Hello all, I have recently taking a curiousity into the world of drag racing...i have owned several bikes before and still do now ( 2014 rsv4-Factory is my current) But never a drag bike, this bike will be my daily street bike that i will drag race at the strip occasionally.

i have owned several zx10r's and know my way around them quite well, and what to look for if i were to buy one again

The zx14r is a different animal however, and i am curious as to what i should be looking for before buying.

The bike in question is a 12 14r with mods ( swingarm/air shifter/brocks clutch mod/tune/etc ) it only has about 2k miles on it but it was set up for drag and he said he did drag race it a few times

what should i be looking for as signs of impending catastrophic failure ( or anything thats going to cost me an arm and leg to fix within the near future)

Thank you and looking forward to being a part of the zx14r community !

Welcome. I look for two things, the rest is buyer beware if not bought new.

1. When dead cold>>> Does it smoke upon start up? I walk up to a warm engine, I have my suspicions. This could be anywhere from guide galling to a compression ring locked up due to detonation and that would make it smoke. Sound, low miles, chance of it burning oil due to poor break-in is how the rest is a crap shoot across the ears and, oh well I told you so is the back of the mind.

2. Did it ever have a crash? The front end takes the tweak so it's a 50/50 hit the frame is straight. Better look at the swingarm taking a few mm at the comedown; if it tumbled and there is where I walk away and look for 1 and 2 not being present upon purchase, etc.

Ask him how many clutch packs he's been through. If more than 2 then ask if he's changed the pickup tube/screen.
Check the bottom/front of the oil pan. Is the drain bolt scarred up? Exhaust headers scratched and slightly egged?
Check the rear inner fender for heavy rubber/vht deposits.
All of these are signs that the bike has been raced pretty often. That doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't worth buying, but do be warned the the risks for failure are higher as a result of it's history.

If he cranks the bike and revs it to the limiter while cold, then just simply walk away and never look back. Don't even tell him why if he asks.

If it is a solid bike and you do buy it, I can guarantee you'll love this machine to death!

How much is the dude asking? Can you be more specific on the exact mods? Brand/make of aftermarket parts, overall wheelbase, tires, condition of the rear tire, who did the all the work installing the parts, who tuned the bike, is the ecu flashed, has the oil pan been cut for extra ground clearance(I recently learned the hard way this is an important mod on a lowered street/drag bike), etc., etc.? Don't let the dude hose you just because he's got over 20k invested in the machine. Unless it has aftermarket rims, it's worth roughly the same as if it were bone stock...ask for time slips from the dragstrip too.

If he cranks the bike and revs it to the limiter while cold, then just simply walk away and never look back. Don't even tell him why if he asks.

This makes me cringe everytime I see or hear somebody do this...even with a warm bike. Revving up a warm bike to the upper-midrange or so is one thing, we all do it, but banging it off the rev limiter is just fucking retarded. Them kind of people have no respect for their machines and are the reason I will never buy a used sport bike previously owned by a young person...

* Last updated by: nasty on 6/13/2015 @ 11:24 AM *

-Mps air shifter/W auto shift option,
-mcintosh 10 over swingarm,
-chain and sprockets,
-full brocks exhaust.
-some aesthetic addons
theres more but i dont remember all of it

75% tire life left he said he loaded a map from brocks onto his PC for the tune ( im getting it tuned and sending oil samples to blackstone labs as soon as i get the bike anyways to make sure everythings 100%) asking 10k for it with 2045 on the odo

The process is to send the oil sample to Blackstone before you buy the bike. If not you will either be happy or very very sad ....after the fact

due to location and time constraints i'm gonna have to do it after the fact....

is the zx14r motor really that sensitive that it could have catastrophic failure at 2k miles? if so thats highly bothersom in itself.

$10K with 2000 miles worth of fueling mods and .25 mile beatings thrown in?

I paid $12.5K for my 2012 brand new with 0 miles.

Get him down to $7K. That's what it's worth, max.

If you like the mods and would do the same to a new bike, this is like getting the bike for about 6 grand. I think about 8000$ is as much as you should lowball but get a compression test first. That will tell you more than Blackstone.