Bikes with abnormally low km's | GTAMotorcycle.com

Bikes with abnormally low km's

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MyNameIsBup

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I've been looking at buying a used bike but some seem a little bit off to me. There are some clean looking 5-10 year old bikes with extremely low km's. I've seen a few 10 year old bikes with less than 2-3000km on the clocks and even saw a 5 year old bike with less than 50km. This makes me wonder if people are turning back the clocks on them. Are people really just buying some amazing bikes and not riding them or are there a lot of scammers out there?
 
depends on the models and how many previous owners. Though it's not alarming, esp given our climate and riding season. Also, if one were to roll back the odo, taking it to only 50km's would be very suspicious. One look at the tires and the condition would give it away
 
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I think statistically the average number of kilometers many riders go every year is around 1000km. Some more, some less.

It’s not uncommon to 10 year old bikes with under 10K on them accordingly. When I bought my old VTX it was 12 years old with just over 10K on it.

My current ride was 7 years old with 29K on it.

The more beginner oriented the bike is the less they tend to rack miles.
 
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drummerboy said:
I've been looking at buying a used bike but some seem a little bit off to me. There are some clean looking 5-10 year old bikes with extremely low km's. I've seen a few 10 year old bikes with less than 2-3000km on the clocks and even saw a 5 year old bike with less than 50km. This makes me wonder if people are turning back the clocks on them. Are people really just buying some amazing bikes and not riding them or are there a lot of scammers out there?
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I just bought a bike used for 2 full seasons and it had 3,750 km on it, so PO was doing <2,000 km a year.

One tip if you're seeing a 5 - 10 year bike with very low mileage is to check the date of manufacture on the tire. If you're looking at a 5 year old bike with 5,000 km on it and you have a tire dated 5+ years ago this might help give you some comfort that the indicated km is probably correct.
 
PrivatePilot said:
I think statistically the average number of kilometers many riders go every year is around 1000km. Some more, some less.

It’s not uncommon to 10 year old bikes with under 10K on them accordingly.
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I think that is correct. I know many riders that only go out on weekends. They think nothing of spending $20K on a new bike and going riding Sat and Sun afternoon for a couple of hours.
 
Klaatu said:
I think that is correct. I know many riders that only go out on weekends. They think nothing of spending $20K on a new bike and going riding Sat and Sun afternoon for a couple of hours.
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It's how we roll.
 
Been looking at 2005/6 bikes on kijiji with sub-15000kms. No confirmation until onsite visit but from pics they do look legit.
 
Neighbour bought a 2014 Duc Monster 1200s with 5k in 2015. Demonstrator. It now has 6k on it. Says it has cost him about $600/ride. Lol.
 
It's not uncommon for someone to buy a motorcycle and then not ride it, whether due to not having time, or who knows what.

Someone else mentioned checking the tire manufacturing date and comparing that to the condition and wear of the tires to see if it's plausible. Even if tires have been replaced, if the bike is truly high mileage, check other touch points, particularly grips and switchgear, and compare that to what the odometer claims. Some of those touch points are easily replaced with new, but replacing all of them gets expensive and it isn't something that most people would do.

I've taken three different bikes past 100,000 km. My experience has been that maintenance costs start going up after about 80,000 km; that's when you start wearing out stuff that most people never wear out. Brake disks. Master cylinders and brake caliper seals. Starter motor gear-reduction bushings. Who wears out stuff like that?? <raises hand>
 
Nikola Tesla said:
Got my 2004 sv650 19 days ago, had 10,000k now it has 15,000k ?
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You may be at it for a long time. V-Tom (long-term member on this site) if I recall correctly, took a V-Strom (same bike different trim) well past 200,000 km and is now on a second one ...
 
Nikola Tesla said:
Got my 2004 sv650 19 days ago, had 10,000k now it has 15,000k ?
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Damn, son! You're doing well.

I thought I was doing ok. I've had my bike for a month, put just over 3,500 kms on it.

I do have another bike that I ride just as often though, so there's that. But no excuses, I obviously need to get out riding more!!! ???
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