Looking at a bike for a friend and would like input and what to look for.
2003 Softail custom is the one I'll be looking at.

 

Any time you buy some thing used, your taking a GAMBLE. But i must say thats one nice looking scoot. My advice is to bring a friend, preferably a MECHANIC . One who knows the INS and OUTS of these motors. A compression test is a good way to start, and usually you can tell how a guy has taken care of his ride just by looking at it VISUALLY. Bottom line , just bring some body you can TRUST that KNOWS ENGINES. This is exatly what i did when i bought my second bike. The small stuff you can take care of later, as long as the basics are in order. GOOD LUCK!

 

Your best bet is to buy your bike from the owner. The used bikes at the dealerships are usually over priced. I did most of my searching on the Internet. It didn't matter to me where the bike was located, I would go get it.
I found mine on: Cycletrader.com
http://www.cycletrader.com/?CMP=KNC-...FQJvswod1HZYDg

It was at a dealership in Naples,FL. I was not too crazy about buying used, from a dealership, but they had just discounted it. I ended up getting it for $500 below the NADA used value, for a stock SE Fat Boy and the bike had thousands of dollars, worth of extras, the owner had added, that were thrown in for free. That was 2-1/2 years ago.
In todays market you should be able to get a smoking deal on a used bike.
Tom

 

Whether buying new or used I would tell your friend to sit on and if possible
maybe even ride a few different bikes to get a feel for which he, or she, likes
the best.

They say that once you sit on the bike you like that you'll know immediately
and I found that to be true. Now having said that I thought the first time I sat
on Fatbob (lol), I thought that was the bike for me. Then I ended up buying a
used Fatboy and realized after riding both that I liked the Fatboy much better
because of the heel-to-to shifter and the footrest.

Hope I didn't do anything to confuse you.

 

Ride it (if possible), look it over real good (including underneath), look at the fluids, try to get it's service records.
AD Farrow's sold both of my last Harley's when they were new, so getting the records was pretty easy.

 

if the pic you posted is the bike you are looking at the first thing I noticed is it is a dyna not a softail

still a good looking bike , if you like dyna's

 

I didn't see the pic before. It's definately a find looking bike. If your
friend is comfortable on it and it's in good shape mechanically AND
it has a reasonable price for it... the it's a no brainer IMHO.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the good tips on what to look for.
I'm going with a friend tomorrow to take a look at a 2003 Softail and the feedback will help.
Sorry for the confusion with the link to the bike that was posted with this messege, It's my lowrider which is up for sale at the dealership.
I never added the sig photo to this site when it changed over to the new site a while ago.
Thanks again for all the great replies.
Jeffro