Looking at a 1985 1300 with 12000 miles

[Noleftear]

I was considering buying a 1985 1300 Voyager with only 12,000 miles my only concern is where to get something like this serviced if ever needed and is it a good bike it's in super good condition but I was worried that the six cylinder motor seems rare and possibly hard to find parts for

[Mr Jensee]

Good question sir. If it were me I wouldn't buy such a complicated bike that old with it being older than almost any mechanic who would attempt to work on her. The parts are getting very scarce if non existent unless you shop exclusively on ebay for them. If you have ever tried to restore an old motorcycle you know that it is a very frustrating and time consuming problem. I got for free a 79 GS Suzuki many years ago and had to hunt and peck for every piece of hardware from OEM exhaust pipes to mounting trim for the gauges. It took me years and over $4000 to get it up and done.

Why am I telling you this? Because the chances are IF you can find a 1300 with such low mileage it means it has been sitting in a garage or a barn and not ridden or started for probably more than a decade. it will mean a lot of work because it is fuel injected with more electronics than the average 85 motorcycle. It could end up being a money pit even if you are adept at mechanics. I would shop for a newer, lighter bike. You will enjoy it so much more. My humble opinion.

[Noleftear]

This bike runs perfectly and looks amazing clear coat is still beautiful and under $2000 . I would have bought it already but that's my concern. Who can work on such a motor if something was to fail . Awesome bike though

[Me Again]

The 1300 is a very labor intensive bike. most of us who ride them consider it a labor of love .
It's A big ol heavy beast that's super comfy on the highway .
You are going to need to learn to do most maintenance on your own . finding a dealer or mechanic is almost unheard of ,
Finding most parts is just a matter of surfing fleabay . I have a couple of parts bikes sitting in my backyard .
WHEN you pick it up ,check all the cables and electrical connectors you can get at .these are the two biggest fail points as they are all 30 years old .
Mr Jensee is correct ,with only 12000 miles on it that is less than 500 miles per year so you will need to break it in slow and make sure all the maintenance is up to your standards.
Before you pick it up ,check the gas tank for rust ,while it is running press the temp/volt button on the dash to make sure it is charging .
One thing many new riders do is to think the CRUISE button is for a cruise control ,it is not,it is for a cruise mode that adjusts the air/fuel mix for better highway mpg
There is a lot of good info on this site so stop back often .
I love my 1300 Voyager .
By the way . Where is this located . If you do not buy it I may have to ride down and take a look.

[trikebldr]

Jensee and Me Again make excellent points. I am constantly amazed at how many folks consider buying these (and others) 30 year old bikes if/when they are not capable of doing some serious repairs themselves. I owned an '83 1300 from brand new and never had to do anything to it in 212,000miles. it was still running tip-top at that point, but I was t-boned and it destroyed all the plastics, so I sold it to a guy with a blown engine and he put his plastic on it and ran it until it showed just short of 500k mles. So, they are good for a lot of miles if taken care of, but at this point, you had better be very well versed in electronics and fuel injection to even consider owning one, or it will be just a frustrating experience for you.

I now own two more of them, an '84 and an '85. both run excellent, but the '85 has peeling clear coat. i still love the 1300, but at my age now (I am twice as old as I was when I bought my '83 new!), i can't hold one up reliably at a stop. So, I added a sidecar to the '84 like I did eventually to the '83. Looking for another sidecar for the '85, too. I plan to keep both of mine forever. I now have a very large selection of used (and new) parts stored away for them from eBay salvage dealers.

As they already said, you won't find anybody around anymore who can work on them. I pulled up to my closest Kawasaki dealer a couple of months ago and even the old owner had never even seen one!!! He said he had heard about them but thought they were just a concept bike back when they came out. He isn't a very big dealer!

I recently bit the bullet and bought a 2001 Voyager XII because so many on this site have raved about how nice they are. THEY ARE SO RIGHT! The XII is just as fast and powerful as the 1300 for a two-wheeler, but the 1300 has more pulling power for sidecars. The XII is so much lighter and it's center of gravity is so much lower that it feels like a 750 bike to me. You sit lower on it, too. There are a LOT of the XII's out there for sale at any given time. Why not go with a lighter, better bike that has so many more parts available and more mechanics available to work on them?

[Noleftear]

Thanks

[Van Voyager]

I'm a total newbie here (1st post actually). I recently picked up a very low mileage 86. It's a total tank and a handful around town but boy, it's like a Cadillac on the highway (except for being a lot noisier).

It's not my first time to the ball however; I had a naked 1300 many years ago and had that apart quite a few times so I kind of had some idea of what I was getting into - hopefully nothing major any time soon. But there are number of small quirks that I've already resolved and others I'm working on sorting out - hopefully with some help/suggestions/advice from some other folks on this forum.