Okay, buying a classic motorcycle, easy mistakes to make. Now when we go to look at
a bike we're quite excited and we tend to turn up and we're greeted, if it's a private sale.
And the thing what you don't want to do and we all can do this at some stage is get sidetracked.
The seller will try and talk to you and he'll say I'll make you a cup of tea or coffee. You want to go
and look at that bike. Don't let your focus be taken off of what you're supposed to be doing.
Because it's so easy to go to look at this bike and the guy is making a big conversation about his
life story. You want to look at this bike and you think oh from visually, oh that looks alright and
you start being taken in by he's a nice guy really chatty. So what you should do is really make a few
notes on piece of paper and when you turn up go and look at the bike don't make heavy conversation.
Look at the bike first then afterwards after you looked it all over say yeah you know I quite like
it and he says well I have a cup of tea do you have cup of tea but make sure you have a good
look at that bike first. Now another approach is if there's a motorcycle club near you, you've got
loads of clubs you know and they turn up at a pub once a fortnight or once a week maybe. Go along
walk around chat to people we're all friendly guys you know if you've got an interest bike,
and sorry if you've got an interest in bikes, you know we're not going to push you
away and if you're really genuine you know you're going to know that straight away with
someone say look you know I'm looking about buying a classic bike and I don't know how to go about it.
If you go over a couple of weeks people say this guy's turned up again he's after a bike. So you
can always join as a member and not have a bike to start with and you'll find that within the
membership there'd be people that got bikes they don't get used. Or someone's selling a bike and oh
it put you onto it and you're better off buying a bike through that sort of channel in a way because
it's probably a bike that's ridden to the club and it's regularly used so you're going to see it
coming and going more likely, or if it's one that someone's had some time it's tucked away they're
thinking about selling it. You're cutting out this big markup sometimes you get on bikes
Another thing. The concourse bikes are nice they are nice but what do we do we spent all our
time cleaning these bikes and yeah, lovely and shiny but we're all dead scared again wet. I've been
that way in the past but I feel now that it got a classic bike, you want something that you can use,
something with a bit of patina something like the A65, where you're not too precious about it you're
not spending silly money. The idea of buying a bike is to ride it not just look at it. You know
and that really is one of the big factors. Get something that's being used it's got a little marks
on it. If something's all concourse, it's not used and there's a big story behind that. It's not
used. Is it mechanically good? You don't really know do you? It's not been done any mileage much
if any at all, and it's lovely and shiny and you go up the road on it and after an hour or so
you find there's little things wrong with it. A bike that's a little bit scruffy, it's had all
it's four boils, everything's been sorted out. Okay when you go to look at a bike like this,
your first impressions is a guideline. Now if you like it, then stay with it. If it's something you look at
and go oh I don't know walk away, because there's loads of bikes out there. Don't feel that this bike
has got to be your bike it's the right price and you think if I don't have this there's a bargain,
I'm going to miss it. Don't do that there's always other bikes about. A good thing to start with
really is to get hold of the handlebars, put the brake on. Depress the forks
there's any clunks you'll you'll find out straight away where the brake holds,
where the forks have got anywhere in the bushes, where the headrace bearings are
a little bit slack, you get a general idea and just have a quick look. All your cables, I mean
they're cheap enough anyway but just make sure that the front of the bike is straight.
Make sure that the the handlebars are in line with the front wheel, because sometimes, you know
it might be where the headstock, the top yoke is a little bit twisted a little bit out. So check
those sort of things. And we work back through the bike make sure there's no leaks in the tank.
A good thing to do a lot of people miss this undo your cap. Look inside to see if the tank has been
lined with one of the petrol resistant sealers. Because sometimes you know it might be
where tank's a bit rusty and they put a sealer in there. It's not a bad thing but something you
reflect when you come to buy the bike. Your badges I mean, you know, if they're a little bit grazed it doesn't
matter. Just make sure they're there. Make sure all the tin where all the trim is actually on the bike.
Check your levers. Check your your hand controls. Just have a good look at it. And when you come back
to the seat make sure it's not torn seat. Because all these things, if it's slight blemishes and things,
you can say well I like the bike but you know I'm not too sure about, you know it's got a few things
wrong with it. I feel, you know would you take an offer on it. Big thing to look at is suspension. Now
this bounces back straight away. This needs new shocks. There is no damping at all in those. So if
it does that it's a pair of shocks. Checking the swing arm, bike on the main stand and just hold
on to the frame or footrest or something then just push that from side to side and you'll see
where there's any movement back here. You will get the whole bike moving a little bit, but check that.
And then the other thing you'll do as you're in this position is spin that back wheel.
Just make sure that you haven't got loose spokes again, buckled rim, tyre condition.
Also with the QD hub make sure you can hold the other side. Make sure that that's tight
that sprocket onto that hub. It all spins nice and true. We tend to have a look and see how much
adjustments here because it reflects how much chain stretch there is in that back chain. But
just make sure like kickstarter cotter pin is tight. The spline on the gear change is good condition.
There's no movement on the kickstart up and down. So bearing inside, well it's a bush inside the case.
Just have a look underneath the engine to make sure there are no drips and things.
And just have a general look over the engine. Just make sure you haven't got any broken fins. You can
miss a fin quite easily because you're you're looking at a bike thinking I really like this
and you're missing that detail so, move your eyes around to what you're looking at don't think oh
yeah that's fine. Have a good look. Head gasket if that's blowing that'll chuff out whichever side
it'd be you'll get a discharge, a little plume of smoke sometimes or oil residue. Base gasket.
That isn't too much of an issue it might be that the base nuts are a little bit slackened off
but if you get a head gasket gone it's probably the copper gasket or composite gasket
that's leaking. Before we start the engine just check exhaust just make sure the pipes go into
the into the cylinder head properly. So, down pipes header pipes, just make sure everything's
tight and the collars are tight and where you got the clamp on the silencer make sure that's
okay and nothing's loose. These are sort of things that, you can get crack brackets and over clamped
clip here and it's pulled into the pipe. All those sort of things check. And like I say with
the oil tank always have a look underneath here make sure there's no drips anywhere.
You get a good idea what a bikes like very quickly. If you see oil everywhere, walk away
from it that's another thing really. Another good thing to check should have done just now,
put the bike on the main stand, so you can get your front wheel off the ground
and just spin your wheel. This one knows got a dink in the rim.
But you're checking to see whether you've got loose spokes, you can check those because
you're quite keen on the by this stage that's why you're having a close look at it.
Also you can feel the wheel bearings. And like you seen before in the videos we can get hold of the
forks and we can see if there's any play here in the in the bushes and we can tell if the head race
bearings need adjustment. Another thing to check, pull the clutch in, it's in neutral pull your clutch in.
Move your kickstarter down make sure that clutch frees off nicely.
Also, we haven't got the ignition on, but just feel compression,
make sure it has got compression and make sure the clutch is not slipping.
Make sure it kicks it over. Feel the throttle return. I said just now, just try your brake.
And that's really that's the basic things to check. Now if you're still happy with the bike
obviously you want to hear it running. And if you go to look at a bike and it's still warm
that tells you something. The guy's started it up because it could be a job to start. He started
before you got there, so it's going to start easily. It was always best to when you look
at a bike the engine is cold, he's not hiding anything really, that's another little thing.
But, we'll just quickly kick this one over start it up. So you want to see what
a compression's like, obviously if it's cold we'll be tickling the carburettor. So
then you want to listen to the tick over.
And also what we do, take your take your filler out your tank and just check the oil return. Make
sure it's got good oil in there and a good return. They're all things that you should check.
Also, I won't rev it cause I'm in a residential area, you want to see if it's smoking and you'll see
straight away whether it's blowing out smoke, so and rattles as well all those sort of things.
Don't be scared to do that because he wants to sell that bite to you and if you think
I can't do that, like I said just now, you're silly because you're going to buy something that's got
problems and you would have walked away from it, you know as you've started it up. But if you buy it
and thinking that's all right you can make a big mistake. There's always plenty more bikes out
there. If it's not right if you've got that gut feeling I'm not sure walk away. If you're lucky
enough and you know that the seller is going to allow you to bike for a ride, this will point out
very quickly what is like that bike to ride so, I would say just go down the road, don't go quickly
on it go slowly on it and just go up and down the gears, get a feel for what it's running like.
Try the brakes make sure it's okay in first gear and goes into second gear and third gear and make
sure you haven't got any drone in the gears because that will be an indication that the
gearbox has got bushes worn maybe you often get a bike and get the third gear got awful drone and
that will be bushes in the gearbox. Always make sure things like that. Also check chain tension.
All those sort of things. And stop the bike. You know, you're out on the ride stop it, you know,
let it stand there for a minute, kick it back over, restart it make sure it ticks over.
Check your lights make sure your lights work properly you know, he's not going to be standing
around you can have a little bit better check on things. Yeah all these things I've pointed
out to you are just my checks and you'll have your own checks it's just letting you know that,
when you first look at that bike you'll know whether you like it or not that's the first thing
and if you do like it just do your few checks over. You know, if you dive into the areas you'll
see something that doesn't look quite right just have a look at it make sure it's got the right
mud guards and bits and pieces but we all look at things differently but just have a look through
the bike from the front to the back. You're going to miss things you're bound to because you're not
going to take something apart you're going to really find out what's going on but yeah it's
got to look right to you and if that's right to you then you know go a little bit further with it.