Be afraid...?

[LN]

Morning all. First post for me, as I'm not currently a Steamer owner, (and apologies in advance for the double post), but was lazily eyeing up my options for an imminent purchase, and came across a Tiger for NZ$6k at the following link...

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =199726904

My question for y'all is, (after reading as many posts as possible to better understand what I'd be getting myself into), is there any chance at all that a 96 Steamer that's done 60k (and already had the sprag done, but not the DAR) is actually going to give me any time out in the fresh air, or should I simply give my wallet to my favorite mechanic now and go watch some TV, and save all that mucking round negotiating a purchase for what really does sound like a big fat money pit.

It's a great looking bike and I don't want to be just another Jap bike rider, but I'm not particularly mechanically minded, (and damn lazy to boot), and it really does seem that most of the discussions going on, relate to how much time energy and money they cost to keep on the road.
Is that a fair call, or should I man up, and get all British on it?

I've previously owned a GS450, a GSXR400, a couple of XRs and currently a TT600, none of which were/are maintained particularly well...

Any thoughts, suggestions, criticisms of my lax approach to maintenance welcome...! :)

[JetdocX]

If you're not mechanical and lazy and have no inclination to be a lazy mechanic this is probably not your bike.  

Don't go ride it, cuz it will be too late after that. :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[LN]

Cheers. I kinda guessed that might be the general theory...

I'd be happy enough to send it off to my trusted local mechanic should something come up, rather than have it gathering dust, but I guess I'm looking for a bike that is realtively trouble free.
While it's of course near impossible to know what the particular bike I'm looking at is going to be like, would it be fair to say that a Triumph that's over 20 years is not the definition of 'trouble free', or have I just got the wrong impression from this forum due to people naturally sharing advice and knowledge about how to maintain them...

I keep clicking links in the hope of coming across someone detailing what a fantastic trouble-free run they've had, but so far no dice! :)

[Mustang]

Don't listen to the naysayers .............if the bike is running and looking good at 60 k well that pretty much speaks for itself !
I have three of them
1. Is a 1995 purchased brand new (wife's Bike) runs perfect
    Still has stock original suspension , really could use a rebuild on the shock , but the wife's happy and don't care .
have only had to shim 3 valves once in it's life ( has 45k for mileage)
No sprag failure ever and never had DAR .
The only thing that has ever happened to it was the igniter p/u sensor failed at around 22k
The Igniter itself went tits up around 25k
and a speedometer cable broke once , that's it .

2. A 98 bought brand new as a leftover in 99 has close to 60 k on it
 Had to replace coils at 42k , put a new sensor in too but the old one was still good .
rear shock was replaced with an ohlins , much better than the POS Showa it came with
steering head bearings needed replacing at 42 k but I didn't do em until 50 k
And the bolt broke on the alternator side once
the valves are still hanging in there but are on their last legs  98's were rumored to have bad heads and this is what happens , ask Jetdocx

That's it so not bad for 60 k
#3 is a 98 I just picked up last summer and have a sidecar on it now , don't know it's mechanical history . But it has 38k on it runs good and the valves still have more than half of their adjustment life left in em , so I will have to wait and see .

That's three different steamers with not a bad track record , so yeah they are very good bikes

They are a pain in the ass to repace the air filter but if you are using a mech , that's his problem  :D

If you buy one that has been neglected by the previous owner , you will have a bit of a struggle to get it up to snuff .

ask questions about it's mechanical history , it should start easily when cold using the choke , unless it has been sitting for some time , in that case it will take a bit of cranking to get it to light up . Keep a good battery in it will lessen the chance of sprag failure .
If it has PVL coils on it they are the good ones , the gill coils are the ones that fail . and the ignition sensor is cheap and easy to replace if it fails .
If the bike has been maintained well it should have a lot of life left in it .
If it runs good and you ride it you will buy it !