Aussie newbie with buying questions

Hey all,

Im looking at buying either an X or an R (probably the R because they're cheaper here) and wanted to know if there is anything i should look for when looking at bikes.

Obviously ill be checking for damage from drops etc, but is there any particular issues i should look for?

How many km or miles is getting a little too much?

This will be my first bike and I'm roughly 5'11 and 180 pounds? (180cms and 80kgs).

The bike will be used primarily for commuting but will also see some light trail and adventure work whilst I'm on holidays from uni :)

Cheers for the anticipated help!

Oh and my apologies if i failed at the search function, i had a quick look and didn't find much

Cheers

Welcome! The search function can be a bit iffy at times, although there are plenty of posts regarding this topic.

anyway, I'd stay clear from 2008 models as some have a defect fuel pump. especially if it's a very low mileage one, you might be the onegetting the fuel pump issues, if the PO didn't get them. unless the owner can certify that he later replaced with a new pump then all is good in the hood.


mechanical changes are very small over the years. the only thing you will notice is graphics and fork colour changes.

as far as mileage goes, many here have well north of 40K miles on it without any issues really. so the question is what are you willing to pay and what can you find. what mileage are you comfortable with?


more important then mileage, make sure to check it has never been used for stunting, racing, extreme off road usage etc, as these are more taxing to the bike and engine than just a pure mileage count, which may be low on a bike using for stunting, but has been beaten the crap out of in that time.

Welcome!! I agree 100% with "bigg" he covered very well what to look for in the WRR.

Cheers

Doc

Maybe check the chain hasnt been eating into the swingarm... Whereabouts in Oz are you?

hey cheers for the replies lads!

Gany, im in brisbane. i see your from melbourne? do you own an X/R new or used?

I have an 09 X but have a set of dirt wheels for it from Wheeling Cycle supply.

Bought it used at the time, had no issues with it. They seem to be a tough little bike.

Best bike ever.

This from someone with 33 years of riding through 15 motorcycles.

i have a 2008 model with 30,000km's and no issues.up until last month i was doing 500km's a week minimum

look out for bikes with smaller counter shaft sprockets....the eating swingarm thing

bigg wrote:

....I'd stay clear from 2008 models as some have a defect fuel pump. especially if it's a very low mileage one, you might be the onegetting the fuel pump issues, if the PO didn't get them. unless the owner can certify that he later replaced with a new pump then all is good in the hood....

Maybe I am beating a dead horse here and I don't want to go off topic but...
Although some have had fuel pump issues, I don't see a reason to 'stay clear' of a 2008. If you can find a good deal on an '08, just go for it. Most of them are perfectly fine and if there are problems, they would probably have surfaced after 4 or 5 years of use (even low mileage ones). There are just 4150 units worldwide the might be affected by this problem. A lot of pumps are replaced by now, some of them are perfectly fine, so maybe we are talking about 1000 'risky' bikes worldwide. And just a small portion of these thousand are actually for sale.
Even if you do have an issue in the future, the pump can be easily replaced. It is not like it's a catastrophic failure, it's just a little electric pump in the gas tank. That part would cost you about $250 and some diy time to put it in. Fuel pump issues are totally blown out of proportion IMO.

Just find a nice one that is not abused by the previous owner and that has been serviced regularly.

+1 for the swing-arm issue

"Although some have had fuel pump issues, I don't see a reason to 'stay clear' of a 2008. If you can find a good deal on an '08, just go for it. Most of them are perfectly fine and if there are problems, they would probably have surfaced after 4 or 5 years of use (even low mileage ones)"

Couldn't agree more.

Bought my 08' with a a bad fuel pump at 856 miles. I paid about $200 for the new pump, ez swap and it's been perfect ever since.

The pump issue seemed to only impact the late 07 and early 08 build dates, mine is a Feb 08 build date

Great bikes, very few issues...