Your getting some awesome advise here from a lot of knowledgeable folks. BUT its sounds to me like YOUR mind is made up on the purchase of this bike. at the end of the day its your money do what you want with it. (my gut feeling is you'll be back within 2 months asking questions on How To fix this or replace that, I REALLY and TRULY hope NOT )and wish you nothing but the best of luck with the bike.
But like I said earlier personally I would STAY AWAY and look for a newer bike with a after market exhaust and fewer engine mods. (I've always been under the impression that whenever you buy a bike mod'd such as this one, be PREPARED to open the wallet MUCH MUCH SOONER rather than later.
my 2 cent
Believe me, I'm trying to talk myself out of it as well. I really value everyone's input. I'm no stranger to old bikes. I have a 1985 honda V65 sabre and instead of wasting money on parts on it, I bought a wrecked sabre from the insurance auction for $200 and I've been parting it out and inventorying the parts for when something breaks on mine. This actually worked so well. I was thinking I could always find a wrecked busa and do the same if it ever comes to that. the only issue is when people wreck these bikes, they're usually in a 100mph+ crashes and no parts are usable.
So is it just general stuff that usually goes wrong on the early model hayabusas or is it usually a surprise? I wouldn't mind doing the proper preventive maintenance to make sure nothing does go wrong. The only think I don't like about this bike is that it has nos and from my experience, nothing comes good out of it. even if the timing is off just a little bit, it can be catastrophic.
The seller either is misinformed or is deliberately mis-representing this bike. In 2006, this bike made 228 rwhp on our dyno, it does not have cams, and has a 50 shot on it. It was previously owned by a 65 year old man who didn't beat the snot out of it, although he did go to Englishtown a few times. This bike was toured more than romped on, our customer was from a local club that did a lot of runs upstate. It was in great shape and well-maintained when he had it. I don't know what the second owner did, or anything about the bike since the first owner. If it is still in good shape, 6 would not be a bad price, 5 would be better . . .![]()
Tell him you spoke with a frank and he said no cams were done and if he doesn't want to lower the price I would be walking away.Hmm I just asked the guy about the cams and he said the pervious owner had them installed at powerhouse. I'm hoping he's misinformed and not just lying to get more money out of the bike
Have you looked at or been looking for any other bikes?
You seem to be stuck on this one.
Most of us agree that an 03 and up is the way to go.
There are deals out there if you look.
Personally I would rather have a bike with a stock engine as I think they are more reliable in most cases.
Then IF you really want to do engine work to it, at least you would know exactly what was going into it.
If you are not planning on racing it and just riding it on the street then must guys will be happy
with what a stock Busa can do. How fast do you really want or need to go?
But it's your money and your decision. Good Luck.
Just to give you heads up, you can reset the miles on the Hayabusa. It's hard for me to believe that bike only has 4600 miles on it
For reference I sold an immaculate '05 (which is a much better year, equipment wise) Busa with bolt ons and 11k miles for $5800 just a couple months ago. There is a really really clean but higher miled 2001 on my local Craigslist right now for $4k. (Suzuki Hayabusa)
Be patient, there will always be a better deal somewhere. These bikes are getting to be 10-15 years old and it's becoming increasingly harder to find a nice one.