Hello all, so I'm looking to purchase my first motorcycle after I get back from this deployment which should be near the end of the year. An associate of mine at work has a 08 nightster blacked out with orange stripes on the tank, aftermarket exhaust, and an intake with 11,000 miles on it. The gentleman I'm buying it from is an older, more responsible person, which usually I am not comfortable buying anything used, but I feel like he took good care of the bike. He bought it with 2,000 miles in it so only 1 previous owner prior to himself. I've seen the bike a couple times but I just wanted to know a ballpark price for something like this. I haven't been able to properly kbb the price due to lack of time / Internet. I also don't even know if Harley's are accurate prices on kbb. I think the private party value was 7,000 and trade in value sitting somewhere at 4,500. His long term goal is to either trade or sell the bike to purchase a different one. He said he drained the fluids prior to leaving and put the bike on blocks so I don't really see anything going wrong with it within the next 7 months.

Now there are some questions I have:
1) a) I'm married and would like to add a passenger seat on the back, are sportsters awkward looking with a passenger? I am 5 9" passenger 5 2"
B) how much would a passenger seat cost? The bike also has a backrack but no pad which I would like to purchase.
C) a friend of mine said sportsters are bikes for women, like a mustang is to a boot. How would a 08 nightster fall in on the manly scale?
D) is 7,700 a fair price for the bike described above?
E) would buying a brand new Harley be better for a first motorcycle?
F) how much would general maintenance cost mileage wise, IE: oil changes? If I wanted to do the maintenance on it myself would it be difficult to learn?
G) what is the life expectancy of a Harley Davidson mc before the maintenance prices would over value the bike?

2) also, I don't know if the NC registration requires MC inspections? However, I wanted it to be registered in Maryland? What are the laws like? Will I be able to get it registered with after market parts on it?

If someone could help me make this purchase or nudge me in the right direction that would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Thats way too much money for that bike, sportys are a dime a dozen.
I rode 2up on a sporty but not the most comfortable bike, dyna's much better and still the same fun factor. I would buy used for your first bike in case you decide your not into riding. Harleys are one of the easiest bikes to work on and are relatively cheep for maintenance if your a DYI. Whatever you get, buy the shop manual

 

What do you think is a reasonable price for it? I've heard an average of 2,000 miles a year for a bike isn't that much. He's saying 7,000 is too low, so I offered 7,7

 

I've seen 08's as low as 6500, we are in the height of the season right now though

 

Welcome from So. Cal

 

I don't really think buying used is very reliable considering I don't know what I'm looking for. And I'm probably going to end up purchasing in December time frame. Plus, I know the person who I'm purchasing from so that's also a big plus.

 

I bought my first sporty on craigs list and it turned out to be a great bike. You can always take it to the dealership and have it checked out before you purchase. There are a lot of people that buy a bike and then it just sits in the garage...

 

Welcome to the "New Members Area".

 

It's to much for a Sportster, They're only 10k new. It's a good solo bike for Your size. But that's only an opinion, and opinions are, well just that.

 

So, how much would it cost to get it inspected by the dealership? Would they certify it?