New bike to me

[Roadrash]

I bought a 1998 voyager today at 1750 which I considered a good price. It has 47000 miles. It was 150 miles away and was assured by the owner that the bike had no issues.
Well I pick it up and begin the ride home. About 15 miles into it I decide to see what it's got. At 90 mph I see a huge cloud of smoke behind me so I pulled over. A good bit of oil is dripping off the bottom off the engine. Continued the ride at 65 mph without incident until I got to the twisty river road about 10 miles from home.
I'm thinking this big beast corners pretty damn good and I got too aggressive and dropped it. Not a mark on the bike. My arm must have saved it.
Of course my wife was behind me and saw the whole thing. She was never really happy with the purchase. Hope I get to keep it.

[ekap1200]

I bought a 1998 voyager today at 1750 which I considered a good price. It has 47000 miles. It was 150 miles away and was assured by the owner that the bike had no issues.
Well I pick it up and begin the ride home. About 15 miles into it I decide to see what it's got. At 90 mph I see a huge cloud of smoke behind me so I pulled over. A good bit of oil is dripping off the bottom off the engine. Continued the ride at 65 mph without incident until I got to the twisty river road about 10 miles from home.
I'm thinking this big beast corners pretty damn good and I got too aggressive and dropped it. Not a mark on the bike. My arm must have saved it.
Of course my wife was behind me and saw the whole thing. She was never really happy with the purchase. Hope I get to keep it.

Well consider this as a " lesson learned the hard way " Any leaks from the engine will end up on your rear tire....
You are fortunate to not be injured.
Stay safe and have this bike looked over from front to back....
Gene

[JHD]

Who rides a newly bought bike this way (sure you didn't steal it). Ekap is correct to say you are lucky that something more serious did not happen to you or your bike.

[JHD]

Who rides a newly bought used bike this way (sure you didn't steal it). Ekap is correct to say you are lucky that something more serious did not happen to you or your bike.

[voyager55]

That's why he named himself Road Rash

[Roadrash]

I think if you ride Texas hill country twisty roads like you should you have to accept an occasional win by the asphalt. We're talking 1200cc of Kawasaki power. I love this bike!

[Mr Jensee]

Who rides a newly bought bike this way (sure you didn't steal it). Ekap is correct to say you are lucky that something more serious did not happen to you or your bike.

I guess I am just stupid also because when I bought my used ZRX1100 from the dealership in a town 100 miles from home I couldn't resist seeing what it would do. I cranked it up to 110, probably the fastest I ever went on a bike, just to see how it would howl. And yes it did howl. What a rush.

[JHD]

I guess I am just stupid also because when I bought my used ZRX1100 from the dealership in a town 100 miles from home I couldn't resist seeing what it would do. I cranked it up to 110, probably the fastest I ever went on a bike, just to see how it would howl. And yes it did howl. What a rush.

I would think a dealership would check out the bikes they sell prior to sale. With a private owner you are taking what I would think a bigger chance that the maintenance was possibly not done or if done maybe done incorrectly. If something did happen you probably have some recourse with a dealer, a private owner, not so much.

[SgtSlag]

I bought mine from a private seller, located around 200+ miles from my home. I trailered my bike home, in spite of the seller giving me grief about not riding it. I took it to my local mechanic and had a complete check-up done, before I took it out. I babied it for a while, as a bit of a shake-down, to be certain it did not have any hidden blemishes...

That was in 2010. I've gone through my bike, making sure all of the fluids got changed out, at least once. Since I bought mine, I have only had what I consider routine maintenance for a bike its age, 1993, so it is now 23 years old, with 66,000 miles on it.

I take the same approach on every used vehicle I own. I get all of the fluids changed out within the first year, to be certain all is well throughout. I also take it easy on them, until I have 10,000 miles, or more, to be certain there are not hidden failures. Towed our bike behind our 2000 truck, to Connecticut, and back to Minnesota. The truck has 165k miles on it: towed, ran flawlessly; recently took the same truck to Copper Harbor, MI, and back, even running it on a low-maintenance dirt road -- ran flawlessly again. Would never do it if I hadn't tested the truck, or any other vehicle, first. I hate being stranded... Cheers!