Buying used: the maintenance inspection checklist

Twenty minutes of checks tells you how a used motorcycle was kept: cold-start behaviour, chain and sprocket condition, tyre date codes and wear, brake feel, oil window colour, and the state of the service file. Neglect always shows in at least one of them. The skill is knowing what good looks like — and what each finding costs to put right, because that number is your negotiation.

Arrive before the seller warms it

Ask the seller not to start the bike before you arrive, then touch the engine cases when you get there. A cold start is the most honest test in the whole inspection: hard starting, a lumpy idle, a rattle that fades after thirty seconds, blue smoke on the first fire — a warm engine hides all of it. That is exactly why some sellers warm the bike "to be helpful".

If the cases are hot when you arrive, that is a data point too. Reschedule the viewing, or price the bike as if the cold start would have told you something.

The chain tells the story

The chain is the cheapest part on the bike to care for — minutes and a few dollars of lube — so its condition predicts everything you cannot see. An owner who skipped five-minute chain care did not do the valve check. Look for rusty side plates, kinked links that will not flex, hooked shark-fin sprocket teeth, and adjusters wound to the end of their travel. Those are the signs of a chain past saving, and on a viewing they are also the signs of an owner who deferred everything else.

A clean, evenly tensioned chain on straight-toothed sprockets says the opposite, and says it more credibly than the seller can.

The checklist

Check	What good looks like	A bad finding costs
Chain and sprockets	clean, even slack, straight teeth	$150–400 (€140–370) for the set
Tyres	recent date code, even wear, no cracks	$250–500 (€230–470) fitted
Brakes	firm lever, pads above 2 mm	$50–150 (€45–140) pads and fluid
Oil window	amber to light brown, at level	$40–80 (€35–75), or engine questions
Cold start	fires promptly, settles, no smoke	walk away, or pay for a specialist look
Service file	dated entries that match the odometer	price the bike as if everything is due

Two of these deserve a closer look than a glance gives. Tyres carry a four-digit date code on the sidewall — week and year of manufacture — and rubber ages out regardless of tread at roughly 5–10 years. Low-mileage garage bikes are routinely sitting on original tyres a decade old, which is a fitted-pair bill hiding under impressive tread depth. And brake feel: a spongy lever means old fluid at best and a caliper problem at worst. Rock the wheels for bearing play while the bike is on its stand if it has one.

Read the paperwork like a mechanic

Evidence ranks. A stamped service book is good; invoices are better, because they carry dates, odometer readings and itemised work; dated photos of work done are respectable; a consistently kept log alongside receipts is the strongest file a private seller can hand you.

Read it the way a mechanic would. Do dates and odometer readings climb sensibly, or does the bike cover implausible distances between entries? Does the claimed care match the bike in front of you — fresh oil in the window, pads with life in them? On higher-mileage bikes, look specifically for valve-clearance evidence, because it is the expensive service owners skip and then forget to mention. A documented bike carries a 10–15% premium for a reason — service history is worth real money — and the inverse applies: no file, no premium.

Price what you find

Almost nothing on this list is a reason to walk away by itself. It is a price adjustment, and you should make it out loud. Worn chain set: quote the replacement cost and subtract it. Tyres past their date code: same. No service records: assume every fluid and consumable is due, and subtract a full catch-up service — fluids, filters, chain check, brake service. Numbers negotiate better than adjectives, and a seller who has priced the bike honestly will not be surprised by them.

Walk away for the structural things: evidence the odometer and paperwork disagree, crash damage nobody mentioned, a cold start the seller worked hard to avoid. Bikes are plentiful. Your deposit is not.