SO i took your advice. i looked at a used bike tonight. Really clean bike. 2001 gsx 600. only 4200miles on it. thing was spotless. I have been looking around and you can see the wear and tear like your talking but the bike tonight was really clean. had some extras/ yoshi exhaust chrome frame and rims/ LED lights/smokescreen/ very clean overall. he was looking for 4500 i thought the bike was worth about 3600 we ended up at about 4k. I told him i would get back to him in a couple weeks. So we will see. I think im going to avoid dropped bikes and high mileage. My eye is not good enough to pick up on all the examples you referenced. I can only tell when a bike looks really new and clean like tonight.
He let me ride the bike around the storage lot and I now see what the other guys were talking about with the power from the bike. It is very fast, but for the first time riding a motorcycle I didnt feel uncomfortable at all. I really like the way your knees can hug the gas tank the way it does. The only issue i felt might have been that he had the rear lowerd slightly so i could feel my legs crunch a bit.
I am going to see a dealer in a couple weeks to check on a much newer bike. Just dont know if i can muster up 5g’s for a bike.
I will continue my search. I havent decided whether or not to take all the advice yet. The guy who owned it said he started on a 600 and never thought twice about it and loved it. Never dropped never crashed. I want to be cautious but id like to get my moneys worth out of my purchase.
Do i go with what feels right? or what other experienced riders have to say?