Previous Owners

AMG762

I have been looking around at motorbikes for sale and found a 2007 R1 for sale with 11,000 miles. It is the colours I wanted and has a few extras I really like.

I was very close to buying this bike but was worried when I saw it had 5 previous owners. The last owner purchased it October 2012.

I just wondered if the amount of previous owners would make this bike a more risky purchase. It looks to me as though there could be a fault. Or is it normal for bikes to be kept through the summer time then sold?

facade

An R1 is the sort of 'bike that people buy with their hearts not their heads, clock up a few points or frighten themselves, stop riding it, then sell it in the Spring (usually, as the prices are up) to someone else to do the same.

Looks like one owner per year to fit the pattern.

It could be a lemon I suppose, but so could a 1 owner 'bike. If the price is right, it runs well, has no crash damage and the numbers match no reason not to buy it.

Also, the sportsbike is the first thing to go when money gets tight.

owen_money

facade wrote: »

An R1 is the sort of 'bike that people buy with their hearts not their heads, clock up a few points or frighten themselves, stop riding it, then sell it in the Spring (usually, as the prices are up) to someone else to do the same.

Looks like one owner per year to fit the pattern.

It could be a lemon I suppose, but so could a 1 owner 'bike. If the price is right, it runs well, has no crash damage and the numbers match no reason not to buy it.

Also, the sportsbike is the first thing to go when money gets tight.

+ 1 on the above, lots of bikes have had a lot of owners, more often than not its a toy, you get bored and buy another

facade

My brother had to sell his gsxr1000 for quick cash when he got a divorce;)

EdGasket

Son in law bought a big bike for a Europe trip and then sold it in less than 1 year of ownership.

fivetide

Main thing is to see if it has been serviced. Too many bikes get done on miles not age and are advertised FSH when in reality it means it has been serviced twice in six years.

Have a look at the tyres too - are they any good? Are they still in production? If not they could be fairly old rubber and worth checkign for cracks, especially if the bike has been stood in one spot 6 months at a time.... etc etc.

AMG762

Thanks everyone, some really useful advice

Weird_Nev

I certainly wouldn't worry about that on a motorbike, provided you can trace the history and it has full service history.

Cars, I generally prefer fewer owners. People keep reliable cars and sell unreliable ones, and cars usually change owners at 3 years when the initial lease runs out. That said, sporty cars often have a higher turnover as people buy them, run them, then sell them before a high cost service or when they realise a set of tyres will cost them £1k!

But a sports bike? I'd only be concerned with how many crashes it's had, and how many other bikes are now incorporated into it.