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Posted by CDNRatMan
- September 15, 2013, 22:12:00 PMPosted by greenbarn
- September 15, 2013, 21:51:56 PMPart II of my quest for information on shopping for my Dream Bike. Any ideas from this forum's wisdom base would be highly valued.
I know it's going to be another Drifter, I just need to decide what to shop for. As I look through ads for bikes for sale, I try to prioritize what aspects/options/etc. are more important. I figure you can buy the first thing that comes along, or look for a long time to find exactly what you want. Hopefully it will be something in between. 
So here are some attributes I want to look for, and my reasoning. I value the wisdom found on this forum - please tell me if I'm off base on any of these. These are listed in order of "approximate" importance, but not exactly hard-and-fast.
1) cost: I'm cheap, I don't like to pay full price. I don't plan to pay $6000 for a $6000 bike, unless I would find EXACTLY what I want, which is highly unlikely. I plan to paint this bike, so cosmetic conditions, color, etc, don't really matter. A GOOD VALUE does. Mechanical issues are not bad, unless they're un-repairable, or not easily fixed (e.g. I probably don't want to have to find a used motor)
2) Mileage: I see a lot of low mileage drifters for sale. As long as there are low mileage bikes, why buy a high-miles model? My personal target is 10-15000 with 20,000 being "sort of" an upper limit. Does this soun5) d reasonable?
3) seat configurations: It seems that every 2-up configuration requires the illusive stock bracket. So it seems to make sense to find a bike with either a 2-up that I want, or at least a stock 2-up for the brackets?
4) R vs. J - I think I've decided on a R version, mostly for the larger fuel tank, and I think I want chrome on this bike. I really like the blacked out bikes, too, but I think I might go with a black 800 later... another story.
5) Exhaust: some of these pipes are getting hard to find. Peacepipe, Roadhouse. Seems like getting a sweet pipe on there would have to be a PLUS.
6) other options: stuff like windshield, crash bar, light bar, saddle bags, etc. These are a little more quantifiable - it's easy to figure how many dollars they will cost to add if they're not on there.
Anything else I'm missing?