If they aren't torqued down enough they might shift very slightly under extreme pressure, but they will not suddenly drop on you. They stay tight and are easy to adjust. Really not a problem to worry about.

 

Understood. I figured it probably would not fail that drastically, but was just curious.


I made a 280 mile trip yesterday to check out the 2009 Nightster and 2013 72 (the one with 24 miles on it). In a nutshell... the Nightster was bada$$ and the 72 was basically a brand new 72 with a golf ball size ding in the front portion of the front fender. For convenience, here are the pics:







I am seriously leaning towards the Nightster. It has a couple cosmetic blemishes, but I automatically smiled when the guy started it up. I think I could overlook them/correct them for the price. He rode it down the street, then let me. It was a great ride. I wasn't able to ride the 72 since it wasn't registered. The owners really weren't going to drop the price to any lower than $9700. I would want to change the pipes and lower it, so we're looking at $10k plus easy. For $7500, I really don't think I would change anything on the Nightster. It has aftermarket slip-ons (not sure of brand) and stock intake (plastidip'd black to match the bike), 10" z-bars which are my favorite brand of apes, and the height is pretty good. He is only using 1 mirror right now, flipped on the underside of the bars. The other interferes with the right side blinker when flipped underneath so he has it off. I guess its the brake master cylinder on the right handgrip that forces the mounting locations of the blinkers and mirrors to be different from left to right. It's got 5500 miles on it, so it's probably safe to say it's not a lemon. The guy is looking for a street bike to ride with his buddies in the mountains. Seems legit to me.


The KBB value of the '09 Nightster is around $7k but that is assuming 18k miles. There is probably only about $600 of mods done to the bike, and it's general knowledge mods don't add much for resale, so I think I am going to offer $7k. I really do love Nightsters and only recently realized they discontinued them after 2012, so I might be willing to spend the $7500 if he doesn't budge, but he said he was a little negotiable. $7500 for a Nightster that I probably would leave as-is or $9700 for a stock 72. The owners didn't even disclose the ding in the fender, I brought it up. Not sure what else they didn't say. So that's where I'm at now.


I need to make a list of things I should ask about/look for on the Nightster if I am serious about it... maybe you guys could help... I'm going to ask about the couple blemishes... the one blinker was loose, I'm assuming it just needs to be tightened but not sure if anything is damaged... the seat had a white mark on the rear of it, wonder if that could be conditioned out... need ask about services, when they were done... ask about the battery... figured the tires should be fine still at 5500 miles... what else?

 

Not much leaps to mind. 5500 miles is still practically new. Since he's had it 6 years or so I'd hope he's changed the oil at least a few times (once a year would be nice) even though he's only passed the 1000 mile break-in and 5000 mile service intervals. It would be nice to have a mechanic check it out (usually about $100). Otherwise price seems good and a bike that makes you smile is always worth something.