motorcycle pointers Options

[99Celica]

so i'm looking for a bike to help with driving duties.

I have zero experience with bike maintainance and dont' know what to ask about when I meet sellers to check out the bike, what should I look for?

my preference is late 90's to early 00's 250-650 cc bikes by suzuki, yamaha, or kawasaki. Do any of these have red flags?

Trav

[99Celica]

cool thanks for the advice. Especially the sportbikes site, that's given me plenty of reading material!

My friend has a bike he's not using that's been owned by several other valet drivers as a starter bike. I think it's a 95ish yamaha 500cc or so w/ high miles (around 20k). I think his price was like 400$ but it needs tires and a tuneup. It sounds great for me to learn on but i'm wondering if it'll turn into a money pit at it's age and use. What do u guys think?

[SlickRick]

cool thanks for the advice. Especially the sportbikes site, that's given me plenty of reading material!

My friend has a bike he's not using that's been owned by several other valet drivers as a starter bike. I think it's a 95ish yamaha 500cc or so w/ high miles (around 20k). I think his price was like 400$ but it needs tires and a tuneup. It sounds great for me to learn on but i'm wondering if it'll turn into a money pit at it's age and use. What do u guys think?

well that bike sounds fine except for the fact that it has been used by many other squids to learn on, that means it has been dropped and banged up more then a few times. But the mileage is not a concern, i have over 35k miles on my newest bike and its only a year old. Its all in how u take care of it.