To buy, or not to buy

[caferacermike]

That's awesome. Your post just made my day a little better.

So did you save any money, or did you bite the bullet and buy the lowest mileage bike?

[65218]

The coating on the motor can be baked on road sealant, or cosmoline usually applied to bare metal before shipping. Also, PEople use some stuff for detailing engine compartments to make them shiny, but it leaves an oil slick that when applied to high heat with some dirt and dust, bakes into a yellow to black laquer.

I wouldn't worry about the mileage too much on a well maintained bike. I know Most Ducati owners seem to think their bike will melt if applied to the road for too long. I recently picked up a 09 696 with 77k miles on it. It was used a a comuter for someone who probably didn't want to load up the miles on his porsche. Aside from a belt failure that stuck the valve back in the verticle head sideways, and alot of road grime and packing grease from chains, the bike was mechanicaly in great shape. I stripped the bike down completely and I'm rebuilding the engine now. The bearings, bushings, trans, cams, crank were in excelent condition. I had some abrasion on a harness at the head tube and some corrosion on the swingarm pivot. Small easily repairable stuff for so many miles aside from the belt failure.

after some reassembly with a $300 motor with 3k miles on it from ebay

And running

I'm actually going to post a gallery of the rebuild of the original engine later on.

[savage925]

I only paid $400 more than what I was going to pay for a very used 07 with 15K.

Sorry for the poor image.

Now I would like to get a minimal set of mirrors, remove the stock license plate holder and tuck in the rear turn signals. I will browse this board for some inspiration and techniques.

Do you guys know of anything else that would be wise to do?

[JTP]

nice ride =)

removing the tail / signals / new mirrors are good. new exhausts? rear cowl? frame sliders? 14-tooth front gearing?

[Nubeaddict]

Everyone seems to have such low mileage. Am I that rare to have a monster as my only transport and do alot of km's? Fair enough though for those whose roads are ice n snow in long winters

[chelseaboy]

Can't speak for anyone else. I do have another bike (a BMW F650GS) that I use for touring.

[philb]

Originally Posted by Nubeaddict

Everyone seems to have such low mileage. Am I that rare to have a monster as my only transport and do alot of km's? Fair enough though for those whose roads are ice n snow in long winters

Yes, that's pretty rare, at least in the U.S., where most of us are. The great majority of bikes in America are toys, not actual transportation, and this is even more true of the more expensive bikes.

My experience, though, is that the Monster is a great bike for daily use, and can do lots of miles if maintained decently.

PhilB

[Nubeaddict]

Philb check out thread with posts filling up fast, 'am I crazy... 7,500 miles already