Looking at a 99 Drifter - miles too low?

[greenbarn]

I ended up buying it.  Hope you find yours soon.

[vegasx5]

Wow greenbarn that is a horrible experience you and your son went though!! It amazes me how callously some people can behave when you have the expectation of honesty and integrity. It's far, far worse when that individual knows that someone is literally flying across the country to do the deal! It's great that you guys had the know how to fix your situation but I can imagine someone less mechanically inclined would have spent even far more getting the truck back up and running. That's a hard and unfortunate lesson for anyone to have to learn! But, I do believe the people that commit these sorts of misdeeds will have it all catch up with them eventually.

Good luck checking out your drifter and thanks for the well wishes. I think the right one is waiting out there for both of us!

[greenbarn]

That sucks, Vegas.  My son got in a simarly raw deal about a year ago on a truck.  He and his girlfriend flew to Texas (from Ohio) to get a really good deal on a nice truck.  Slime-ball low-life dirt-bag used car dealer gave him a raw deal, but he wasn't as fornunate as you - he didn't realize he'd been had until 2/3 of the way home when the head gaskets blew on the motor.  When we hauled it home, and got it tore down, we realized it had been worked on REALLY recently, band-aided together and pushed off on him as "great shape".  Needless to say, the same Slime-ball low-life dirt-bag used car dealer wouldn't help him out at all, and his "george" didn't even work there anymore, at least that was the story part of the time.  About $4000 later, we put him in a new diesel motor, and he's got a nice truck, but just a lot more expensive one than he'd bargained for.

I'm going to look at a drifter tomorrow, I hope it turns out better than your last one - I hope your next one turns out better too.  Keep yer head up, there are a lot of slime-balls out there, but there's some decent folks left, too.

[vegasx5]

As per usual I agree with everything you've said. I was scratching my head staring at the rear of the front fender trying to figure out what it could have hit to cause the damage that was on it. There simply was no logical place for the fender to hit on the bike for it to be there, so I can only speculate it was dropped or wrecked at some point.

Sadly I didn't even know I was dealing with a guy from a pawn shop until he told me where the bike was located. He made it sound like he just worked there, but there were 5 other motorcycles out front so clearly he is a low volume dealer (makes me wonder what the laws/permits are on that but whatever). I definitely agree that in the future I will always have someone take a look at it for me even if I have to hire someone when the vehicle is out of state. If I had paid someone at a local shop $100 to go check it out I would have ended up way ahead, but alas it is a learning experience.

I will keep looking for sure and thanks for sending links to those other 3 - I actually like them all! The one in LA is seriously awesome so I'm going to follow up with that guy and get some more info. Thanks for the advice and the responses btw!!

[alamogeorge]

That really sucks but it emphasizes the importance of having eyes on the bike, even if it is an untrained motorcycle eye.

First red flag, the number of Georges you had to deal with. Never trust us. Haha! Second, don't buy vehicles from pawn shops. You might get a good deal but you are almost always dealing with a lower lifeform and intelligence than used car dealers. (Not that there aren't good examples of both.)

I wonder if the guy lived who crashed it. C'mon, it's got some rough marks and the odometer doesn't agree with the title... They replaced parts (odometer and probably a tank and) and just didn't bother with the "small" blemishes on the fenders. Front fenders don't get strange markes unless they were flipped around while scraping the center divider at 60mph.

I'm glad you were smart enough to walk away from it and it won't "be sold by tomorrow." because it didn't sell by yesterday. Pawn shops and dealers don't hold vehicles for you. They just don't. I wouldn't unless you were a friend or put down a non-refundable deposit. It didn't sell because everyone else noticed the same issues. I was almost in the same situation once. There was a car (in a recently flooded area) for a great price. It drove great and looked nice. The VIN report showed it spending the first part of it's life as a rental but the price alloted for that. As I plopped down the cash on top of the blue title (Color of a good TX title) I noticed that it read "Salvage" on it. That was odd since the salvage titles are usually...some other color. Brown I think. People know what they are doing and just want to try to find their sucker.

Keep looking. I'll keep my eyes peeled for any deals.

[vegasx5]

Ok here's the updated story...

I got on a plane Saturday morning with nothing more than my helmet, gloves and jacket, and a friend picked me up at the airport to drive me out to get the bike. It looked nice in person, but there were a few cosmetic issues. It definitely had saddlebags on it because the back fender was pretty scratched on top and had rub markings all over, and the rear of the front fender had some strange rub marks as well. The back tire had very little life in it, but overall it wasn't too bad. I still felt ok paying $4,500, so I went inside to finish up paper work.

So the guy I have been chatting with for 3 weeks is named George, and he owns a pawn shop. He buys and sells motorcycles for fun through the shop which is where I went to meet him. Strangely, the guy showing me the bike was also named George, but it wasn't the guy I have been dealing with. Apparently the George I've been talking to was "busy" even though I spoke with him on the phone a few hours earlier to tell him I was going to be there. I thought it was weird, but whatever.

As I pulled out the cash to hand over, I was looking over the title and noticed a problem. The bike shows 3,773 miles currently, however the title issued in September 2010 showed the bike had 8,500 miles at that time. I brought that to his attention, and he took the title and disappeared for 10 minutes talking to the other George. He said that the DMV made a mistake and it was no big deal they'd just issue a new title with the lower miles on it. I've done enough deals to know that when that happens, the title will "true miles unknown" which drops the value significantly. I then asked to speak with the George I've been dealing with (I was becoming pretty upset by this point), and the guy said that he actually wasn't in the shop any more he had to go take care of something. He then asked me to hand over the money to finish the deal!! I stated that I didn't want to do a deal when either the title had serious issues or the bike had an odometer issue, and this guy became very combative and said that he didn't care if I bought it because "it would be sold by tomorrow if I didn't want it".

Obviously there was more back and forth over the course of an hour, but the bottom line was that he/they strung me along and conveniently left out this problem knowing that I was buying a plane ticket to come pick up the bike. I felt terrible for putting my friend (ex girlfriend none the less haha) through this experience, and it really ruined my day to first lose the bike I was in love with and second have to fork over $200 to get another one way ticket back home!! I'm not done looking for my Drifter, but I felt this one was certainly not meant to be. As an aside, George never did call or email me or talk to me while I was there. Really irks me when people aren't trustworthy or honest when I acted in good faith and wasted so much time and money!

[alamogeorge]

We expect an update Monday morning...

[vegasx5]

Ok here's an update:

He came down on price to $4,500 but he definitely won't budge below that. I'm ok paying that price but not thrilled. My only concern is that if I pass on this one, I might not find another 99 with low miles in great shape for a while. I really want to start riding soon since the weather here in Vegas is about to be perfect. My plan is to fly out Saturday morning, pick up riding gear at CycleGear, then go get the bike and ride it home to Vegas right after unless something unexpected happens.

Here's some pictures btw to show condition and see if you guys think it's a decent buy:

[woody9864]

I bought my 99 from an older guy who bought it new in 99. He put 16K miles on it and had a heart attack and it sat for years. I bought it for 2,700.00 and took it to my mechanic who changed everything and inspected the bike. New tires and the such and a change to longshots so I have around 3,250 in it now. Price seems high to me for a unused 4K mile 99. I was lucky with no leaks or seepage or anything. But beware the low mileage.

[vegasx5]

Very true I have seen it too. I'm a part of a Land Cruiser forum, and those guys are brutal when it comes to good deals! They will all pile on whenever something of real value comes up.

I actually went ahead a booked a round trip flight from here to there for next weekend for $55 total and bought a concert ticket for Friday night to meet up with some friends. The plan is I'll go check it out in person Saturday with cash and helmet in hand, and if the deal is right and bike checks out I'll ride it to Vegas. If the bike isn't what I'm looking for, I'll buy my friend a drink for the ride out there and enjoy the rest of the day and fly home. I guess it's a minimal risk and could potentially work out well. The seller and I have tentatively agreed on price at $4,500 which I think is reasonable considering it's precisely what I'm looking for.

[alamogeorge]

That's a real concern but a real...not so nice thing if they did that. Then again, I've seen it happen in real life. I'd still do it. Make a post "Anyone in Arizona willing to check out bike?" Then you could buy the guy lunch when you pick it up. May even score a place to crash before the ride home. Haha!

[vegasx5]

That's a good point and the main fear I have buying something sight unseen. I'd hate to get about 100 miles down the freeway and have something unpleasant happen! The bike is down in Arizona, and the seller is getting me a bunch of hi resolution pictures today so I can ensure there's no notable damage or anything. In the first couple of pictures I can tell it looks very clean and the tires look pretty fresh too which was a concern giving the age. Are there a lot of Drifter riders in the Phoenix area? I was a little worried that if a real enthusiast saw this one they might want to keep it for themselves haha

[alamogeorge]

Where's it at? You may be able to find someone on this board who is close by who knows Drifters to check it out. No sense in flying if the transmission sticks and there are cracks everywhere.

[vegasx5]

Yep I definitely agree with that advice, and I'd like to baseline the fluids and maintenance either way since I'm sure they're mostly original besides the engine oil. My target range for the bike is to pay between $4-4.2k, so I'm going to have to see if there's that much wiggle room in the price.

The other complicating factor is that it's actually not local to me, so I was planning to fly in and drive it home. I realize there's a little more risk involved that way, but I've done it before with good results. I have an SUV but no hitch or trailer and don't want to ship the bike since it's only about 400 miles away. I'll update this post when I speak with the owner about price.

Oh and 50k miles is a little more than I'm looking for because I intend to put some serious miles on it

[alamogeorge]

I think I paid about $4900 for my 2005 loaded with 9,500 miles. I would assume that just like any car or bike that hasn't been ridden that there will be minor tuneup involved. I guess the key to the mileage being an issue is were the miles put on every other month a little at a time over the life of the bike or were they all put on in 1999-2001 and then it sat?

I never priced the 99/00 because I like chrome but comparitively I would say that is the higher side. Granted it has low miles... There is one in Bullard, TX for $3200 that has a bunch of accesories http://easttexas.craigslist.org/mcd/2828688408.html . It also has 49,000 miles if that makes you feel better. Haha!

I'd try to get the bike for closer to $4k but I am only assuming that the tuneup would not be too much. I would assume that you'd want to flush all of the fluids, is the tank rusty?, tires might look good but are they old?...

You could always ask him to take it to your mechanic and have him tell you what it will need. A fifty dollar bill could save you hundreds, ya know?

[vegasx5]

Guy is asking a little over $5k, but I know he has a lot of wiggle room. It's totally stock as well. I do realize there are lower priced newer bikes, but I'm only interested in a 99/00 for the black forks and various pieces so I'm ok with paying a little bit of a premium.

[alamogeorge]

What's the price?

[vegasx5]

Hello everyone! I'm looking at picking up a 1999 Drifter 1500, and it looks to be in excellent shape with a clean title. The gentleman who owns it is a bit older and doesn't have much desire or inclination to ride, so it has less than 4,000 miles on it. I would expect with the age of the bike for it to have at least 10k miles on it - with regular maintenance as well - so I'm not sure if I should be hesitant that it hasn't been ridden enough.

Just a little backrground on me - I was in high school when my mom bought my dad a new 1999 Vulcan 1500 standard. I was riding a GSXR600 at the time and kinda joked that my dad's bike was boring. I took it to the mountains once and ended up putting 90% of the miles on that bike because I liked it so much. I've always loved the Drifter styling even more and have casually looked throughout the years. I was originally looking to get into Ducatis, but after riding a few I'm not sure my body is keen on the idea after a few knee injuries.

Anyways, are there issues that typically arise from a lack of use with these bikes? I know they are very reliable and user friendly but I want to ensure I don't end up with something I have to do a whole bunch of maintenance on to bring it up to par. Thanks!