Newbie needs some buying advise.

New to the forum, hoping for some advise. I've been in the market for a while now for a sixth gen. just came across a 2003 red in good shape with 7900 miles never down, good tires ,only upgrade is a corbin seat. He will take 3300.00 for it. Is this a good deal? Over the last couple months I have seen a lot of vfrs but the prices seem to vary a lot.
Thanks in advance, Shaun

 

I think it is a good price.

 

I agree with mofo, based on the limited info provided.

 

+1 for what Mofo said. Sounds like a fair price for sure. Costs will vary from location to location, with some higher and some lower so it may depend on where you live. Seems a very good price for a bike in good condition with low miles. As example, if that bike were listed in Canada, in my home town of Kelowna, the asking price might be in the $4500-6000 range. There is a 2007 VFR listed on my local classified website with 30,000 km's for $7000, a 2008 VFR800 with 4628 miles for $7999, and a 2003 VFR800 with 55,000 miles for $5000. The local Honda dealer just sold a 2004 with 36,000 miles and they were asking $3799 as I recall and had dropped the price twice, from an original ask of $6400.

Canadian prices in general on bikes are much higher than the US and our dollar is worth about $0.95 US.

 

Seems like a good deal...

I bought my 04 in 2012 for $5K with @5300 miles on it. Make sure you run the VIN through Honda for any Recalls. Mine had 2 which got taken care of with no additional out-of-pocket. Hope it works out for you

Ride Red!

 

Hi Shaunrx - welcome to the MadHouse:welcome:

You may want to scroll down the forum home page to locate the 6th gen sub forum and check out some of the posts as there are pros' and cons on which models to go for. I am sorry I have no feel for what is a fair price for bikes your side of the pond.

However the older 6th gen models tend to be cheaper not just because of their age. The 6th gens had a substantive update from model year 2006 - the clue is externally the turn signal lenses which were amber on earlier models got replaced with clear ones - but the change was more than cosmetic. But take care some people retrofitted clear lenses to earlier models so if in doubt remove the seat and look at the sticker revealed by the tank it will say something like VFR800A6A = 2006 model with ABS.

2006+ models had revised vtec engagement thresholds which made the bike rather more predictable and improved their low speed in traffic manners, changes were also made to the combined linked brakes system and ABS. They also came with updates to the electricals - RR and wiring which addressed issues found with the earlier models - although some of those issues were covered by a recall, and many earlier bike owners solved the on off power issues by installing aftermarket Power Commander V systems and deleting some of the emissions gubbins. Inevitably the 2006+ models tend to be a bit more expensive so for similar money you may be looking at a higher mileage bike, but as long as they have been properly serviced these bikes can handle huge mileages.

PS Officially vtecs need a heavy duty service including a (costly) valve inspection check every 16k but - whether that is essential or just a useful price negotiating factor is something you will want to think about (PS there is a pretty good search facility on the forum which will allow you to understand the pros and cons of the valve checks) if considering a big mileage bike either insist on proof the valve check has been done or hammer them on price.

Anyway welcome aboard and if, or when you do find a VFR we will be keen to see some pictures.

Take care



SkiMad

 

Maybe our new Federal Budget will fix this! Never thought of that. 7900 miles on an 11 year old bike is awfully low. Hopefully it has been ridden frequently, maybe just not long rides. A bike, or car for that matter, sitting for long periods of times without being driven, tends to breed little troubles here and there.

Welcome to the forum and good luck.

 

The price seems fair. Ski mads advice is spot on.
I own an 03 and it's a great bike. To fix the on/off throttle issue I played around with the flapper and pair mod. Upgraded springs for my body weight helped the bike handling dramatically. (I weigh 195 and went with a straight rate stiffer spring- oem is far too soft).


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Wow guys that was fast. Thanks for all the advise. I have been doing 12 volt electronics for a living 20 years now so not really afraid of some troubleshooting. I will do some reading here on the forum about the power band issues. Have not seen any 06-up around that price and I'm a little strapped for cash. But is the 06 that much better that you guys recommend waiting? I'm in the central VA area.

 

Sounds like a pretty good price to me. It might be $100 too cheap, so send me that extra $100.

There wasn't that much of a difference on 06. Not like it was a new motor or anything. I wouldn't sweat it.

 

I'm no tech, but I think fixes for the pre 06 area available. I have ridden a friends 05 or 04, can;t remember now, and didn't really notice much of a difference in the way the bike ran or handled. That bike is now history though.

 

Good price, good miles, better deal than I got, but great bike.
Single best improvement in throttle response was Power Commander with O2 sensor bypass.
Everything else was for ergonomics.

 

Sounds good guys. I think I'm going to go ahead an pull the trigger on it. Thanks again for the advise.

 

Riding since I was 18, I'm 37 now. Started out on an old cbr1000f hurricane . Over the years I've owned two r1s 02 and 08 two zx9rs 02 and 03. 04 gsxr1000, and even tried and 06 fatboy (did not like the harley much) I currently have a 07 st1300 to ride momma around on. looking for something for myself to commute with. Sorry for the long winded answer. Why do you ask?

 

Some here, quite a few actually, believe that the VFR is the wrong bike to learn on I am not one of them. I learned very well how to gently drop mine many times and now can do so very eloquently I must say.

 

Agree with the above, good price for the mileage and condition. You will probably need to change all the fluids, though.

 

Ok, So I picked it up today. It needs a front tire, but other than that it seems to be in very good condition. I did change the oil and filter. I will check air filter and swap the coolant tomorrow. Anything else you guys recommend I change out or check? I managed to talk him down to 2700.00 So the front tire was not that big of a deal.
Thanks again, Shaun

 

Ok, So I picked it up today. It needs a front tire, but other than that it seems to be in very good condition. I did change the oil and filter. I will check air filter and swap the coolant tomorrow. Anything else you guys recommend I change out or check? I managed to talk him down to 2700.00 So the front tire was not that big of a deal.
Thanks again, Shaun