Kawasaki Vulcan Forum banner

Buying used with VERY high miles?

16K views 9 replies 10 participants last post by  Hexadecimus 
#1 ·
Hey all,

I'm looking to upgrade from my current 250 cruiser starter bike to something a bit larger and faster but still easy to ride. I found a guy selling a 2006 Vulcan 900 LT with 63,350 miles on the odo. I know very little about these bikes but I do know that 63k miles for a bike is quite a lot. How well do these things handle miles and if they do, whats a good value for one? This guy wants $1750 and its in very good condition apart from the mileage, both cosmetically and mechanically. Not sure if I should consider this or if its better to just move on.
 
#2 ·
That is fairly high miles, not only for the engine but for the other mechanical bike parts but if well taken care of it is worth considering. Since the bike apparently is in very good condition my decision would be based upon how many miles I would anticipate riding and how long I believe that I would keep it.
 
#4 ·
That comes to a bit over 6,000 miles per year driving. A little higher than average buy well within reason. Unless you are planning on touring the country every year and putting 20 to 30,000 miles per year on your bike. I wouldn't be worried about the mileage itself. I would be more interested as to whether he was the original owner and if he has maintenance records for the bike. It is already proven that taken care of these engines will go 200,000 plus miles with no problem. NADA retail for this model is $2500.00 low end to $3500.00 high end. He is already giving you a thousand off for the extra mileage. Check out the maintenance stuff if your satisfied offer him $1500.00 and go ride your new bike.
 
#5 ·
60K is not really high mileage...higher than many bikes for sale, yes, but it is not as if the bike is going to self-destruct in the next couple hundred miles. As Retro stated water cooled motors of today can run well north of 200k without issue. I would much rather buy a motorcycle thats been cared for and ridden consistently through out its life than buy one with very low miles of the same age. Assuming normal maintenance has been performed on the motorcycle, sitting un-ridden would be far worse than putting on miles.
 
#6 ·
a half hour spent on a compression check would tell you a lot.
forks probably need new oil and seals and bushings.
check the antifreeze in the filler neck not at the bottle.
when was the last valve adjustment done?
any play in the neck bearings?
what does the belt and pulleys look like? replacing those will cost a lot.
 
#7 ·
If you can wrench on the bike yourself, you can deal with a lot of maintenance that maybe required on a bike that age.

If you are like some riders that rely on the local repair shop for everything I would think twice about buying a bike with that much milage, would not take that much ti ring up a lot in repair bills. I.e. Replacing wheel, swing arm bearings etc. can get very expensive at the shop.

WB
 
#8 ·
low mileage

last fall, I bought a show room condition 2007 with 172 miles on it for $2500. It now has 600.

I never buy a bike with high mileage. There are so many bikes with less than 10,000 miles on them. Why buy a high mileage bike?
 
#9 ·
I won't disagree with the other posters that 60k on a 900 if well maintained is not a big deal.

You NEED to ask the owner if he's done the required valve maintenance every 15k miles. If not, the valves could be the first to go. It's not a guarantee (it's only an inspection interval, they don't always need adjustment), but if they have been out of adjustment for a long time, they'll have a lot of wear. It might be a bike with 60k on it and heads with 200k effectively on them. (Or not! Just ask!) If the valve maintenance has not been done, it's time to pass. It's not particularly complicated, but it is a time consuming project so it's occasionally skipped; and some owners just don't know that it's supposed to be done! (Some folks don't read the manual!)

These are super reliable bikes. BUT;

1) 2006 and 2007 models have problematic charging systems. It seems like a good idea to go 2008 or newer.

2) The Vulcan 900 is one of the most popular bikes Kawasaki has ever sold, there's tons of them EVERYWHERE. And because it's so popular with new riders, there's TONS of low mileage models out there. $1750 is pretty cheap (I paid $5k for my '06 just 6 years ago!), but I suspect you can find an affordable, 2008+ model with much lower miles if you look around. I did a really quick Craigslist search in my area and found several around $2500.
 
#10 ·
I got mine for $2700 with a Memphis Shades trigger lock windshield and Cobra pipes. 7k miles '06.

Valves are probably fine, but you'll want an inspection if hey doesn't have maintenance records. I've spoken with someone who had about 90k miles and needed nothing but the usual wear items and maybe a stator. He's never needed valve shims in those ~90k miles so you're probably good on internals.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top