| Author | Message | ||
     Guitar1036 |
Hi. My name's Mark. I'm in Florida looking for my first bike to start out on. Recently came across a 2001 buell blast with 1,562mi on it. The owner seems nice and straightforward and the bike starts up ok. However, I have a few concerns. 1) 2 digits (a # and letter) are missing in the middle of the vin on the frame. Note: pic attached. Should I be worried about this? Everything else matches what's on the title he showed me. I just find it hard to believe that a plastic connector has rubbed a perfect circle out of the vin sticker. 2) If purchased, will I still be able to get this bike insured (with the vin missing 2 characters)? 3) While the front 2 blinkers work, they are held on by copious amounts of tape. He said the plastic around them had cracked from dry rot - yet the ones in the back are fine. Is this possible? Or is it more likely that this bike has been involved in some sort of accident? 4) There was a good bit of oil on the bottom of the bike. Hard to tell where exactly it was coming from though. Should I be concerned about this? Found a local mechanic that would get it safe for road driving for $200. Additional work would be $90/hr though. Any thoughts/help would be greatly appreciated.  | ||
| Reepicheep |
From a "not stolen" point of view (wheelnerds reference), those would be the wrong VIN numbers to tamper with to hide a stolen blast. There is a mandated format to the VIN, and all (?) blasts from that year will have those digits the same. It's the end of the VIN that is unique from bike to bike. From a "DMV PITA" standpoint, that may be a valid concern. I don't know what the DMV does when a VIN is hard to read. It probably comes down to who it is and what kind of mood they are in. And "fixing" it correctly may not be possible, it may have required a new frame from the factory. Court can tell you more.  From a pragmatic standpoint, if you were to make a sticker that was correct and consistent with the information for the bike, but not rubbed through, and stuck it on there for the DMV inspector to read... 1) WOuld you get caught? Probably not, if it was a good sticker. 2) Is it a felony? I have no idea, it is probably illegal to "tamper" with a VIN, but I have no idea what the rules are around restoring a damaged one to legibility. (Message edited by reepicheep on January 10, 2017) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Oh, and I totally buy that this would be what natural wear looks like. I have lots of old bikes with spots like that there was a rub. | ||
| Froggy |
I personally wouldn't worry about the VIN, it looks like regular wear from something in the steering neck rubbing it. You shouldn't have any problems getting it insured either. The dry rot is possible, the bike is 15 years old, and the engine vibrations are a bitch too. Crash damage on the Blast would also be bent levers, bent footpeg mounts, and various scratches on the sides. That said, they can take quite a beating and are cheap to fix, so I wouldn't be concerned about usual parking lot tipovers. Oil would be impossible to say without looking at it. Given the placement of the oil filter, if you do an lazy oil change it will pour all over the muffler, so that can be a red hearing. I've found the gaskets to be crap in general compared to the bigger Buells, my Blast has some oil dampness around nearly every one. | ||
| Jim2 |
More Blast VIN info: http://www.twinmotorcycles.nl/images/uploads/image /vin%20breakdown%20blast%20all.jpg | ||
| K12pilot |
Make sure the trans shifts good chk the bottom of the shifter for rash, I am no expert but.. the trans linkage seems to get fubar when dropped others know more than me on these bikes my .02 | ||
| Blks1l |
I believe that the VIN is also stamped on the neck, I am not around any of my bikes at the moment to verify this though. |
