here's one for ya. he lost his title.
 

i'd found the perfect bike for my overland excursion of the americas. a stock 06 klr with 4400 miles to her name. her once aztec red exterior now a faded desert sunset pink. and only 2500 bucks. a steal. i loaded on the trailer and drove an hour out to see her, after a little talk and test drive it was mine. except, he had no title, in the middle of a move he had lost the title. a 21 year old college who just bought a cruiser. working for the sheriffs dept. lost the title and won't have one for 2 months. lame.

here's the thing, i've decided i'm doing it. i have at least 3 months of work to finish and i'm heading south. and most of the bikes i seem to be finding, that have some of the 'bells and whistles' that i'm going to have to upgrades anyway have 12000 + miles on em. so. what i'm balancing is. buying one with the mods and panniers and ect. with mid 12-15000 miles or buying one with 4000 miles stock and adding to it.

i guess. do you think a klr 650 with 15000 miles would make south america and back without a serious mechanical problem.

i'm decent mechanic but after getting down to the brass balls of my italian made harley 125 rapido, i would perfer not to have to see what they look like in japan.

i got 6 months, 'till the luck or money runs out' right?
steve

My KLR has 48,000 miles on it, and I'm taking it to South America in a month or two. Compression (leak down) is good, no indications of major wear or incipient failure....but of course, who knows?

Personally, I'd say a fully-farkled bike (panniers, engine guards, doohickey, pegs, maybe seat, etc.) is worth quite a lot---it'll save you one to two thousand bucks plus a fair amount of time---but the real test is in how well taken care of it's been during its short life.

Be careful of that "lost" title, though. And be careful as well of anyone telling you a replacement will take two months. I'd at least check this last part out independently. You should be wondering why any bike with such low mileage costs so little money; most of the possible answers are variously unpleasant to contemplate.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

I agree with this, I've gotten replacement titles in a week or two, with no hassle--I just submitted a request form to DMV. I'm sure every jurisdiction is different on this issue, but this sounds pretty fishy. And without proper paperwork, crossing borders is no fun at all.

sounds like a hooky bike to me....