Getting my 1st Bike

I decided to get a used bike. It cost less and I'll probably drop it.

Someone suggested old Honda CBR 600s, like a F1 to F3. These seem like great bikes, but I didn't really check any out. I was a bit wary of 15 year old sports bikes and didn't have any experience working on bikes.

I went to Rider's Choice a couple of times and cheecked out a bunch of used bikes. That's when I sat on a Magna and decided I wanted one. I didn't know anything about this bike except it felt right. After some reason, I found that it's got 750cc sports bike engine so it can out accelerate cruiser twice its displacement and handle very well. I wanted it bike pretty bad for almost a month, but didn't find a good deal close by.

I checked out the SV650, but bikes with low miles were mostly out of my price range. I did see one really great deal on CL, but the poster never replied back.

There were two Ninja 250 I was ready to buy. The first was a 2006 or 2007 with only a hundred miles. The owner hurt her arm (not on the bike) and couldn't ride it anymore. Unfortunately it was sitting for 2 years and had a idle problem. It stalled while a friend was test riding it. A couple of people think it was probably a clogged jet which is easy to fix, but I didn't want to take a chance so I passed on this bike.

The second Ninja 250 was a 2007 with about 600 miles and owned by a girl who charged it on her credit card and need the money to paid some school debts. She said she didn't have all the DMV paper work ready, but never called me back after a couple of conversations. She sounded flaky so I never bother to call her back either.

There were a few other Ninja 250s owners I tried to contact but they never responded. I guess demand for these bikes are high.

I found an ad for a nearly new Ninja 500 from a lady who was too short for the bike and dropped it every time she attempted to ride it. The price was very good, but she flaked out on me. By the time I was ready to go again, I saw that her bike was sold.

One Sunday I tried out 3 Ninja 500s. The 1st one I rode slowly around a crowded BART station parking lot. The streets were too crowded for me to feel comfortable to venture out to. The 2nd Ninja 500 was a savage bike restore by a racer who sales bikes to finance his racing. It felt good but the front wheel made a scraping sound each revolution. He didn't know what was wrong so I passed on this bike. I also dropped the bike when I stop in front of him. Luckily he didn't make a big deal out of it. The 3rd bike was quite far away and seem the best of the bunch except it had higher mileage and a crack faring from being dropped on a curb. I rode this around some tricky hilly roads which was really fun. I imagine many beginners would have freak out on some of the blind hair pin downhill turns, but to me, it felt like riding a single track on my mountain bike. I probably would have gotten this bike except...

When I got home and empty out my trailer to pick up the last bike I tried out that day I saw an ad for another Ninja 500 with lower miles and a better condition bike that was also asking for a lot less. I contacted the seller right away and he seem like he was tired of showing his bike and just wanted to get rid of it. He was pretty straight forward about issues about the bike. I took my trailer up to his place the next day and purchase the bike after a 15 minute test ride. It would have been nice to have a mechanic check it out first, but I took the gamble that the discounted cost will help offset any problem I find with the bike.

Over the next couple of weeks, I found the bike to be in pretty good shape. The rear tire was gone and I replaced that with a BT45. For some strange reason, the rear hub's cushion(rubber dampener) was missing. Luckily there didn't seem to be any damage done to the wheel or sprocket and I was able to buy the part online. I still haven't cleaned the air filter and carburetor yet, but I'll do that soon as well as add a fuel filter. I'll check the valves too, but I don't hear any chattering right now. I think it runs a bit rough, but I haven't driven a car with a carburetor in over a decade.