but never hot. I would definitely stay away.

Thanks for the advice, that's why I asked here. Not very firmilar with bikes so ask some experts. :)

"Not very firmilar with bikes"? If this is your first bike, you are buying a very fast machine for a novice rider, unless you can show an incredible amount of SELF CONTROL!

Get something else.

And WEAR A HELMET!

second this comment.

take a motorcycle safety course, and wear a helmet, and appropriate clothing.

Try a few weekends a month on one like thisYou shouldn't fall but if you do fall you can fall on the left side so you don't get burned on the exhaust pipe but if you do fall on the right side your leg though warm will prevent a ding in the exhaust pipe. A while after you've mastered your drop'n pick up style you may then find the feel of a bigger bike confidently or not, be safe.

I would start with an older Honda dinosaur. Still fun, easy to repair and find parts, usually cheap. Less heart breaking when dropped.

Leave it! In this economy for not much more than $2500 you could find another almost 10yr old CBR with a clean title and no history of issues. Overheating, this bike was likely abused, maybe just the thermostat is bad but I wouldn't chance it. Though those engines are very reliable, this one could be cooked.

If you wanted a rat bike to tool around on maybe $1500 would be a fair price, but not for something you want to ride.

From the info provided I would tend to stay clear of it. I currently own a 2005 GSXR 750 that I bought with a salvage certificate and got it titled & registered in PA this past April. $2500 is steep for that bike, I bought mine for $2900 with 3500 miles and it only had cosmetic damage. THe process in PA gets to be a pain, from the looks of it the bike should pass the Enhanced Inspection (the inspection that needs to be done so that it can be deemed safe to ride). But then you will have to take it to a notary to get tags and submit the salvage certificate along with the inspection form (I believe the form is the DMV 428b). If everythng clears you will receive a reconstructed title in the mail in about a week. The real problem I see is that the state will require receipts for the parts that were purchased to repair the motorcycle. If you or the person who repaired it bought parts in PA you won't have to pay more money but if you bought htem out of state you will. Say you only needed to repair the fairings and bought them on ebay from Ohio, you didn't pay salestax on it. When you submit the 428b you will have to pay salestax on those parts. You will not get a person from the DMV to admit it but this is just a case of the state trying to get more money out of you.

Honestly the overheating might not be a huge problem, if it was dumped the radiator or thermostat could be messed up or the fan that should kick on around 220 degrees might have broke which isn't hard to fix either. But I wouldn't pay more than $1g for it.

Your best bet is to check with your local DMV and make sure you can register it in your state.

You should also consult with someone local about used bike prices. It sounds expensive to me considering it has a salvage title.

One thing you should never do: do NOT buy it without riding it. Sometimes salvage motorcycles look nice but may have a bent frame, which is dangerous and makes it worthless.