I see a lot of used bikes for sale with very low miles. Just read a post in this section about a guy who just bought a Nightster with less than 500 miles on it and it's an '08 model.

Just curious as to why people would invest the money and not ride...do they not have the time or afraid or what? Not bashing anyone but genuinely curious.

I got my bike about a month and a half ago and every chance I get, I'm out cruising. No destination or trip planned but just head wherever and end up riding for 20 - 40 miles just for the hell of it and because it feels so good. In the month and a half, I've put on more than a 1000 miles (nothing compared to some of you crazies out there) but don't think I've traveled outside of a 30 mile radius outside of my house.

Maybe the bike was an impulse buy and they didn't really enjoy riding

 

Ha! Maybe they don't realize a Mustang seat is all it needs! I love to ride, but that stock seat is the worst I have ever experienced!

 

Give it time. That "radius" will get bigger, and bigger, and bigger! Pretty soon it will be how much time you spend on the bike and not so much about miles. At the end of a long day I enjoy going out for a couple hours to relax. Sometimes in those 2 hours I'll only make 70-80 miles of country road. Sometimes I'll make 100-125 of rural two lane highway. It's all the same...2 hours of clearing my head!

As far as those 2 and 3 year old used bikes with only and few hundred, or a couple thousand miles on them...I have a friend who owns a Yammy R1. He has no motorcycle license so he's afraid to take the bike out because he's thinkin' one of these days he's going to get caught (yeah, I know, theres an easy fix to that prob, but he's too thick skulled). He will go for a quick 20 mile ride once every two weeks or so. It's folks like him who sell their bikes because they don't or can't ride them. Like you said, impulse buy.
Or you have the genius I worked with. Gas was over $3.00 a gal, so he go's out and buys a $10,000 bike so he can ride it to work (9 miles one way) to save gas money. No sh*t. It will be on the market in a year or so with only 1000 miles on it.

 

I have a neighbor that bought a Street Bob and rode it twice in three years, after Harley credit had picked it up I ask him why he never rode it and he said that he got scared in traffic both times he had it out. This is a 40 year old that had all kinds of bikes when he was younger (I have seen the pics) and took a 15 year sabbatical then just lost his ***** somewhere along the way, it sure would suck to be him. BTW the bike had 39 miles on it when they took it.

 

My first bike was a Dyna, had it 2 weeks, realized I wanted a bigger bike, took it back at 256 miles, and now I'm diggin my Heritage. Dealer says it happens a lot.

 

Doesn't happen as much these days (because of the declining economy), but for the past few years many people purchased Harley's just to say they own one...

It was a fad, just 'the thing to do', and many of them thought it gave them some kind of status and bad boy image, even if they seldom rode the damn thing..

People do strange things for strange personal reasons.

 

Mine '05 was bought by a woman who only put 1250miles on it.
Her excuse was it was just to big to much for her. Oh well, it suits me just fine.

 

scares people...yes, impulse buy....yes, RUB's...yes, believe it or not some people fall in love with the IDEA of what a harley is...they get sold on the HD commercials and crap like that...they don't fall in love with ridding they fall in love with an image...bull **** really but hey gives people who love to ride the opportunity to pick up used bikes cheap that have been broken in (or not) but someone who babied it and didn't really know what they were gettin into.

takes all kinds ya know?

 

Makes sense.

The idea of owning a Haley definitely drew me in but I took the time to do some research and take the Motorcycle Saftey Course to be sure that I would enjoy it before investing in a bike...but then again, this country isn't known for wise spending habits.

I guess it sucks for the people who spend the money and find out it's not for them but as old_skool mentioned it gives us a chance to get great deals sometimes.

 

i have bought two "new/used" bikes in the past few years... both were recent model bikes with less than 1,000 miles on them. i think that folks buy the bikes, take them out a few times and become afraid to ride.
cause of this, i can not imagine ever buying a new bike since it is so easy to get a used one that is almost new for a substantial discount !!