Need some purchase advice

[DA2flyer]

Hi folks, new guy to the forums here. I hope I'm on the right forum for the topic.

I'm looking to purchase my first Harley (not my first bike, long time rider) and have a line on a 2004 Road King FLHR. I've only seen pics of the bike so far, will be looking at it this week. It has some of the typical chrome extras like covers, pegs, floorboars, extra guards on the bags. It has laced wheels and tires look to have plenty of tread on them. Also has tour pack and backrests with it. There is some type of sound system but I have no details on it. Owner says it has never been down and has great maintenance history. Bike has 34k miles on it, owner is asking $8k which seems like an ok price to me. In the pics, it has a very clean appearance (no gawdy lookng mods) and fits what I'm wanting for some local rides and the occasional weekend riding the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I'm looking for any advice those of you in the know can offer to me on what to be aware of when I check out the bike and take a test ride.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bodeen]

Price sounds fair. Maintenance records would be a plus. Ask if the cam chain tensioners have been replaced or updated in some fashion. Ask if the inner cam bearings were replaced.

 

[Josh818]

I was in the same boat about three months ago... I had a line on a really nice FLHTCI... I ended up picking it up for $6500 and the way I looked at it is even if I had to put a little money into it I would still have a really nice bike in the end... I have had to do a little work to it, but through it all I have learned the ins and outs of my bike and now I know what I am riding... I would say stick to the book price and it never hurts to try and talk the guy down... I would never make a purchase without riding the bike first though... May be that you don't like it or it runs poorly... Some of the things to look for that you may be able to weasel him down on are the base gaskets, after about that many miles they can (not always) start leaking this is a fairly large job and will take time and money to get fixed. Indication that the base gasket is bad is oil at the base of the cylinder... Also, oil plug leaking... Some guys change the oil and will over tighten the plug this may crack the case,
Or strip the plug in any case you may have to do a little work to it. All good things to know when you are bartering... I don't know your mechanical abilities, but there are many basic things that you would wanna check for too... If need be lemme know and I could try to help ya out with that too...

 

[DA2flyer]

Good info, thanks. Appreciate the details Josh. I'm an ok gearhead. Did my share of turning wrenches on cars and bikes I've owned in the past so I just have to transfer that knowledge into Harley speak. Fortunately I have a coworker that has owned a couple of Harleys, just sold his Glide last year and he has volunteered to go with me if we can make our schedules match up. I looked at both Kelly and NADA values and they come in at $1300 to 1800 higher than the asking price. Are there any other sources for resale values I should look at?

Keep the info coming!