Buy A Motorcycle
From the founder of Hold Fast Motors. To hear stories from real people who ride motorcycles and other inspiring people from the industry, check out his podcast at www.holdfastmotors.com.
Craigslist is your best friend. To find a motorcycle on the cheap there is no resource as good as Craigslist. Trying to sort through all the forums and “classified” sites out there is just a waste of time, start with the best. Go into the motorcycles section and start your search without any keywords but enter your price in the min and max fields. If you’re handy you can find lots of stuff by searching out “project bike” or “mechanics special”. These are usually bikes that don’t run or need some tinkering done to them. A lot of people will not post pictures on their postings because they are lazy but still might have a stellar bike to sell, so make sure to contact these people and see if you can get them to send you a picture.
Don’t wait for the right opportunity to buy. Create it. Alright, so this has been one of my biggest successes for finding good buys on bikes. Post a “wanted to buy” ad in the “for sale” section of motorcycles, name your post “ Buying motorcycles for CASH running or not”. You’ll get people who haven’t listed their bike but are looking to sell their old machine that’s been sitting in the garage. When the sellers contact you, they usually don’t tell you how much they are selling the bikes for, instead they will commonly ask you “what’s this worth” and to that I always ask them “What is it worth to you?” Forcing them to put a price on their bike will tell you whether or not they are serious about selling or just pondering the thought. You then need to feel them out by asking some questions. Most of the time you will be able to get the bike for under the usually exorbinant amount they tell you first.With that being said, follow this one rule: Don’t low ball people, be friendly no one likes a dick head who wants to give you “100 bucks cash for that today”.
Always be looking. Alwayskeep your ears open for a family member of a friend of a friend who knows a guy who has a bike that’s been “sitting in the garage forever”. You would be amazed at the deals you will find just by telling people that you like motorcycles and you are always looking to buy bikes. Tell your friends about your mission to find a motorcycle and ask them if they know anyone that might have one that’s not being used - you might be able to snag one for cheap! The only problem is that a lot of the forgotten bikes need a bit of work to get running. Don’t be intimidated. This is how you get a bike that will bring you hours of joy later. And if you put a little blood, sweat and tears into it, you will fall in love with the machine even more.
Now that you have some tips, go out and find the right bike for you. Actually just about any bike will do. Because once you feel the wind in your face, you will never be the same again.