All the talk about motorcycles on here has made me think about buying a bike.
I’m in Eisenstadt for a week and saw this for sale.
Is it any good? What should I look out for?

http://www.willhaben.at/iad/object?adId=122765795

Looks like a good buy at todays exchange rate about £1800 if it’s mechanically sound you should be ok just make sure you get all the necessary docs with it.

Are you bringing it to the UK?

No, it’s just for use around Austria.

Check for play in bearings; headset, wheels and swingarm. Brake line condition, weeping seals on shock and forks.
It’s a Honda so mechanically I’d be surprised if anything is wrong with it even with poor servicing but it should start on the button and tick over smoothly. Make sure it warms ups from cold and doesn’t run hot.
You should be able to check how much is left on the pads and if the discs are lipped then budget for replacing.
A lot of Honda’s have a clunky first gear so don’t worry about it so long as it goes through the others smoothly.

What should I look out for?

A tin of paint in a less eye-watering colour?
What size are you? I’m 6’2 and found the CBR600 a bit one the small side. The fairing particularly wasn’t that effective at higher speeds =- nothing a double bubble screen can’t fix though. Everything else as per craigxxl’s post. One of the few bikes that combines commuter reliability with sportsbike fun.

I’m 5’6″ so shouldn’t be a problem. I also love loud garish paint so it’s perfect.

Go for it.
Plus the colour should help keep SMIDSY incidents down a bit.

Worth looking up the model/year on MCN for the “things to look out for buying 2nd hand” Is there a better source for this stuff than MCN? Like Parkers for cars?

Cracking bikes. I had a ’99 fx model and found it fine size wise and I’m 6’2″. Main things on that model are cam chain tensioners and check the exhaust headerpipes for corosion. Also crash damage (scrapes on fork bottoms etc).

14 y/o motorcycle. You could easily spend what it cost in consumables and servicing.

Make sure its got its red key or master key or whatever Honda use on their HISS systems.

First impressions are really good- original indicators, no random tat, exhaust’s not been cut, tyres not frazzled (actually look quite straightliney)- it’s been a sensible owner. (does austria have strict mod laws? This’d be a good sign in the UK, not so sure about there) I like that he’s spotted the keyring damage early and stopped it frinstance. . Straight looking levers and original-looking bar ends, so if it’s been crashed the owner’s done a proper job of fixing it which tbh for bikes often works out much the same. And very clean. (what’s under the castrol sticker? Don’t think that’s original, but at the same time, it’s a weird direction for a crash-crack.) Righthand indicator seems squint, which would get me looking at that fairing for damage but equally, could just mean the indicator has sagged a little.

Looks like rubber brake hoses, they usually service-life out at 10 years and pretty much nobody replaces them with OE rubber as they’re more expensive than aftermarket steel braids. Not much of an alarm bell, it’s a £60 job or thereabouts and no harder than pushbike brakes but would get me checking service history a little more carefully. I’d expect Honda OE discs to still be good at 44000km except on a thrashed bike, but always worth checking. Chain and sprockets might or might not be worn but probably hasn’t been neglected. And I think (not 100%) that it’s got the engine with the possible camchain tensioner issues? Which just means listen for rattles really, as if you wouldn’t normally.

Always a good idea to approach a used bike with paranoia but so far as you can tell from pics, it’s a good start. No idea if the price is right locally, I think I’d want to pay a bit less in the UK, great practical sporty bikes though.

Just went to see it. It seems fine but couldn’t ride as I had no insurance.
I got him down to 1950 so went for it. The insurance and registration place are shut so won’t get number plates until later on next week. Many thanks for you help.

Nice bikes, I just re-commissioned one of those for a friend who’d let theirs sit for 9 years. That one had to have the fuel tank and filter stripped and cleaned, fork seals, full service and tidy-up even though it had only covered 15k (miles)
They are pretty good bikes, but like any vehicle, they have little foibles. Like most Hondas of that era the Cam chain tensioners can fail (sounds like a crack/rattly clutch while idling) pretty easy to fix, but very expensive if allowed to fail properly! Also, if it suddenly starts running really rough and really rich it’ll probably be the fuel pressure regulator, some get electrical niggles, other than those three reasonably common faults, Hondas are normally pretty sound.

The one I fettled sold for £1800 privately in the end (it looked pretty damned good in the end, if it had been stored better it would have been mint) I test rode it and was pretty impressed, It’ll do 90% of what the current model does at a fraction of the cost, and it hasn’t aged as badly as some of it’s rivals. Wish I could have kept the one i did, but didn’t have the folding.

Enjoy!

i had that same bike for 3 years and loved it (yes even the yellow)

done everything from tour to track days on it.

im 6’2 and only looked small when i seen a pic of me on it lol

Congratulations !