What to Look for on a Dropped Bike?

[Conman]

Looking at getting a V Star 1300 and, according to the seller, the guy before him had a very low speed tip over. The front fender is crooked, the handlebar dented the tank, and some other stuff got the usual scrapes. Supposedly the current owner bought it from him and hasn't had an issue in the past ~4,000 miles.

My question is what should I be looking for when looking over/test riding the bike? Obviously there's cosmetic damage, but I don't want to find out that something critical has been bent/cracked/misaligned.

It's being taken to a dealer prior to the sale as well so I'm also wondering what questions to ask if any?

Thanks,

Connor

 

[dannymax]

I'd check for battery acid spills.

 

[Fire-medic]

I've seen where a bent shift lever from a spill caused the shift shaft to transmit enough energy to the shift forks to bend the tangs, that was on a dirt bike though. Since there have been a few people on here who've had accidents, I haven't heard of this particular type of damage happening to a 'Max.

You might want to check the control cables and hydraulic lines to see if the woven-metal sheath of the throttle lines were pinched anyplace, you should either see the damage, or be able to feel the pinched area. For hydraulic lines, I would just eyeball to see if the jacket is intact or if you see evidence of a pinch causing a break in the sheath, or a crease.

Then there is the damage of a bike running WFO on its side, & no oil at the pick-up for the pump. That would cause the engine to frag. If it doesn't run, & has evidence of a spill, assume the worst, especially if the engine is seized. Since this has "worked for the last 4K mi." it shoud run fine for you. If it doesn't run, as far as I'm concerned, it's worth $5-600, max, for a stock bike.

OK, I see this is a twin cyl, the advice is the same.