I disagree.
The circled bolts were marked with white waterproof paint on both the bolt and surrounding housing.
It takes me a matter of seconds to walk around the bike and visually see if the marking is "broken" (i.e. the bolt has loosened).
Those few seconds, to me at least, are well worth the piece of mind.
Maybe not HDs but bolts on bikes do come loose.

 

Bike your looking at looks great and price seems fair.

I try to check tire pressure every couple weeks.
Oil level gets checked when I think of it. Like before and after a trip. I know how much oil bike uses.
I have never marked a nut or bolt on any of my bikes.
The only thing I would check on that bike is the cam chain tensioners.

In my opinion you might be a little paranoid for some reason. Ride it and enjoy.

 

I do the same thing on mine using a white out pen. I just added the bolt for the side stand to the list as I found it loose when I put the bike up for the winter. I do periodically go over bolts on the bike & had never found that one loose before.

 

My opinion...I've owned a 2002 Fatboy for about 8 years now and the only weak spot is the cam chain tensioners. Replaced mine with Screaming Eagle tensioners at 30,000 miles and as far as I'm concerned its bullet proof from here on. 2002 is the last year of the forged crank shaft and Timpken Bearings so IMO you won't find a better deal, but check the tensioners.

 

2004 was the last rear for cold forged cranks.. You are right about the timkins. Reason I bought a used 02 RKC.

 

Yep, but 2002 was last year for "hot" forged cranks.

 

You are right I got the cold / hot backwards but it was 2004. I'll dig up the service bulletin later.

 

Like anything mechanical, your BMW will be trouble free until it is not, and that day will certainly come!! Ride what you enjoy riding.

 

 

I asked the owner about this and he only said the tensioner was replaced by the dealer which brings up the following questions:
1. What is the difference between a cam drive and a cam chain tensioner?
2. If one (or the other) *breaks* while riding, what is the result? Engine failure, no power, pull over.
3. If the tensioner was replaced at the dealer, I'll assume they replaced it with a stock tensioner so if the stock tensioner is weak to begin with I wouldn't think that would solve the problem. Apologies if these are novice questions but can anyone explain how this works and where the failure point is on these models. I appreciate it.

Going to test ride it this weekend