Considering Used Bike with Rebuilt Engine. How should I feel?

[JouJou]

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Hello,

Looking at a Daytona 675.
Current owner says previous owner did a valve adjustment incorrectly which caused a lost valve??

Anyway, says his friend is a mechanic, and rebuilt the engine for him. He only paid for parts. Says he has pictures of the entire rebuild if I want to see.

Besides that, bike looks great. Took it for a little spin, transmission felt mint and everything sounded fine.

I'm no expert... but the whole engine rebuild is making me feel very uncomfortable but I'm not sure how I should actually feel about that. What does it mean exactly and what could I be looking at in the future.

Bike has over 20,000km on it.


Thank you for reading.

 

[delfonic]

from my experience of buying used vehicles, the one thing i learned was that if there's anything on the vehicle that's making me feel even slightly uneasy, i'd walk away from it. even if it's been looked over and checked by multiple people and mechanics, i'd still have that lingering feeling in my head and it just wouldn't sit right.

if i were you, i would walk away from it. it may save me from tonnes of headaches int he future, or it might just be a very good deal. still, i wouldn't take the chance. because i'd rather purchase a bike that's good to go so that i can just ride and not worry about something so major as a rebuilt engine. just my 2cents.

 

[unL33T]

If it's a good deal send me the ad so I can buy it instead.

 

[JouJou]

The contrast between these 2 replies lol... Yes it's a good deal. But will it bite me in the ***?

 

[unL33T]

The contrast between these 2 replies lol... Yes it's a good deal. But will it bite me in the ***?

Obviously I think it would be fine, assuming it seems fine now. But I'm more of a risk taker. Depends if the price makes it worth the risk, IMO.

 

[LoneRonin]

The contrast between these 2 replies lol... Yes it's a good deal. But will it bite me in the ***?

I blew a valve doing the same thing, had a top end rebuild under warranty and have put on over 50k km since...this is on a 250 running at redline for extended periods of time. You'll be ok.

 

[inreb]

The engine's only as good as the guy who put it back together. Rebuild seems to mean a lot of different things to different people. That engine didn't need a "rebuild" it just needed to have some damage fixed. Whoever ham fisted the original valve adjustment might have scored a cam journal or something else could be iffy over the long term. Gamble. If the engine is running and looking fine right now why would the seller even mention the history? Is the "rebuild" supposed to be a sweetener?

 

[JouJou]

I blew a valve doing the same thing, had a top end rebuild under warranty and have put on over 50k km since...this is on a 250 running at redline for extended periods of time. You'll be ok.

Sadly the person who rebuilt it is his friend. No clue on his reputation or skills and no warranty.

It's a bit refreshing that he mentioned the rebuild, kinda makes me feel like he's not hiding anything else.

 

[CafeRay]

He likely burned a valve from the wrong clearance adjustment.

at 20K, all that was likely rebuilt was the top end with new valves, seats, guides, perhaps a new cam.

I'd get a mechanic to check it out, leakdown compression test all cylinders. It should be as good as new, and obvious if it wasn't done right.

 

[JouJou]

He likely burned a valve from the wrong clearance adjustment.

at 20K, all that was likely rebuilt was the top end with new valves, seats, guides, perhaps a new cam.

I'd get a mechanic to check it out, leakdown compression test all cylinders. It should be as good as new, and obvious if it wasn't done right.

Thank you for the sound advice.
I'll have that done then if it does not cost too much.

 

[CafeRay]

Thank you for the sound advice.
I'll have that done then if it does not cost too much.

on the other hand, if the valve dropped into the chamber, could have meant a full rebuild with pistons etc. But at that point, makes sense to swap the engine.

 

[SweetOnion]

Considering it was optional for the seller to disclose this information, I would feel somewhat better about it. He probably picked it up for a song because it was blown up and is flipping it.

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