Well, because the bike has a mustang seat, engine guards, and nearly perfect paint job (probably was repainted at one time) I'm guessing that the owner would have put a lot of attention into the bike as well. However, the dealership seems to have missed a lot of basic things that a few checks and an hour or riding would have discovered. With the problems, and the general lack of faith in the dealership, I'm not very trusting of the overall "inside" condition of the bike.
I bet some of you might have run screaming from the bike, but when I bought it, I found these problems:
Oil leak (I'm not sure where, somewhere on the underside.)
Temp Gauge is not working
Speedo cable had been misrouted, crushed, and needed to be replaced.
The dealer agreed to fix these problems, and I decided to take the bike, but expected to put some more money in the bike. Once running, it seems to run really well.
After 200 miles I found:
Oil leak not repaired (dealership's mechanic had to leave for a funeral, and I had them put it back together so I could have it for the weekend. There might have been some confusion as to whether the leak had been repaired or not. The owner of the dealership said the leak had been repaired, but he might have been mistaken.)
Coolant pipe (chromy looking thing on right side of engine) leaks from the seals. O-ring needs to be replaced.
Front brake lever does not activate brake light. Since I like to put both feet on the ground at lights and hold the front brake handle, this might be safety issue for sleepy drivers rolling up to the red behind me.
Charging system doesn't seem to be charging the batt, but I may be mistaken.
Brake Squeal, front brakes.
Hard to start: Bike doesn't want to start when warm. Takes a long time cranking while backfiring occasionally. Found the surest way to start it was to roll it down a hill. Needless to say, the I will be having the dealer look into that. This seems to indicate a common problem with these vulcans, or at least I hear of similar symptons from other owners.
Back Fires when I try to start it when warm. Doesn't backfire much when running. Maybe minor popping once or twice when slowing, but I don't use engine braking much anyway, so its not a problem.
Extra Bolt in “glove box”: It is slightly bigger than the seat retention bolts, and I have no idea what it goes to. It's just sitting there. I'm going to let the dealer keep it if they can't find where it goes to either.
Battery Retention Strap missing: Might just not be needed, so they never put it in if it was lost.
License plate light is inoperative.
Do you guys think these are normal problems for a bike this old? I know the dealers can't afford to tear the bike apart to check and fix every problem it has when they put it on the lot, but some things are really basic. I probably should have paid a lot more attention when I tested it, but I was a bit flustered with the prospect of owning my own motorcycle, and didn't really have any motorycling friends to come down with me. Depending on how we work out the repairs will decide on whether or not I keep going back to them, or find another mechanic.