I’m not your typical lady, I HATE any kind of shopping unless it involves motors or rotors. That being said, I take a more practical approach than my husband. He wants a nice looking bike that is to his standards. I would like to have a nice looking bike, but I will sacrifice looks for the longevity of the engine, how I feel on it, the MPG, how much maintenance req’d, etc. I lucked out with both our bikes.
The first, the guy selling it lost his job, and had to get it off his hands (09 Ninja 250r), and the second (07 YZF 600r) has a clean title, but it was stolen and seized by the cops after the guy laid it down in the pursuit. It’s purely cosmetic other than the missing ignition (on order). We hot wired it today, but the battery was too dead, so charged it up, and waiting for hubby to get home because I don’t have enough hands (or not skilled enough?) to hot wire it and press the starter button. The fairing is all scratched, the slip-on exhaust is ground up a little, the crank case cover broke (on order, doesn’t effect the starter though). My hubby is happy we got it, and paid about 2-3 grand less than a running one with more miles. It’s only going to take about 200 to get it running and another 300 to make it look new (we do our own work). Hubby said he’s not worried about the cosmetics right now, just wants to get it where we can ride together.
So I guess for us, price and functionality come first and looks towards the bottom of the list.
PS-I think it adds a bit of character to the YZF….she’s got a story..lol