How to tell if a bike's been wrecked and repaired???

[Phu Cat]

​My daughter and SIL have their hearts set on buying a bike that is being sold by an out of town dirt bike/ATV dealership. To me that smells a potentially wrecked and repaired bike. I know tying a string around the steering head and running it to the center of the tail light could possibly reveal a bent frame, but are there any other telltale signs they might look out for? They're leaving at 5 AM Saturday morning hoping to get east of Erie, PA by noon.

TIA, your info could possibly be a life saver,

PC

[rhino 2]

​My daughter and SIL have their hearts set on buying a bike that is being sold by an out of town dirt bike/ATV dealership. To me that smells a potentially wrecked and repaired bike. I know tying a string around the steering head and running it to the center of the tail light could possibly reveal a bent frame, but are there any other telltale signs they might look out for? They're leaving at 5 AM Saturday morning hoping to get east of Erie, PA by noon.

TIA, your info could possibly be a life saver,

PC

First what gives you the feeling the bike was damaged ?.. And is a bike they’re looking at and not a ATV ?..

Fresh paint on critical components sometimes is a giveaway…🤔..

[Phu Cat]

Rhino, I think it's a Victory, but I'm not sure. It has a big fairing, saddle bags, and a tour pak.

I'm suspicious cuz it's a street bike being sold by a dirt bike/ATV shop. To me that could spell the makings of a potential disaster. My father was a skeptic and I guess it rubbed off on me. This bike could be absolutely perfect and they might ride it many miles with no trouble, but the fact that the shop isn't primarily a street bike shop seems like it could be a red flag.

PC

[rhino 2]

Rhino, I think it's a Victory, but I'm not sure. It has a big fairing, saddle bags, and a tour pak.

I'm suspicious cuz it's a street bike being sold by a dirt bike/ATV shop. To me that could spell the makings of a potential disaster. My father was a skeptic and I guess it rubbed off on me. This bike could be absolutely perfect and they might ride it many miles with no trouble, but the fact that the shop isn't primarily a street bike shop seems like it could be a red flag.

PC

Being the devils advocate it could be that the person who originally own the bike traded it in to buy an ATV or side-by-side and decided they didn’t need a motorcycle anymore…?

[Jack Klarich]

Look for dings in the paint, look underneath the bike, check to see if the VIN is still intact or has it been altered

Has the exhaust been replaced, how do the saddlebags and fenders look, overall how is the paint?

[Phu Cat]

Being the devils advocate

I think that's usually a good idea. In this case, my kids are laying down a wad of cash with someone they don't know (but trust anyway) and I don't want to see them get burned.

[rhino 2]

Being the devils advocate

I think that's usually a good idea. In this case, my kids are laying down a wad of cash with someone they don't know (but trust anyway) and I don't want to see them get burned.

I agree with you 100%…. Us guys in the older generation very rarely trust people that we don’t know… but then like the kids nowadays we didn’t have Google so we couldn’t investigate people/businesses like the young kids can do now…

[Zammy]

You can even try the VIN on "carfax", they do have some motorcycles that have been looked up

[Mykneesbehurtin]

Things I look for , scrapes on the bottom of the clutch and brake levers, scrapes on the bottom of the floorboards or foot pegs, bottom of the outer primary. First and foremost, does it have a clean title?