Would you buy this used 2005 v-strom? 72,500 miles

Hey, I'm debating on if this is way too many miles or not. Since I don't know this guy its hard because I can't tell if he's taken care of it or not. I also don't know how long a Wee will last overall. He says theres a new chain, clutch cable, brakes, tires, KnN filter, has upgraded riding pegs and the battery is about a year old. Heres a picture of it:



Is it worth $2,000-2,200-ish or should I pass it over?

For $2K I'd buy it, and use it as my rat bike.

I'd take my $2000. and add another $2000. and get something worthwhile.

That's a lot of miles on a bike you don't know much about, even though the Wee is reliable as a hammer.

Questions you need to ask:

There's a lot of bearings that probably need looking at, including but not limited to steering head, swing arm, and suspension link. Have these ever been done?

How about fork seals?

Any idea of the compression?

Not all cheap bikes end up being cheap bikes. It's pretty easy to throw a grand at one in short order.

1. Run a compression test. Check what the range/difference between cylinders should be and go from there...
2. Maintenance records?
3. Check oil, coolant, brake fluid. If any of them are nasty and full of flecks of crap in them, walk away.

To me a lot would depend on the price of it (of course) and how many miles I planned to ride it. If you only put on 3K miles a year and the price is right, it might be worth a flyer. But if you plan on putting on 15K/year, you're going to have a 100K bike in 2 years.

That said, lots of Stroms have gone well over 100K. My DL1000 had 50K when I bought it and it still ran strong. But lots haven't or had major issues along the way. Spending a bit more up front typically saves you money down the road and you get to ride a nicer bike.

I'm not sure I would even spend $2K on it. You probably won't get much out of it when you sell it, and it will be a hard sell. And when $3K buys you one with a fraction of the mileage it is hard to justify. But I wouldn't be the least bit shocked if it goes 100K without a lick of trouble since Stroms are very reliable. But I'd rather put my money toward a better example.

Agree! I'm also looking at used V-strom now. I've seen many vstrom 30-40k for around $3500. $1000 extra is a small price to pay comparing to all the potential mechanical issues with high mileage. All little small problems adding up can be a PITA. I'd pass!


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I recently got a V Strom 1000, 45000 miles with pretty much every farkle for $2700, so you can find a better deal looking around.

Nothing against the current owner, but the bike you have described is a thousand-dollar bike. It's eight or nine years old and it has high mileage.

thanks everyone for the replies, I'll skip it for now. the hunt continues!

does anyone know of a well priced one for sale somewhere? I'm not opposed to a fly n ride

Offer the guy $900.00 then maybe he will settle for $1300.00
At that it's a deal. If not who cares? There will be more available...

The only good argument against buying a higher mileage strom is the fact that there are a load of them out there with low mileage for a song. Best deal on two wheels in my book. I would not really worry about the 72K on the bike if that were the only consideration. I see weestroms all the time on craigslist with under 20k for low 3's. even saw a mint looking 05 with what sounded like a fuel filter problem for 2500. 15k miles or so? unreal deals to be had. It is amazing to me that anyone at all is looking at new bikes, the used deals offer 98 percent of the utility and fun at 25 percent of the cost

For me to think this bike was worth 2,000
It would have to be a high mileage bike in well cared for stock condition.

With the bad paint, and the signs/dirt from off or rough road riding, plus the mileage
I would pay only about 1200-1600 for this one.

Much lower mileage and well farkled bike trade hands in the 3,000 range all the time. That's where I would look.

I found another wee but its a 06 with 22k and he wants $3850 for it. It has the hard locking factory bags and heated grips but thats it. seems a bit much to me but he wont budge. bah!

For close to 4K you should be able to find an 07 which has the upgraded heads with dual spark and better engine performance overall. I bought my 07 with 20K miles on the clock, well maintained, factory tail pod and heated grips a few years ago for 4K and it was a good deal. The bike is still rock solid after now 50K miles. If you are lucky you may find an 07+ with ABS as well. I wouldn't go on the cheap for a strom unless I was going to use it for parts. There are plenty of good ones out there still.

Power on the 07 should be about the same, but fuel consumption goes down a bit, and two plugs per head ensure it runs nice even in worst weather (I had an SV650 with single plugs, and front cylinder did cut out a few times in torrential rain).

I got my 05 650 strom in july with 11k miles, well maintained, aluminum panniers, givi topbox, c-bailey windscreen, motech skidplate and crash bars and hand gaurds for 3800. I rode it 400 miles home at night in the rain. A month later I put on a new set of tires and took a 8100 mile trip. Bike ran great and was rock solid. Keep looking and you will find a really good deal. Be ready to jump when you find it. But also remember, its your deal so if you feel good about it and it gets you what you want then don't worry about the opinion of others. Just ride and enjoy. No matter how good a deal you think you got, as soon as the ink is dry a better deal will show up. Don't worry about it.

A fair amount of miles, but motorcycles are easier to maintain than a car and don't get so squeaky and crappy when all the little bits start failing, because there isn't so much of that.

Besides, you can get it, farkle it, and if it ever fails, and it might never fail, you can get a nicer one and drop it under the farkles.

[I think this is the first time I've used the word "farkle" since I first said "what's a farkle?"]