OK - I had another thread going about new vs. used and I'm 90% sure I'm going to demo 08's to choose my model, and then get an 07 or a used 08. Thanks to everyone for their input on that thread!

About the only downside I can think of buying used is you don't know the history of the bike. I am convinced the vast majority of Harley owners with one or two year old machines have babied the heck out of them - no burnouts or other abusive riding. That leaves my only concern as to whether the bike was properly broken in or not.

For you mechanical geniuses out there - what exactly are the consequences if someone buys a new bike and just goes about riding it with no regard for the break in? What are you looking at down the road repair wise? Is there any way to tell if a bike was properly broken in short of disassembling the engine? Are we strictly trusting the word of the seller? Is there such a thing as a delayed break in - lets say I do it with 5,000 miles on the bike - does that do any good or does it HAVE to be done when the bike is brand new?

Sorry for being such a dumb schmuck about this. Just need some good info from you forum folks!

 

Try and stay away from rental fleet bikes or loaners....most I know have not had the care taken with them that a private owner would take ...IMHO

 

The only way I can answer that, most folks with an investment that size would more than likely break in following factory recommendations. You can also ask if the bike is documented. I happen to document my bikes, I have a three ring with all purchases, service records, receipts etc.. Services I have performed have part receipts and date and notation what I did along with the mileage. It gets passed on to the next owner.

 

You are making a very good point here one reason bought a Sportster 883 and not long after i had it did the 1200 Big Bore and the Combustion chamber and Valves seals showed sure signs of abuse carbon and oil deposits all over both ... and only had 2,000 miles on it ...

 

This stuff cracks me up....Harleys enginesare not like a Bull in a China Cabinet just waiting to break... They are ruggedwell engineered bikes, even without a fully pampered grey pouponbreak in. I have owned a formal Rental bike....Did not have one ounce of trouble with it.

Many owners reallyover do it and change oil about every other ride, others keep good common sense maintenance intervals,and ride the livingPiss out of them with no trouble.....If you knew what the NYPD did with theirs, I think you would be pretty impressed the hell they put their scoots through with very little trouble.

That in mind, buy a used bike that has documentedmaintenance records if that what you need to sleep at night.Theres a huge market of used bikes that have only been riddin in and out of garages with veryfew miles on the clocks.

But if your really going to be this **** about a bikes past or breakin, then youbetter go get yourself a virgin from HD.

 

My line of thought.. if I buy it used I try to stick to private owners and ask for documentation.Last bike I bought guy had all receipts and had built a spread sheet in his computer for the maintenance/where he had ridden/weather?!?!?wtf??? Too darn OCD for my habits but it was comforting to get such a good deal on a babied machine.
Used at a dealer is kinda like a crap-shoot in my opinion.
Local dealer always has used bikes but 90% of them are demo's or rentals or lease turn-ins (cop bikes)
Even these bikes have documentation on file at dealership because they probably did the service on them, but the different riding styles that have been in the saddle scare me.
New..you get to do it right..$$$$ is it worth it for the peace of mind???
Think about it.

 

This is my second used Harley. Both previous owners had put less than 5000 miles on the bike. Had all maintenance done at Harley Dealership. I just went to the dealership and had them pull the records for maintenance. I would say these guys were aggresive in the maintenance.

Both bike ran great, 05 Fatboy and 03 Road King.

 

My 2-cents:

I don't think you can really hurt a new Harley. If the search was working right you could see a zillion responses when folks asked about breaking-in their new bikes. Everything from "Rideit like you stole it" to change the oil every 300 miles. Everything in-between had a lot of folks all saying they now have xx,xxx miles and all is well for them.

The more docs the better like sleepneagle says, and if you are looking at private sales you'll probably have a six-sense about the bike when you speak with the seller.

a. Your visual inspection of the bike will tell you about any dumps or fall-overs.
b. The look & smell of the dipstick can give a proportional clue about service intervals.
c. The newer models will give you access to the internally-stored fault codes that can be viewed
d. How the brake & clutch levers feel is always insightful
e. How well it starts, and then how it sounds will always be informative.

A poorly broke-in bike may be hard to start, may smoke, have a valve knock, etc.

(my '08 Anny Fatboy is my first NEW bike. For years and years its been all used bikes without a single horror story or regret).

Best of luck!!!!

 

MUST NOT HAVE DONE TOOOO MANNNNNY BURNOUTS ON THAT RENTAL!!![sm=gears.gif]

 

Thanx, Donny. Guess a couple of things come to mind, and we can sit and play devil's advocate with all of them. Fleet bikes - they can be abused or they can be subjected to fleet maintenance, which in most cases is as good asor better than most.
Second, If you are, as I previously noted, a "nervous Nellie" then don't p*ss around with 2nd guessing yourself or the prev. owner, and buy new. Me, I only buy used, and someof it "well used". I use one measuring stick. When I come to your grudge to look at the scoot, I'm going to look at your car/truck, your grudge, your house,etc. If they are a piece of chit and neglected, guess what just happened to the price that I am going to offer you or pay for your "slightly" used Road King or Ultra or FX. NOW, there are exceptions to every rule, some guys live and breathe Harley, and could give a chit about their house, car, etc. But to be honest with you, these are few and far between, and probably aren'tselling anyway. The next thing I look at, and probably know B4 I get there, is are you a dckhd or a straight up guy. Not hard to figure this one out after talking to 'em for a while. But again, if you are going to 2nd guess yourself and/or the owner, just buy new. Then we can move onto the"correct" break in, the syn. oil ?, so on and so forth.
If you are a wrench, OOPS, guess we wouldn't be having this "talk" if that were the case. J/K Don't get your undies in a bunch. GUMBY