+1 !!! Not like the guys that run a stock bike and have no clue how to take care of it, do stupid stuff with it, like turning the idle down to try to get that Harley sound, all the while starving the engine of oil. Or my favorite, the guy that thinks the stock ECM will adjust to anything they do to their bike, why waste their money on a tuner ........ yeah, I want to buy those stock bikes, not! WooHoo, here we go, FLAME ON!

 

The guys I know with stock bikes run theirs twice as hard as I do.....trying to keep up! I would buy one with engine mods any day.

 

amen..

 

Just like some have said here, I would buy a bike with engine mods. I would pay more if there was reciepts and know who did the work. For me, I had over 40K in my Night Train. I knew that when I sold it, I wasn't going to get half of what I had in it. I didn't do it for the resale. I did it because that is what I wanted and loved every minute of it. Wish I still had it honestly. But, every time I rode it, I pretty much broke something. Mainly, because I rode it like I stole it. I had the money to do it and didn't care at the time. Now, I can't get that felling out of me and want to mod my glide. in the area that I live in the mech is well known and most of the bikes, he is the one that works on them. Not the dealership. If you have that kind of info, I would buy it.

Now, instead of putting all that money into the motors, I am going to buy a procharger and when I sell it, I can take it off.

Has everyone that thought of not buying a bike with mods thought of that? You really don't know what you are getting on any bike these days. There is a threadon here that a guy posted the other day about buying another stage I kit and his bike already has it on there. The dealership told him it was stock.

Just something to think about.

 

..WOW..can't believe how many "scare-d-cats" there are..hell YES I would buy a bike with a built motor..WHY NOT?...can you imagine someone looking at a 69 Chevelle and saying to the seller..."sorry, the motor is built, not interested"...just do a compression test..take it for a good test ride...then buy it and save yourself thousands over what you would have spent to get it that way...this forum is FILLED with people asking about building their bike...but yet hardly anyone would buy one done?..amazing...but no..it's not worth anymore because it's built...same value in my opinion..

 

After some research, I bought a bike with modded engine, had all reciepts and it was professionally built by a indy shop with a good rep.The build was six months old with 1000 miles on it since the mods.

It was built the way I would have done it myself. Runs very well and it's been reliable.

It was a case that his OL hated bikes and pressed him to sell, also talking to him, he seemed scared to run it hard anyway.

This guy had a hard time selling it because most potential buyers were scared of the mods.

To answer the OP's question, in this case, I bought this bike for less than the total on the reciepts.

 

like most have said,,, stock sux.... my 98 evo will smoke alot of bikes with its measly 97 hp and 108 tq... and my 2000 dresser will do the same with the 156k miles and a 103"

 

Me personally, I would look for a modded engine over a bone stocker any day. I also think to the right person the bike would have more value.

After several thousand miles of excessive heat from a stock set up I wouldn't go within 50 feet of that bike over a bike with good mods and a good tune.

I think people that invest in their motors do it for various reasons which many have been stated in this thread. Performance, safety, longevity without excessive heat etc etc.

I did a 98" kit in my 2006 Ultra and my 2011 CVO Streetglide (which I bought used with 650 miles on it) has cams, head work; intake porting; pipes and a good dyno tune. I wouldn't want a bone stock 110. I could have bought a stock used CVO $2000 cheaper than I bought this bike for but the motor work made my decision. In the end I still saved a bunch of money with everything this bike came with but no way in my mind is a stock bike worth more than a tastefully modded bike.

 

I'm not afraid of a motor that someone built in their garage, and worse case scenario is that I'd be tearing it down to rebuild, which I'd be doing with a stock motor anyway. I've owned several bikes, Harley and other makes, that have been rebuilt in home garages and little shops. You can often (although not always) tell at a glance if a bike's been well taken care of, or if it's been beat.

As far as resale value, I don't think my motor mods have added any significant value, but they very well might attract a buyer if I ever sell it.

 

Take away the fact that it's a motorcycle and a Harley. Pretend it's a car...I'm looking at this '98 corvette and the guy has the motor replaced with a comp motor from GM...what hahappened to the old engine? Did the guy blow it up? Was he beating on it and it wasn't enough power? Did he get the work done and now it's lost all of it's drivability? My thing is if their is an elaborate story or excusses just walk away.

Ask the guy for a build sheet on the motor, any decent engine builder will have the build sheet. If he don't then he is a rookie, didn't do the work or he baught it like that.