11. Bike Shopping

On Sat, I went with another friend to check out a bike in the Northern part of town. Mr W assessed the bike as Mr V would and told me what he thought. He also showed me a few things and what to look for in the brake pads which I previously did not understand.

Starting with the background, this bike is a Honda VTR 250 in the red I like! It is a 2007 model. Based on my research, the bike was first purchased in 2008. Interestingly, Honda never exported a 2008 model into Australia and for that year, the 2007 bikes were still being sold. In 2009, Honda released the new VTR which had fuel injection.

On first glance, you could tell the bike was quite well maintained which is always a good signed. Mr W general conclusion was that bike seemed to be quite fine. The steering was fine, the engine looks good, forks were not oily, chain an sprockets looked fine and would probably last for quite a long time. In terms of accident damage, it appeared to have been dropped once or twice but looked relatively minor. There were some cosmetic scratches on the front tyre rim and the speedometer. The only key concerns were that the front brake pads are nearly gone and would require replacement. A set of brake pads would cost around $50 and labour would cost between $80 to $100. The tyres will also need to be replaced and that would cost circa $350. Mr W also noticed that the muffler was spraying liquid when the throttle was turned and but after some assessment, indicated that it is likely to be due to trapped water and not fuel leak. We did not test ride the bike due the weather and partly I would like to have a think about it whether or not this was the one or not.

At this point in time, I'm fairly keen on the bike as I am with Bike 3 however, given what the market is, they both seemed overpriced.

On the same day, Mr W also took me to test sit no more bikes and I think it is safe to say the VTR250 fitted with me best. The ninja wasn't too bad either. We also dropped in to say hello to Ron and Gary at Flywheels!