Taking a good mate of mine this evening to view a reasonably local Suzuki GSXR 600 (track bike) with apperantly no V5c ..... is it possible to own a road bike (one thats been converted for track use only) without a vehicle doc? or if its a factory racer (i doubt it) would there be a paper trail ?... i ve had a look at previous posts as i think this has been discussed before..... cant find em though, but prior apologies if this is being repeated......
i ve told him (NOT BEING 100 % sure) to look for frame and engine numbers and try (again if possible) via DVLC to look at history..... ?
if it has no v5 then it was either supplied as a race bike from day 1 and will have no traces of numbers on the frame (usually on the headstock),or it has been written off as a cat A/B,the numbers will have have been (or at least should) taken off,ground or crossed out.problem with this is that theres a reason for doing it i.e. theres a good chance the frame will have had damage and should have been scrapped. or it's stolen and had the numbers removed to avoid tracing.if any of numbers have been tampered with,walk away. when you buy a frame from the factory/dealer without numbers you get a recipt to prove authenticity. tbh buying trackbikes can be a mine field if you dont know what to look for,even then it can be tricky.if it's too cheap theres a reason.
i personally wouldnt go near it, for what i can see there isnt any excuse for not having the docs? unless factory supplied which is rare! craig or orthers that have more experience in buying / converting tack bikes will be able to give more advice though...
Cheeers Scooby / Jimbo, exactly what i ve told him...... would a insurance A or B/C still be ok for track use... ? although i would expect to see frame damage or repairs ? i ll be looking at frame numbers but any idea where engine number should be, as in is it easy to read (through fairings|) ?
With mine its a road fully docs bike thats been stripped and sorned.... he seemed to know that there been two possible owners ( how would he know that with no paperwork)..... ??
theres a big clamp down now on stolen bikes at tracks,the police are periodically checking bikes at meetings/trackdays and any found with tampered engine/frame numbers without proof of provenence are being taken away. engine numbers on gsxr's i'm not sure,but the tend to be in the back of the block,behind the exhaust,or check the sides of the engine cases,not the,the clutch/gennie covers the actuall engine cases.
oh and make sure he/you take off all the fairings to get a good look inside/behind/under etc for any damage/leaks/repairs
same with mine as i have owned it since new! i just wouldnt bother - as scooby says, big clamp down now. and sure you could get a nice cheap one thats a bit tatty bodywork wise and convert yourself? of hold out for one that seems straight.. I looked over my bro in laws k7 recently, the frame numbers are easily visable but they do look a bit naff/easy to tamper with compared to other manufacturers, not sure about engine! oops, prob should have checked for him lol
Cheers mate, i dont want to make accusations as this owner maybe is genuine...... the ad says no docs have ever caused em issues, but with only a few track days claiming to be done he prob was lucky, i did at least 10 last summer and never got checked but i know of a massive hit at Silverstone...... and lots of bikes were confiscated.
Just looked at his trading history via ebay....... doing a Sherlock trying to track a sale looking at feedback... betweeen his buyers and sellers and there is a K7 being palmed around !
Just spoken to local dealership and the lazer etched frame number should be enough to track its history...... personally i hope he has good sense to walk away....... ! it smells a bit fishy to me........
The best way to buy a trackbike is to be in the scene. When you're in the scene, racing, or trackdaying regularly, then you can almost always trace the history of the bike, via facebook, trackdayriders.co.uk, owner forums, motoforum.net etc. Bikes are known by owners friends, and people who race with them etc, so straight up bikes will always show themselves. Before you do anything, facebook the seller, see what forums he's on, see what he's raced in, where he rides, get history off facebook through photo's and do your research. There i no need to buy with any doubts, it's a buyers market if you know where to look.
Did view the bike...... and both dad and son seemed genuine..... but as headstock final 6 to 8 numbers had clearly been drilled (showing a insurance write off maybe).... engine number is all we have to go on (can reg be traced via engine number only ) to confirm its history.... even if it was classed as a write off ?
so this shows it's either been stolen or cat b/a crash,which means the frame shoould have been scrapped anyway.not knowing what the damage to the bike/frame could be,or if it was stolen would make me walk away quick sharpish.if the police come to a trackday and see it,they will take it until proof can be given that it's not stolen.
