Hey guys, I'm looking forward to being a part of the forum. Looking to buy my first Harley, both my brothers have one, now it's my turn. Looking at a 02 FXST. Only has 7000 miles. The guy bought it in 08 as the second owner and only put 1500 miles on it. Has hard leather saddle bags, tach, floor boards and Vance and Hines 2-1 exhaust. He said he will take 6800. Just looking for a bike for 3-5k miles a year riding locally. Wondering if I shoulda go ahead on this or keep looking. Thanks guys and looking forward to being on here.

 

Welcome to the Forum from Colorado!
Look it over carefully for signs of neglect. Have your bros help you out. Records of maintenance and such. $6800 is cheap. Is it carbed or EFI? Looks a little dusty, so go with your gut.

 

I bought the same bike a few years back $6900. Nice and fun. How ever it is a standard and you could spend lots of money upgrading and chroming items. Going on my 3rd transformation now.

 

Welcome from the Chicago area. That's a fair price at least for this area it is. Pull the plugs and check them over too. Allot can be told from the plugs. I also always ask the prospective seller to make sure the bike is cold when I get there. I don't want a bike warmed up for me when I go to check them out. I want to see how it starts cold. Also involve your brothers since they have some experience under their belts. I will tell you what I have told others. It's a buyer's market right now and has been for a good while now. There are TONS of used bikes out there. Figure out exactly what you want before you do anything. There is no need to rush with the condition our economy is in. I know one hates taking advantage of others hard times but it is what it is. I waited a year and got exactly what I wanted and what I was looking for. It had MANY of the mods already done to it that I wanted or that I would have done myself anyway costing me twice as much. The guy had his own business, dropped a TON in this bike than his business tanked and went under when the housing boom crashed. As much as I hated seeing this guy lose his bike he did tell me that in fact buying his bike was a huge relief to him and a big help. He had little mouths to feed and his bike was his 1st casualty. I think we both made out in the deal, maybe me coming out a little more on top than he did. He lost a TON of money on the sale of his bike but I have in fact had to do the exact same thing with my previous bike. I had kids to feed and raise on my own. I had NO problem at all selling it for the exact same reasons. Good luck, figure out exactly what you want and keep us posted.

 

Sounds Like a Good Deal , To-Me ,

 

Got a chance to talk to him today. He bought it with 5,500 miles from the dealer. He's selling it because he is buying a newer road glide. Always had it serviced at the dealer where he bought it from and just put a brand new tire on last year with less than 500 miles on it. He said the only things wrong with the bike is the orange lens for the rear blinker got knocked off in storage when he knocked it off with his snow blower. He also said there are two little scratches on the rear fender when his wife got off and bumped it with her boot. Other than that he said it is in great condition. It is also carbed so not fuel injected. I'm actually glad it is carbed because I heard from a guy at the Harley dealer here in town that the earlier years when fuel injection was an option were bad years for Harley and they had problems with them. I'm going to look at it this weekend with a buddy from work who has been riding Harleys for 20 years. He said he would take 6500 and wants to get rid of it so he can buy that road glide. Thanks guys for all the advice.

 

Just got got back from the bank with the money to head over there and he calls me and says he can no longer afford to sell the bike. He and his wife thought they were better off keeping the bike and not buying a new one, which I can understand. Back to the grindstone looking.

 

Gee, at least the guy could have given you a courtesy call before you went to the bank!

 

Ah, brush it off and keep looking. Had something similar happen to me a few years back, and I ended up better off.

 

He'll call you back right after you bought another bike.